then the child’s lineage is ascribed to him, for the shortest pregnancy lasts six lunar months. If she delivers in less than that span and the infant lives, this proves that she conceived before the sale, when she was still his lawful bed (firāsh). The Messenger ﷺ said, “The child belongs to the bed.”
A child is not attributed to the husband in two situations:
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If the woman gives birth in less than six months from the date of marriage and the child survives, for conception and delivery cannot occur within so brief a period; she must therefore have conceived before he married her.
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If he pronounces an irrevocable divorce (bāʾin) and she gives birth more than four lunar years after the divorce, the child’s lineage is not linked to him, because it is clear that conception occurred after the marriage had ended.
Likewise, a master’s paternity for the child of his slave-girl is not established if he claims that he observed istibrāʾ (the waiting period to ensure the womb is clear) after having intercourse with her. By completing istibrāʾ he knows with certainty that her womb is free of his seed, so the child must be someone else’s. His statement that istibrāʾ took place is accepted, because it is a private matter that cannot be verified without undue hardship, but it is accepted only if he swears an oath, since he is denying the child’s right to lineage.
When there is uncertainty about a newborn, the status of the bed (firāsh) takes precedence over physical resemblance. For instance, if both the master of a slave-girl and a man who had intercourse with her under mistaken assumptions (shubhah) claim the child, it is assigned to the master, in accordance with the Prophet’s ﷺ words, “The child belongs to the bed.”
A child’s lineage follows that of his father, as Allah, the Exalted, says: “Call them by [the names of] their fathers” (Qur’an 33:5).