His statement, “and he”: the pronoun refers to the husband.

His statement, “of an age at which a child can be born to someone like him, such as a ten-year-old,” means one who has completed ten years of age.

His statement, “such as a ten-year-old,” is an example of the youngest age at which a child may possibly be born to someone like him: one who has completed ten years. Is it possible for one who has completed ten years to father a child? They said: it is possible. This view stands between two other opinions: one holds that he may father a child at nine years of age, while a third holds that he cannot father a child until he reaches twelve years of age. The evidence for the established position of the school is the Prophet’s saying, peace and blessings be upon him: “Command them to pray when they are seven years old, and discipline them for it when they are ten, and separate them in their beds” (1), as well as the fact that this has occurred, even if only rarely.

His statement, “or within less than four years,” is based on the well-known position of the school that the maximum duration of pregnancy is four years. This will come, Allah willing, in the Book of Waiting Periods. There is no evidence for setting a maximum duration of pregnancy. They merely said that this is the longest period known to have occurred. We say: restricting a ruling to what has been observed requires evidence, for rare cases may occur outside the scope of what we have ruled—and this is indeed the case. There have been cases of a child not being born until seven years had passed: he was born with his teeth having already emerged. Cases of even longer duration have been reported, up to ten years, while the child remained alive in his mother’s womb; but Allah, Exalted is He, prevented his growth. The correct view, therefore, is that there is no fixed maximum duration; rather, it is subject to the facts of each case. So long as we know that the child in her womb is from her husband, that no one other than him had intercourse with her, and that the child remained in her womb for four years, five years, or ten years, then the child belongs to her husband.