Is it a condition for a stepdaughter to be in one's care?
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The questioner : First: May Allah grant you a great reward for providing this opportunity for your sons and brothers. Second: My question has two parts. Regarding the stepdaughter, is it a condition, according to the correct view, that she be in one's care, or not?
The Shaykh : Yes, the correct view is that the prohibition of the stepdaughter is not conditioned on her being in one's care. The evidence for this is the saying of Allah the Exalted:[An-Nisa 4:23]. Allah the Exalted mentioned two descriptions: those in your care, and secondly, from your wives with whom you have had intercourse. Then He said: [An-Nisa 4:23], and He was silent regarding the first condition. This indicates that the first condition is not considered, but rather it is a majority condition, meaning that based on the fact that it is the norm for the stepdaughter to be with her mother, in the care of the husband, for this reason the majority of scholars hold, and it is the stronger position, that it is not a condition for the stepdaughter to be in a person's care. Rather, even if she did not come until after he divorced her mother, she is still a stepdaughter if he had intercourse with the mother. And even if she were, for example, from a previous husband, and does not know the second husband, and was not with him, she is also forbidden to him.
The questioner : I have answered the second part of the question, but if you would allow me another question?
The Shaykh : No, no.
The Shaykh : Yes, the correct view is that the prohibition of the stepdaughter is not conditioned on her being in one's care. The evidence for this is the saying of Allah the Exalted:
your step-daughters under your guardianship [born] of your wives unto whom you have gone in
وربائبكم اللاّتي في حُجوركم من نسائكم اللاّتي دخلتم بهنّBut if you have not gone in unto them, there is no sin upon you.
فإن لم تكونوا دخلتم بهنّ فلا جناح عليكمThe questioner : I have answered the second part of the question, but if you would allow me another question?
The Shaykh : No, no.