{"_id":"668da05d0b76658b4c233547","title":"Do fathers with children out of wedlock bear any responsibility for the child?","question":"One thing that I've always wondered and in a way never fully made sense was in regards to kids born out of wedlock. From what I've read, if you're born to a muslim father but your parents weren't married, then you cannot claim him as your father. But it doesn't fully make sense to me? It seems weird that we'd just allow men to abandon their kids. In a way I understand that it might be so we don't encourage having kids when not married, but Muslim men can be with non-Muslim women plus I don't fully understand punishing the child? Because the child cannot claim any rights, inheritance, etc from his father.","answer":"The issue isn't about punishing the child or letting the man off the hook; it's about upholding the sanctity of marriage by restricting certain rights and privileges to those obtained through marriage. Men can't simply abandon children they fathered outside of wedlock. They still bear a moral responsibility towards them, but since these children weren't fathered within the institution of marriage, the men and the children won't be able to claim the legal rights and benefits reserved for those who father within marriage. Nevertheless, the sacred law does not prevent the father from gifting the child any property he owns. Moreover, there are Sharia-compliant methods available for the father to guarantee that the child inherits everything.\nPut simply, if the father is committed to fulfilling his responsibilities to the child, Sharia law offers alternative avenues for him to do so. Conversely, if the father is a deadbeat, he will neglect the child regardless of whether Sharia law officially recognizes him as the legal parent or not.","tags":[{"_id":"668da0010b76658b4c232b9d","tag":"Relationships: Parent and Child","count":111},{"_id":"668d9ffb0b76658b4c232ade","tag":"Marriage: Roles and Responsibilities","count":56}],"createdOn":"2024-07-09T20:41:01.607Z"}