Islamic Fiqh > Marriage and family > Filiation and paternity (nasab)
To whom does the child belong? The bed rule, acknowledgment and disavowal, the child born out of wedlock and the anonymous one.
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Updated on 31 August 2026 at 3:55 AM
The basis of nasab is prophetic: "the child belongs to the bed, and the adulterer gets only the stone" (al-Bukhari 2053; Muslim 1498): the child born of the marital bed is attributed to the husband. The father's disavowal is valid only through the li'an, the mutual oath of surah an-Nur (24:6-9); the heirs may carry it after his death in the Maliki school (Mukhtasar Khalil), a disputed matter elsewhere (Bidayat al-Mujtahid).
Protecting lineages is an explicit aim of the academies: the OCI Fiqh Academy gives "mixing of lineages, loss of motherhood" as the reason for the absolute ban on donor gametes (resolution 16 (3/4) on test-tube babies, 3rd session, Amman, 1986).
Acknowledgment founds the link: whoever acknowledges a child as his own is believed and bound; classical fiqh sets this in its chapters on iqrar (Bidayat al-Mujtahid; al-Mughni of Ibn Qudama). It protects the child, binds inheritance, and is withdrawn only if falsehood appears. Filiation through the bed and through breastfeeding also creates the marriage prohibitions: see the relevant page.
He is attributed to his mother: maintenance rests on her in the majority view, he inherits from her, custody is hers first; no sinner bears the sin of another (surah al-An'am 164): the child never carries his parents' fault. The link to the father is rejected by the majority when no lawful bed exists, and its extent is discussed among the schools (Bidayat al-Mujtahid).
Genetic testing, two clear institutional readings. The Saudi Permanent Committee (Ibn Baz, Ibn Uthaymin, al-Fawzan): the test is not retained to establish or deny filiation, the bed is the rule, and disavowal happens only through the li'an. Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyya (fatwa 13255): filiation may be established by genetic fingerprinting as a modern means of proof, within a valid or defective marriage or intercourse under a mistake of right. In both readings, the bed rule stays the base and the child's interest prevails.