Does certainty regarding paternity of an illegitimate child affect the prohibition of marriage to the daughter?

Chapter on What is Prohibited to Marry and Combining Between Them and Other Matters

Al-Mughni

Book of Marriage

Book 35 · Issue 5 · Bab 2

Open in Qurani

Primary text

If paternity of an illegitimate child is established, the prohibition on marriage remains absolute, irrespective of how paternity was confirmed. This applies whether the man knew he was the father (e.g., having intercourse during a pure period when no one else had access) or if paternity is uncertain, such as when multiple men shared intercourse with the mother. In cases of shared intercourse resulting in an unknown father, the child is forbidden to all of them because she is the daughter of those they had intercourse with, and definitively the daughter of some among them, thus forbidden to all involved men, similar to how a prior marriage invalidates a subsequent one when the order is unknown.

Supporting text

If forensic lineage attribution (*Qafah*) links the child to one of the fathers, she becomes permissible for the offspring of the other fathers, as she is considered a non-related sister to them. However, she remains forbidden to all who had intercourse with her mother, similar to the ruling concerning a stepdaughter (*rabibah*).