07/09/2025
IS IT ALLOWED FOR A MAN TO MARRY HIS ILLEGITIMATE CHILD IN ISLAM?
The above seems to be a new trending question among some people. While some people are serious about getting authoritative answers to this question, many people are not bothered. However, it is important to address the issue because of those who may want to tarnish the image of Islam as well as those who may be confused about the sacredness of Islam.
It is important to state that the first primary source of law in Islam is the Quran in its pure form. We must be careful of making a general statement without consulting the Quran.
Some people have cited Quran 25 vs 54 as evidence that it is permissible in Islam for a man to marry his illegitimate daughter.
This is wrong and contrary to the message of the verse.
"And He it is Who has created man from the water, then He has made for him blood relationship and marriage relationship, and your Lord is powerful." Q25:54
Verses should not be read in isolation, even though the above verse gives clear message if read in isolation. However, a verse before it made it clearer that the verse is only describing Almighty God and how powerful He is. It is like asking the question who is God and you are getting the answer.
Almighty God is He who has created man from fluid. Then established for him community of relatives first of which is through blood relationship (biological such as parents, siblings, aunts, uncles) and the second is through marriage relationship (such as wife, husband, in-laws) all of who constitute family for the man. A family is a group of people related by blood or marriage.
Scholars usually give commentaries to verses. Imam Qurtubi briefly introduced the discussion of marriage relationship while commenting on this verse (Q25:54).
According to him, scholars are divided when it comes to the permissibility of a man marrying his illegitimate child. Some said that since it is not specifically stated as prohibition in the Quran clarifying the term, it means it is not prohibited. Others said that because it is not specifically prohibited in the Quran, then it is classified as disliked (makruh) but should not be encouraged based on ethics.
According to others, it is clearly prohibited to marry such a woman because the prohibition has been conveyed in Q4:22, where Almighty God said: "It is forbidden for you to marry your daughters..."
In this verse, daughters generally have been clearly stated, and they refer to biological daughters in the widest sense so long as the paternity is not disputed. Thus, there was no need for the Quran to break it down to if the woman is a legitimate daughter or not.
Imam Qurtubi has only stated the views of scholars, and he himself did not mention that it is permissible to marry such women considered as daughters, and neither did he encourage such.
Many scholars are often careful of making general verdicts as regards prohibition, especially when there is no explicit prohibition. Thus, they prefer to hide under using the term "disliked" (Markruh).
In general, most scholars of Islam are of the decision that so long as the paternity of a woman is clear and not disputed, she remains unlawful in marriage to her father according to Q4: 22.
Nurudeen Ibrahim
(Founder, IRFAN Centre)
