then the child is not affiliated to him, and no one but the father himself may acknowledge paternity. Should anyone other than the father—such as a grandfather or a brother—make the claim, the child is not attached to him; he is merely making an admission on someone else’s behalf, which imposes no obligation on the father, for “no soul bears the burden of another.”
If a man claims the child of a woman who remained married to her husband until the very moment of her death, his word is not accepted. He may, however, lawfully claim the child of another man’s slave-woman—even though no purchase of her is known—so long as it is at least possible that he could have married her.
If a man sells a slave whose lineage is unknown and later claims him as his son, the child is indeed affiliated to him, yet the slave is not returned and the sale is not annulled, because the child does not thereby revert to freedom. Likewise, if he claims the child of a slave-woman whom he sold together with her, the child is affiliated to him—unless suspicion arises that he is favoring the child or that contact between him and the mother was impossible. This is the report transmitted by Ibn al-Qāsim.
ʿAbd al-Malik relates a different view: the seller’s acknowledgment is accepted, the purchase price is refunded, and the boy’s mother becomes his umm walad, just as if he had sold her while she was pregnant, she later gave birth, and someone else had claimed the child. This applies unless, at the time he makes the claim, the seller is insolvent; in that case the child is free, its value becomes a debt upon him, and the slave-woman remains the property of the purchaser.
If, while the case is still pending, the buyer emancipates the mother, the seller’s statement concerning the child is accepted and the child is affiliated to him, but his statement that she herself has become his umm walad is not accepted; only formal evidence could overturn her emancipation. If the buyer has already set the child free and the seller then claims him, the child is affiliated to the seller.
Should the slave-woman belong to someone else, and a man claim her child on the basis of a marriage while her master denies it, the lineage is not established; but if he subsequently buys her, the lineage is confirmed.
If the seller had intercourse with the slave-woman during one clean period and the buyer had intercourse with her during a later clean period, and she gives birth and both men claim the child, the child belongs to the second man provided she gave birth six months or more after the date of purchase; if she gives birth in less than six months, the child belongs to the first.
If the seller had intercourse with her, then sold her, and the buyer had intercourse with her in that very same cycle before she had observed a waiting period, and she bears a child that could plausibly belong to either of them, qualified physiognomists (qāfah) are summoned; whichever of the two they ascribe the child to, the child is affiliated to him. If they assign the child to the buyer, he may not sell her.