Question

Sir , I happen to know a mother who wanted to get rid of her daughter during her pregnancy so we requested her not to do so and give us the baby girl instead , after getting the girl we requested the mother for father id card or any documentation for guardianship but she refused to tell anything or give any info she even said that she never wanted to know or see us again . After that I tried to contact the courts and Edhi and various other ngos to give me guardianship of the baby girl. But unfortunately in our country by law we have to hand over the child to the state who will then decide wat to do . This I can’t do as I have taken responsibility of the child as a kafeel now. So the only way to keep her and protect her was to give her a neutral name and register her as my daughter in the birth certificate please guide as to my actions are just

Answer

Associating a child towards someone other than the actual fatehr isn’t allowed in Sharia. Although you cite security concerns for the child as a reason, but there could have been alternatives to registering the child as yours. Allah has mentioned in the Quran,

ٱدْعُوهُمْ لِـَٔابَآئِهِمْ هُوَ أَقْسَطُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ فَإِن لَّمْ تَعْلَمُوٓا۟ ءَابَآءَهُمْ فَإِخْوَٰنُكُمْ فِى ٱلدِّينِ وَمَوَٰلِيكُمْ ۚ وَلَيْسَ عَلَيْكُمْ جُنَاحٌۭ فِيمَآ أَخْطَأْتُم بِهِۦ وَلَـٰكِن مَّا تَعَمَّدَتْ قُلُوبُكُمْ ۚ وَكَانَ ٱللَّهُ غَفُورًۭا رَّحِيمًا

Address your adopted children with the name of their fathers. That is more just in the sight of Allah. But if you do not know their fathers, then they are ˹simply˺ your brothers and close associates. There is no blame on you for what you do by mistake, but ˹only˺ for what you do intentionally. And Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.

The verse above clearly highlights that one is not allowed to summon an adopted child as their own child. Rather, he should always be associated with the biological father.

As in your case, the biological father wasn’t known, the girl could have been given a random father name, like Abdullah or Abur Rahman.

واللہ تعالیٰ  ورسولہ الکریم ﷺ اعلم بالصواب

Written by:  Mufti Syed Siraj Ul Arifeen Shah

St. Ives (Cambridgeshire, UK)

02/10/2024 00:15, 28 Rabi ul Awwal, 1446 Hijri