What Should Be the Family Name of a Child After a Rape? (Shafi’i)

Answered by Shaykh Abdurragmaan Khan

Question: Assalam alaykum,

1) If a women were to be raped and decided to keep the child, what would be the ruling on naming the child?

2) if a non-Muslim man who did not know the identity of his father,converts to Islam, and marries a Muslim woman, how will he and his children be named?

Answer: Wa alaykum al-Salam

May Allah bless you.

I am assuming that you are referring to the surname or family name of the child, rather than the first name. Consequently, the vast majority of scholars held that no lineage is established between a child born out of wedlock and the biological father. Accordingly, the child’s lineage runs through his mother and he will thus carry her surname, irrespective whether the rapist is known or not.

With regards to the revert to Islam, his lineage between him and his family will not be severed. He – and his offspring thereafter – will continue to hold the same family name.

And Allah knows best
Wassalam
[Shaykh] Abdurragmaan Khan

Shaykh Abdurragmaan received ijazah ’ammah from various luminaries, including but not restricted to: Habib Umar ibn Hafiz—a personality who affected him greatly and who has changed his relationship with Allah, Maulana Yusuf Karaan—the former Mufti of Cape Town; Habib ‘Ali al-Mashhur—the current Mufti of Tarim; Habib ‘Umar al-Jaylani—the Shafi‘i Mufti of Makkah; Sayyid Ahmad bin Abi Bakr al-Hibshi; Habib Kadhim as-Saqqaf; Shaykh Mahmud Sa’id Mamduh; Maulana Abdul Hafiz al-Makki; Shaykh Ala ad-Din al-Afghani; Maulana Fazlur Rahman al-Azami and Shaykh Yahya al-Gawthani amongst others.