QUESTION:
What do the Scholars of the mighty shari’ah say regarding this case; changing the surname of the child after the father gives divorce? Is the mother allowed to remove the name of the child’s father and place her new husband’s name alongside the name of the child as a surname?
Questioner – Sister from England
ANSWER:
بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب
Removing the name of the child’s actual father and replacing it with the new husband’s name cannot be done. As the norm is that the father’s name is used alongside the child’s name as a surname. For example, Fatima daughter of Zayd is written Fatima Zayd, so it is known that Zayd is the father of Fatima. Hence removing the actual father’s name and writing the new husband’s name is though the child is being ascribed to someone other than his real father, which is not allowed and is deserving of the curse of Allāh Almighty, the Angels and the whole of mankind, as it is stated in a Hadīth,
“مَنِ ادَّعٰی اِلٰی غَیْرِ اَبِیْہِ فَعَلَیْہِ لَعْنَۃُ اﷲِ وَالْمَلٰئِکَۃِ وَالنَّاسِ اَجْمَعِیْنَ لَا یَقْبَلُ اللہُ مِنْہُ صَرفًا وَّلاَ عَدْلًا”
“Whosoever leaves his own father and ascribes himself to another, on this person is the curse of Allāh, Angels and the whole mankind; Allāh will not accept his obligatory deeds nor his voluntary deeds.”
[Kanz al-‘Ummāl, vol 6, pg 78, Hadīth 15309]
In the second Hadīth it is stated,
“من ادعی الی غیرا بیہ فالجنۃ علیہ حرام”
“Whoever ascribes themselves to someone other than their own father, Paradise is harām upon this person.”
[Sahīh al-Bukhārī, 2/619 & Sunan Abī Dāwūd, 1/57]
It is stated in Fatāwā Faiz al-Rasūl when this is the warning for someone who attributes themselves to someone other than their own father; then more deserving of this warning is that person who ascribes someone else to a person other than that person’s own father.
[Fatāwā Faiz al-Rasūl, vol 2, pg 714]
Most of the time in doing this, the intention is to move the actual father from the mind of the child and to tell the child that the new husband is the actual father. If this is the intention then it is even more harām and impermissible.
واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadri
Translated by Hamza Hussain
Read the original Urdu answer here – [Q-ID0302] I’ve been divorced and I’m now married to someone else, can I change my child’s surname?
Also see:
[Q-ID0091] Is it okay for me to change my surname to my husbands after marriage?
[Q-ID0303] I will pass my newborn baby to my sister to adopt and take care of, is this okay?
[Q-ID0455] Is it necessary to have our Father’s name as our surname?
[Q-ID0823] Can I use my name as a surname for my adopted son?
