This section is among the most important in this chapter. The basic principle concerning a child born upon a man’s marital bed is that he is the man’s child. Any doubts that may arise in this matter must be disregarded and given no weight, for the Sacred Law takes the utmost precaution in safeguarding lineage. If a child is not ascribed to anyone, his lineage is lost; he remains stigmatized and despised among people, and suffers psychological complexes and pain whose extent is obvious. For this reason, the Lawgiver has shown great concern for establishing lineage.

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Whoever is born to a man’s wife, where it is possible that he is the man’s child, is ascribed to him, …

His statement: “Whoever is born to a man’s wife, where it is possible that he is the man’s child, is ascribed to him”—this is a general principle.

His statement, “his wife,” plainly means that she can only be his wife through a valid marriage contract.

His statement, “where it is possible that he is the man’s child, is ascribed to him,” means that he is deemed to be his child. The evidence for this is the Prophet’s saying: “The child belongs to the marital bed, and the adulterer receives nothing but the stone.” (1)

It is understood from his statement, “Whoever is born to a man’s wife,” that if a woman other than his wife gives birth—for example, a woman with whom he committed adultery, Allah forbid—and she gives birth to a child who is certainly his, is the child ascribed to him or not? The position of the school, and that of most scholars, is that he is not ascribed to him, because the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “The adulterer receives nothing but the stone.” The term “adulterer” here means the one who commits fornication or adultery.

If he claims the child as his own, while no one else claims him, saying, “He is my son and is ascribed to me,”