Paternity Question

September 4, 2010

899

Question

I have a rather complex question. A girl I know has a father who was adopted at birth. The father took on the family name of the family who adopted him, and has kept it ever since. As such, he passed it to his children.

Should the girl keep the family name of the father? Is it permissible for her to adopt the family name of her mother (the so-called maiden name) particularly as the mother’s family is ahl-ul-bayt or both?

Answered by: Mufti Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf

Assalamu alaykum

What is prohibited is to give the notion to others that someone other than ones own biological father is their father, i.e. to attribute oneself to someone other than ones own father. It is related in a hadith in Sahih Muslim and other compilations that the Prophet Sallallahu alayhi wasallam said whoever attributed himself to someone other than his own father has committed and act of unbelief. This means someone who knowingly claims or gives the notion to people that he is the child of someone besides his real father.

So in the case in question, if the father’s situation was a similar one where people thought him to be the child of the adopting couple, then he needs to clarify to people that they were not his real parents. As for the daughter, there is no need for her to change her name, and she can not take her mother’s maiden name anyway because a person should be attributed to the father. Since she is known to be her father’s child there is no problem at all.

Another point to bear in mind here is that many groups of people, especially the African American community in the USA, have in many cases lost all bearings of their ancestry since they were given the surnames of the Europeans that subjugated them.

And Allah knows best.

Mufti Abdurrahman ibn Yusuf

Click to rate this post!

[Total: 0 Average: 0]

Dr. Mufti Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf

Dr. Shaykh Abdur-Rahman ibn Yusuf Mangera is a British Muslim scholar educated in both the Islamic and Western traditions. He memorised the Qur’an by heart and graduated from the Darul Uloom seminary Bury, UK, and later earned a specialised licence to issue fatwa (legal responses) at Mazahir ‘Ulum Saharanpur, India. He earned his BA from the University of Johannesburg and completed his MA and PhD in Islamic Studies from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He holds an honorary fellowship at The Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Amman, Jordan. Shaykh Abdur-Rahman has the unique experience of serving as an imam in Muslim communities on both sides of the Atlantic, eight years in Southern California and over five in the great city of London—and his continued work as an international speaker and lecturer enables him to address and offer pertinent advice on current challenges that face Muslims in the West. He is the founder of Whitethread Institute, a post-graduate insititute for Islamic scholars. He is an avid traveller and continues to teach hadith and work on scholarly publications through White Thread Press (www.whitethreadpress.com). Many of his lectures are available on www.zamzamacademy.com and his courses through Rayyan Institute (www.rayyaninstitute.com).