The Maximum Duration of Pregnancy
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Your Eminence! I work away from my family, and I went to visit them on leave. After I returned to my work for a period, I received news that my wife was pregnant. The pregnancy in her womb was delayed beyond its expected time, as I had calculated it from the last time I was with her, and the fetus did not descend until after eleven months. My heart became suspicious of this situation, and I divorced my wife. What is the status of this son, knowing that I am very hesitant to attribute him to my name, even if he is legally attributed to me, in order to ward off people's talk about me? What should I do?
It is appropriate here to reflect on the words of the poet:
What the ignorant person does to his enemies is what the ignorant person does to himself.
This man is undoubtedly ignorant. Why does he divorce his wife just because the pregnancy remained in her womb for eleven months? A pregnancy can remain in the mother's womb for twenty months, and for thirty months, and up to four years, and up to seven years in the mother's womb, until it is mentioned that some fetuses have been born with teeth already grown! So this man divorcing the woman because the usual duration of pregnancy increased by two months is ignorance and a great error, and it is not the truth to believe that this is based on a religious ruling; the Shari'ah does not rule this way at all.
As for the child, the child is his son, and there is no doubt about it, and it is not permissible for him to disown him merely because the pregnancy exceeded the common duration, and it did not exceed the common duration by a long time, it did not exceed it by more than sixty days,Meaning: which is the duration of post-natal bleeding according to many scholars, so the child is his son and it is not permissible for him to disown him merely because he remained in his mother's womb for eleven months, and a man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: (O Messenger of Allah! My wife gave birth to a black boy -Meaning: I and his mother are white, so doubt arose in him, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Do you have any camels?He said: Yes.
He said: What are their colors?He said: Red.
He said: Are there any among them that are -Al-Urq: grayish-white -He said: Yes.
O Messenger of Allah! He said: Where did it come from? -Meaning: How does its color differ from the colors of the other camels?He said: Perhaps it is a trace of blood,The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: your son, perhaps it is a trace of blood) meaning: it is possible that one of his fathers among the camels or one of his mothers among the she-camels was grayish-white.
He said: (Your son, perhaps it is a trace of blood) So the man left feeling reassured, even though the soul may be in anxiety, but what the questioner mentioned does not contain the slightest anxiety,So say to him: he erred in this action if he believed that this was the requirement of the Shari'ah, but if he did not want his wife, he is free, and even so, even if he disliked his wife, we see that he should keep her,By the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He): [Al-Nisa: 19] As for the child, he is his son and it is not permissible for him to disown him.
It is appropriate here to reflect on the words of the poet:
What the ignorant person does to his enemies is what the ignorant person does to himself.
This man is undoubtedly ignorant. Why does he divorce his wife just because the pregnancy remained in her womb for eleven months? A pregnancy can remain in the mother's womb for twenty months, and for thirty months, and up to four years, and up to seven years in the mother's womb, until it is mentioned that some fetuses have been born with teeth already grown! So this man divorcing the woman because the usual duration of pregnancy increased by two months is ignorance and a great error, and it is not the truth to believe that this is based on a religious ruling; the Shari'ah does not rule this way at all.
As for the child, the child is his son, and there is no doubt about it, and it is not permissible for him to disown him merely because the pregnancy exceeded the common duration, and it did not exceed the common duration by a long time, it did not exceed it by more than sixty days,Meaning: which is the duration of post-natal bleeding according to many scholars, so the child is his son and it is not permissible for him to disown him merely because he remained in his mother's womb for eleven months, and a man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: (O Messenger of Allah! My wife gave birth to a black boy -Meaning: I and his mother are white, so doubt arose in him, and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: Do you have any camels?He said: Yes.
He said: What are their colors?He said: Red.
He said: Are there any among them that are -Al-Urq: grayish-white -He said: Yes.
O Messenger of Allah! He said: Where did it come from? -Meaning: How does its color differ from the colors of the other camels?He said: Perhaps it is a trace of blood,The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: your son, perhaps it is a trace of blood) meaning: it is possible that one of his fathers among the camels or one of his mothers among the she-camels was grayish-white.
He said: (Your son, perhaps it is a trace of blood) So the man left feeling reassured, even though the soul may be in anxiety, but what the questioner mentioned does not contain the slightest anxiety,So say to him: he erred in this action if he believed that this was the requirement of the Shari'ah, but if he did not want his wife, he is free, and even so, even if he disliked his wife, we see that he should keep her,By the saying of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He):