When the Son of Someone Else is Your Son
- philhoraia
- Aug 1
- 2 min read
S 33:5 Call them by their fathers; it is more equitable with Allah. But if you have not known their fathers--then your brothers in the religion and your mawali. But there is no transgression in what you have sinned. But what your hearts intended. And Allah was a forgiver, merciful.
Adoption is forbidden in Islam and a son is to be named after his biological father. However:
Narrated `Aisha:
`Utba bin Abi Waqqas authorized his brother Sa`d to take the son of the slave-girl of Zam`a into his custody. `Utba said (to him). "He is my son." When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) arrived in Mecca during the Conquest (of Mecca), Sa`d bin Abi Waqqas took the son of the slave-girl of Zam`a and took him to the Prophet (ﷺ) `Abd bin Zam`a too came along with him. Sa`d said. "This is the son of my brother and the latter has informed me that he is his son." `Abd bin Zam`a said, "O Allah's Messenger (ﷺ)! This is my brother who is the son of the slave-girl of Zam`a and was born on his (i.e. Zam'as) bed.' Allah's Apostle looked at the son of the slave-girl of Zam`a and noticed that he, of all the people had the greatest resemblance to `Utba bin Abi Waqqas. Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) then said (to `Abd), " He is yours; he is your brother, O `Abd bin Zam`a, he was born on the bed (of your father)." (At the same time) Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said (to his wife Sauda), "Veil yourself before him (i.e. the son of the slave-girl) O Sauda," because of the resemblance he noticed between him and `Utba bin Abi Waqqas. Allah's Apostle added, "The boy is for the bed (i.e. for the owner of the bed where he was born), and stone is for the adulterer." (Ibn Shihab said, "Abu Huraira used to say that (i.e. the last statement of the Prophet in the above Hadith 596, publicly.")
The founder of Islam sees a resemblance to Utba in the boy. But as the boy was born to Zam'a's slave, Zam'a becomes the 'father'. So the boy would be named after a man who was not his biological father. And a man's taking on another man's illegitimate son resembles adoption. In the hadith, although this boy becomes part of Zam'a's family, Sauda still has to observe veil. We may also note that a man who has sexual intercourse with another man's slave is to be stoned as an adulterer, even though there is no marriage between the owner and the slave.
Note on the verse: If the father is unknown, the boy becomes a mawla(n) (master; emancipated slave). Plural: mawali(n). Is such a boy or man to be considered as though he were the latter and the ummah's client?
Further reading:
Comments