SECTION ON INHERITANCE · 9 – THE INHERITANCE OF THE CHILD OVER WHOM MUTUAL CURSING HAS OCCURRED
2906 – It was narrated from Wāsila ibn al-Asqāʿ (may Allah be pleased with him): The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “A woman inherits from three persons: her freed slave, the child she found on the road and raised, and the child over whom she performed mutual cursing (liʿān) with her husband.” [604]
EXPLANATION
1- If a woman frees her slave, and if the freed slave dies without heirs, his inheritance passes to the woman who freed him.
2- If a child is abandoned on the road and a woman finds and raises him, it is stated that if the child dies, his inheritance would go to the woman. However, inheritance is transferred either through lineage (nasab) or guardianship (walāya). Since the child is not lost (i.e., not a foundling in the legal sense), this woman cannot inherit from him. This is the opinion of the majority (jumhūr).
3- If a woman becomes pregnant or gives birth to a child, and her husband denies that the child is his, and if they separate by mutual cursing (liʿān) before a judge, then if the child dies, his property passes to his mother.
2907 – It was narrated from Makhḥūl (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: The Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) gave the inheritance of the son of the woman who had performed mutual cursing (liʿān) to his mother, and after his mother, to her heirs.
EXPLANATION
If a woman is accused of adultery by her husband and they separate by mutual cursing (liʿān) in court, and she is pregnant as a result of this accusation, then if the child dies, his property passes to his mother. When the mother dies, it passes to her heirs. Nothing passes to the father, because he did not acknowledge the child as his. For details on how mutual cursing (liʿān) is performed in court, see the section on divorce (ṭalāq).
2908 – It was narrated from ʿAmr ibn Shuʿayb, from his grandfather ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr, a narration similar to that of the Messenger of God (peace and blessings be upon him) was reported.