Lexical Notes
• “He entrusted me that he was his son” – that is, he bequeathed to me that the boy was his child, asking that he be affiliated to his lineage and to his father.

• “My father’s bed” – here “bed” means its owner, namely the husband or the master.

• “The slave-girl (al-walīdah)” – a female slave whom her master has had intercourse with and who consequently bore him a child.

• “For the adulterer is the stone” – al-ʿāhir means the fornicator; “the stone” is a metaphor for disappointment and the loss of any claim to the child.

• “Zamʿah” – pronounced with an open zāʾ and a silent mīm. The name derives from one of the zamʿāt, the small tufts of hair hanging from a hare’s nose.

Overall Meaning
In the Days of Ignorance Arabs used to impose levies on their slave-girls, profiting from their prostitution, and they would affiliate any resulting child to the adulterer if he claimed it.

ʿUtbah ibn Abī Waqqāṣ committed fornication with a slave-girl belonging to Zamʿah ibn al-Aswad, and she gave birth to a boy. Shortly before dying, ʿUtbah requested his brother Saʿd to acknowledge the boy and attach him to his own lineage.

When the Conquest of Mecca occurred, Saʿd saw the lad, recognised the striking resemblance to his late brother, and sought to claim him. A dispute then arose between him and ʿAbd ibn Zamʿah. Saʿd produced two arguments: first, that his brother had confessed the child to be his; and second, the obvious physical likeness. ʿAbd countered: “He is my brother, born on my father’s bed from his slave-girl.”

The Prophet ﷺ looked at the boy and noticed an unmistakable likeness to ʿUtbah. Yet the default ruling is that a child follows the owner of the slave-girl, so he awarded the boy to Zamʿah, declaring, “The child belongs to the marital bed, while for the adulterer is disappointment and loss; he has no share in the child.”

Still, on seeing how closely the boy resembled ʿUtbah, the Prophet ﷺ exercised caution lest this kinship allow Sawdah bint Zamʿah (1) to appear before him unveiled. Therefore he instructed her to veil herself from the boy, out of scrupulousness and piety.

Points Drawn from the Ḥadīth

1. A child is affiliated to the marital bed provided it is physically possible for the bed-owner to be the father. Ibn Daqīq al-ʿĪd stated that this ḥadīth is a foundational proof for attributing the child to the bed-owner even when an illicit act has also occurred.

2. A woman becomes a “bed” by the mere conclusion of the marriage contract, whereas a slave-girl does not count as a “bed” unless her master has actually had intercourse with her; mere ownership is insufficient. The contract of marriage is concluded primarily for intercourse, whereas purchase of a slave-girl serves many purposes. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah reported that Imām Aḥmad indicated the wife is not considered a bed unless both the contract and confirmed consummation are present, not just a doubtful possibility. Ibn al-Qayyim affirmed this as the sound, decisive opinion—otherwise, how could a woman be deemed a bed when the husband has neither consummated the marriage nor commenced cohabitation with her?

3. The right to claim paternity (istilḥāq) is not restricted to the father; a brother or any other relative may also make such a claim.