He said: He had a wife who bore him three sons and one daughter, but he divorced her with a final divorce and declared her forbidden to himself by the prohibition of zihar, and she remained after him for a year and a half.

The questioner : He said: He had a wife who bore him three sons and one daughter, but he divorced her with a final divorce and declared her forbidden to himself by the prohibition of zihar. She remained after him for a year and a half, then she married another man and divorced him by khul' with the mahr he had paid her. She was pregnant from him. After her first husband learned of their separation, he went to her, took the children with him, and began to provide for all of them. He would enter and exit the house as if he were her husband, and he continued this way until she gave birth. They hid the child from its real father, and he—meaning her first husband—adopted him and added him to his residency permit as his son. What is the ruling in this case regarding the attribution of the child to him...

The Shaykh : Regarding what? Regarding what?

The questioner : Yes, regarding the attribution of the child to him, and regarding his entering and exiting her home without a new contract?

The Shaykh : This is a major issue, and I seek refuge in Allah, and it involves a great sin against the second husband. This man should fear Allah the Mighty and Majestic, and he should inform the father about the child, disavow him, and attribute this child to his father. It is not permissible for him to make his lineage—meaning the first husband—his own. It is not permissible for him to attribute the second husband's son to himself, for this is among the major sins, and I seek refuge in Allah. How can he make him his son, making it permissible for him to look at his daughters and inherit from him, while he does not inherit from him, and he inherits from this child who is not his son, among other matters in which the sanctities of Allah the Mighty and Majestic are violated?
As for the woman, she is not permissible for him. Even if she were permissible for him through marriage, it is not permissible for him to have intercourse with her until he does what Allah has commanded him regarding the expiation for zihar, because he has committed zihar with her by the contract, and she is his wife. So he must not approach her until he fulfills what Allah has commanded, which is freeing a slave. If he does not find one, then fasting for two consecutive months. If he is unable to do that, then feeding sixty poor people.

The questioner : If he performed this expiation?

The Shaykh : A contract is necessary, and it must be a complete contract with all the complete conditions.

The questioner : May Allah reward you with good.