What is your ruling on a man who divorced his wife because she was pregnant for a period of eleven months?
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The questioner : May Allah preserve you, O Shaykh. A questioner asks and says: I work far from my family, and I went to visit them on leave. After I returned to my work for a period, news reached me 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 self became suspicious of this situation, and I divorced my wife. The question is: what is the status of this child? I am very hesitant to attribute him to my name, even if he is legally connected to me, in order to ward off the talk of people. What should I do?
The Shaykh : It is appropriate here to reflect on the words of the poet:
"What the ignorant person does to his enemies is not as much as 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. It is even mentioned that some fetuses were born with teeth already grown. So this man is ignorant in that he divorces the woman because the duration of the pregnancy exceeded the usual period by two months. This is a great error, and he has no right to believe that this is based on a Shari'ah ruling. The Shari'ah does not command this at all.
As for the child, the child is his son, and there is no doubt about it. It is not permissible for him to disown him simply because the pregnancy exceeded the usual duration. It did not exceed the usual duration by a long time; it only exceeded it by sixty days, which is the period 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. A man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said:Bulugh al-Maram 8:160 — meaning: I and my mother are white, so this created doubt in him — فقال النبي صلى الله عليه وعلى آله وسلم له: هل لك من إبل؟ قال: نعم، قال: ما ألوانها؟ قال: حمر، قال: هل فيها من أورق - الأورق: الأشهب- قال: نعم، يا رسول الله! قال: من أين جاء؟ - أي: كيف يخالف لونه ألوان الإبل؟ قال: لعله نزعه عرق يعني: يمكن أن يكون أحد من آبائه من الجمال أو أمهاته من النوق أورق.
قال: ابنك هذا لعله نزعة عرق فخرج الرجل مطمئناً، مع أن النفس يكون فيها قلق، أما ما ذكره السائل فليس فيه من القلق أدنى شيء، فقل له: إنه أخطأ في هذا التصرف إذا كان يعتقد أن هذا مقتضى الشريعة، أما إذا كان لا يريد زوجته فهو حر، ومع ذلك حتى لو كره زوجته فنرى أن يمسكها، لقول الله تبارك وتعالى: فَإِنْ كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَى أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئاً وَيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْراً كَثِيراً أما الولد فهو ولده ولا يحل له أن يتبرأ منه. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) 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 gray? — Al-awraq means grayish-white — He said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah! He said: Where did that come from? — meaning: how does its color differ from the colors of the camels? He said: Perhaps it is a trait inherited from a relative, meaning: it is possible that one of the male ancestors of the camels or one of the female ancestors of the she-camels was grayish-white. He said: This son of yours, perhaps it is a trait inherited from a relative. So the man left reassured, even though the soul is prone to anxiety. As for what the questioner mentioned, there is no anxiety in it at all. So tell him: he erred in this action if he believed that this is what the Shari'ah requires. However, if he does not want his wife, he is free. Nevertheless, even if he dislikes his wife, we see that he should keep her, due to the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: "But if you dislike them, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed much good." As for the child, he is his son, and it is not permissible for him to disown him.
The Shaykh : It is appropriate here to reflect on the words of the poet:
"What the ignorant person does to his enemies is not as much as 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. It is even mentioned that some fetuses were born with teeth already grown. So this man is ignorant in that he divorces the woman because the duration of the pregnancy exceeded the usual period by two months. This is a great error, and he has no right to believe that this is based on a Shari'ah ruling. The Shari'ah does not command this at all.
As for the child, the child is his son, and there is no doubt about it. It is not permissible for him to disown him simply because the pregnancy exceeded the usual duration. It did not exceed the usual duration by a long time; it only exceeded it by sixty days, which is the period 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. A man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and said:
O Allah's Messenger, my wife has given birth to a black son.
يا رسول الله! إن امرأتي ولدت غلاماً أسودقال: ابنك هذا لعله نزعة عرق فخرج الرجل مطمئناً، مع أن النفس يكون فيها قلق، أما ما ذكره السائل فليس فيه من القلق أدنى شيء، فقل له: إنه أخطأ في هذا التصرف إذا كان يعتقد أن هذا مقتضى الشريعة، أما إذا كان لا يريد زوجته فهو حر، ومع ذلك حتى لو كره زوجته فنرى أن يمسكها، لقول الله تبارك وتعالى: فَإِنْ كَرِهْتُمُوهُنَّ فَعَسَى أَنْ تَكْرَهُوا شَيْئاً وَيَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ فِيهِ خَيْراً كَثِيراً أما الولد فهو ولده ولا يحل له أن يتبرأ منه. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family) 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 gray? — Al-awraq means grayish-white — He said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah! He said: Where did that come from? — meaning: how does its color differ from the colors of the camels? He said: Perhaps it is a trait inherited from a relative, meaning: it is possible that one of the male ancestors of the camels or one of the female ancestors of the she-camels was grayish-white. He said: This son of yours, perhaps it is a trait inherited from a relative. So the man left reassured, even though the soul is prone to anxiety. As for what the questioner mentioned, there is no anxiety in it at all. So tell him: he erred in this action if he believed that this is what the Shari'ah requires. However, if he does not want his wife, he is free. Nevertheless, even if he dislikes his wife, we see that he should keep her, due to the saying of Allah, Blessed and Exalted is He: "But if you dislike them, it may be that you dislike something in which Allah has placed much good." As for the child, he is his son, and it is not permissible for him to disown him.