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The question

What is meant by attributing an illegitimate child to his mother in official documents? And what is Islam's view on the suffering of this child who is without sin? And does his saying, peace and blessings be upon him, "And for the adulterer is the stone," mean stoning the adulterer? And what is the relationship between this hadith and the lineage of the child?

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Source: FtawySummarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 20261 min readAlso available in العربية
The answer

The intent behind establishing the lineage of a child born out of wedlock to its mother is to confirm the rulings of sonship between them, such as those pertaining to forbidden degrees of marriage (mahramiyyah) and inheritance. It does not mean attributing the child to her in official documents; rather, the child can be attributed to a general name like Abdullah. As for the hadith, "The child is for the [owner of the] bed, and for the adulterer is the stone," the preponderant opinion regarding "for the adulterer is the stone" is that the adulterer has no right to the child, and it does not mean stoning him, because stoning is specific to the married person (muhsan).

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy