With regard to purity and permissibility for consumption, the child follows whichever parent is more impure. Thus, the offspring of a male donkey and a mare—namely, a mule—is unlawful to eat and impure.

These, then, are the various respects of affiliation mentioned by the scholars in this chapter. So, if you are asked whether a child follows his mother or his father, the answer is according to the distinctions set out above.