The Meaning of the Hadith: The Child Belongs to the Bed, and Is It an Ijtihad?
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Question:
Honorable Shaykh, when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Our father is from the bed,” is this an ijtihad of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)?
Answer:
This is not an ijtihad on his part (peace and blessings be upon him); rather, it is a legal ruling. This legal ruling is that the child belongs to the bed. If a woman is with her husband and she gives birth to a child, the child is attributed to him; it is attributed to him because he is the child of his wife. Yes. If he claims that the child is not his, then li'an (mutual oath-swearing in an accusation of adultery) is necessary. Li'an is necessary between them; the li'an is established between them. The child is not disowned from him except if he disowns him through li'an.
Otherwise, everyone would be upset with his wife and say to her, “This child is not mine.” The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:Sunan Ibn Majah 2006Sahih (Darussalam)
Honorable Shaykh, when the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Our father is from the bed,” is this an ijtihad of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)?
Answer:
This is not an ijtihad on his part (peace and blessings be upon him); rather, it is a legal ruling. This legal ruling is that the child belongs to the bed. If a woman is with her husband and she gives birth to a child, the child is attributed to him; it is attributed to him because he is the child of his wife. Yes. If he claims that the child is not his, then li'an (mutual oath-swearing in an accusation of adultery) is necessary. Li'an is necessary between them; the li'an is established between them. The child is not disowned from him except if he disowns him through li'an.
Otherwise, everyone would be upset with his wife and say to her, “This child is not mine.” The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said:
The child is for the bed (i.e., belongs to the husband) and the fornicator gets nothing!
الولد للفراش وللعاهر الحجر
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 59 من 89|شرح العدة في شرح العمدة|كتاب الطلاق|فصل في المقصود بالأقراء|صالح الفوزان|الفقه|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:01:50)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.