وَلد

وَلد

Walad (a child) in the language is one born; it is used for one or many, for a small or a grown child, and for a male or a female. Ibn (a son), in al-Jurjani's definition, is a male born from the seed of another of its kind, and the Mawsu'a notes that the son is male while the child (walad) may be either sex. Bint (a daughter) is the feminine of ibn. Hafid (a grandchild) is a child's child. Sibt (a grandson by a daughter, in the lexicographers' usage) is applied by the Shafi'is to a daughter's child, and by the Hanbalis to both kinds of grandchild. Dhurriyya (descendants) means in the majority's usage the children, daughters and their children, while some Hanbalis exclude the children of daughters. Nasl (offspring) is wider than walad. ¹²³

The child follows the better of its parents in religion, by agreement of the jurists. If one spouse is Muslim the child is Muslim; if one parent converts and the child is young, the child becomes Muslim with him, for the child's benefit. The Hanafis hold that if one parent is a People of the Book and the other a Magian, the child is a People of the Book, since Magianism is worse. The Hanafis require for the child to follow the better parent that the two share one abode. ³

The child follows the religion of his parents where the rule of following applies. If the child is in our land and the father in the abode of unbelief, the child is treated as a Muslim by ruling; but the child does not follow a father who is in the abode of Islam while the child is in the abode of unbelief. ⁴

The apostasy of a discerning boy. Abu Yusuf, Zufar, al-Shafi'i and a view of Ahmad hold that it is not valid, since a boy's words have no effect for harm. Abu Hanifa, Muhammad, the Malikis and the known view of Ahmad rule it valid, since Islam depends on sound reason, not puberty. Once his apostasy is established, the rulings of apostasy apply: he does not inherit or pass on an estate, his wife is separated from him, no funeral prayer is made over him, and he is compelled to return to Islam; but he is not killed, because killing is a punishment and he is not of the kind to bear it. ⁴⁵

At birth the call to prayer is recited in the right ear of the newborn, and the summons in the left. In the funeral prayer for a dead person, the father comes first, then the son, then the son's son. ⁵

On leading prayer by the son of an illegitimate union or of li'an, the rulings are set out in their own places. The Hanbalis see no harm in the imamate of a child disowned by li'an if his religion is sound and he is fit to lead; 'A'isha said of the child of illegitimacy that he bears nothing of his parents' sin. ⁵⁶

By agreement, zakat may not be given to one's own child, since the benefits of property are joined between them. A person pays zakat al-fitr for himself and for those whose maintenance is due, including his children; there is a difference on paying it for a child who died or was born after the obligation arose. ⁶

By the majority, a child may perform the pilgrimage on behalf of his parents, on the report of the woman of Khath'am who asked whether she might do it for her aged father. ⁶

A child's lineage is established from the mother by birth, and from the father by the marriage bed, acknowledgement or evidence; it ends only by li'an. ⁶

On sacrifice for a child: if the child is grown, his father is not obliged; if he is a minor without property, the Hanafis report from al-Hasan from Abu Hanifa that it is obligatory, and another narration that it is not obligatory but recommended from the father's own money. If the minor has property, his father or executor sacrifices from it, according to Abu Hanifa and Abu Yusuf, against Muhammad and Zufar. The Malikis make it a sunna for the parent to sacrifice for poor parents and for a young child until the boy reaches puberty; the Shafi'is allow it only for the father and grandfather from their own money. ⁶⁷

The 'aqiqa, the animal slaughtered for a newborn in thanks to God, is a sunna for the Shafi'is and Hanbalis, recommended for the Malikis and permitted for the Hanafis. ⁷

Among the rulings that bind the child to his parents are: circumcision (cutting the foreskin of a male and the membrane of a female, obligatory for some and sunna for others); naming; custody; suckling; maintenance; education; discipline; the duty of the child to obey and honour his parents in what is not sinful; the child's prayer for his father; the prohibition on a parent's curse on his child; the Hanafi dislike of a son calling his father by his name, and the Shafi'i recommendation that a child not name his father by name. These are set out in their own places. ⁸⁹

Preference among children in gifts. The Hanafis, Malikis and Shafi'is recommend equality; the Hanbalis and Abu Yusuf make it obligatory. Preference in affection is not blamed by the Hanafis, since affection is an act of the heart. ⁹¹⁰

Gift of an occupied thing. The Hanafis hold that a house still occupied by the donor's goods cannot be given, while a lent house may be given; the father may take back a gift to his child, according to the Malikis, the Shafi'is and the school view of the Hanbalis, which the Hanafis and a Hanbali narration deny. ¹⁰

An endowment for one's children includes children of both sexes by agreement, and their children are a matter of difference. In a bequest to relatives, the Hanafis do not include parents or children in the apparent view; the Hanbalis and one Shafi'i view include them; the sounder Shafi'i view excludes them but includes grandparents and grandchildren. ¹⁰¹¹

It is sunna for a child to be just in his gifts to his parents, and if he prefers one, al-Darimi says he should prefer the mother. ¹¹

Leave of parents for travel. The Hanafis hold that for a journey in which danger is great, the child may not go without his parents' leave; for a journey without great danger he may go if he does not neglect them. ¹¹

Jihad requires the permission of the parents, as the next part of the entry sets out. ¹¹

Jihad is not valid without the leave of Muslim parents, or the leave of one of them when the other is an unbeliever, unless jihad has become an individual duty, as when the enemy attacks a group of Muslims. ¹²

Parents taking from the child's property. The majority hold that a father may take from his child's property only in need. The Hanafis distinguish: if they are in a town, a poor father may eat without payment; if in the desert and without food, he may eat at its value. The Hanbalis allow a father to take from his child's property what he wishes, and to own it, if the father is in need, on two conditions: it must not injure the child, and he must not give what he takes to another child. They cite the saying 'you and your property belong to your father', and that God calls the child a gift to the father. Ibn Hani' records Ahmad's view that a father who takes from his son's property is not punished as a thief, and that a mother may not give from her son's property except with his leave. ¹²¹³

Khul' on a child's maintenance or suckling. For a weaned child, khul' on his maintenance is valid only for a fixed term, since his maintenance runs for his whole life. For a suckling, khul' on his suckling and maintenance is valid, and if no term is fixed the mother suckles him for two full years, on the verse 'mothers suckle their children two full years for whoever wishes to complete the suckling', and on the saying 'there is no suckling after weaning'. If the husband returns, or the wife or the child dies before the term ends, the husband recovers the balance of the maintenance according to the Hanafis and Hanbalis; the Shafi'is do not allow khul' without a fixed term. ¹³¹⁴

Khul' on custody of the child. The Hanafis allow the khul' and void the condition, since the child's right is to be with his mother while he needs her. The Malikis allow a khul' on the mother's custody, and custody then passes to the father, unless harm is feared or the child's heart is attached to the mother. The Shafi'is hold that the mother's custody does not end by her marrying someone other than the child's father if the khul' fixed a term, since it is a binding hire. ¹⁴¹⁵

The child's inheritance is established between the child and his parents on conditions; the child of illegitimacy is ascribed to his mother and inherits only through her; the child of li'an does not inherit from the one who disowned him, since his lineage is denied. The details are set out in their places. ¹⁵

A vow to slaughter one's child. The Hanafis: by analogy nothing is due, but by juristic preference a sheep is due, and for several children a sheep for each; this is the view of Abu Hanifa and Muhammad and one Hanbali narration. The Malikis say nothing is due; the Shafi'is say the vow is invalid, since it is not an act of devotion. On a narration of Ahmad about a woman who vowed to slaughter her children, she sacrifices a ram for each child. ¹⁵

The child born dead. If the newborn cries or shows signs of life, he is ruled as living. If he is born dead, he is a child in the sense that the waiting period ends with his birth, and blood afterwards is the blood of childbirth. ¹⁵

The rulings on the child in his own right, such as his washing, the funeral prayer over him, and his inheritance and bequests, are set out under their own headings. ¹⁶

A father selling his minor child's property. This is allowed by agreement in general, since the suspicion is removed and a father is more solicitous than another. The Hanafis and Shafi'is allow the grandfather to do it too, since he holds authority over property as the father does; the Malikis and Hanbalis deny it, since the grandfather has no authority over the child's property. ¹⁶

An agent selling his principal's property to the principal's child, or buying for him. The Hanafis, Malikis, Shafi'is and a Hanbali narration forbid selling it to a minor child, since it is like selling to oneself and one person cannot join both sides of a contract. For an adult child, the Hanafis, the Shafi'is in the opposite of the sounder view and a Hanbali narration forbid it; the Malikis and Abu Yusuf and Muhammad allow it at the value; the sounder Shafi'i view allows it; the second Hanbali narration allows it on two conditions, that the agent outbids in the auction and that another conducts the auction. The Hanafis allow it when the agency was given in general terms. ¹⁶¹⁷

A father buying for himself from his child's property, or selling to him, is allowed by the jurists. ¹⁷

The father's receipt of what he bought from his child. The Hanafis hold that a father does not become the receiver by the sale alone, and is not discharged from the price until the judge appoints a trustee for the child to receive it from him and return it to him as a deposit. The Malikis hold that where the giver and receiver are one hand, receipt occurs by intention. The Hanbalis allow the father to make the offer, accept and receive. ¹⁷¹⁸

The child's right to retaliation for a killing belongs to all the heirs of the slain, young and old, male and female, as set out under retaliation. ¹⁸

Killing a child. A parent may not kill his child, on the verse 'do not kill your children for fear of poverty' and on the saying that the gravest sin is to kill one's child for fear that he will eat with you. If a father kills his child, the majority hold that he is not retaliated against, and a grandfather is not retaliated against for his grandson; the Malikis distinguish: he is retaliated against if he lays the child down and slaughters him or splits his belly, and not if he strikes him with a sword or a stick. ¹⁸¹⁹

A child who kills his parents is retaliated against for each parent, according to the majority, by the general texts and the reasons: the need for deterrence lies with the child, a parent loves his child for the child's own sake rather than for his own, and the father has greater sanctity than a stranger. ¹⁹

A father's killing of his child carries no retaliation by the majority, since his offence against the child's life is void; Ahmad in one narration says the son is not killed for his father, because the father's testimony for his son is not accepted. A killing of a parent or child by a just or rebel party in the course of fighting, where the fighting requires it, is not liable; outside the necessity of fighting, it is liable. ²⁰

The testimony of a child for a parent, or a parent for a child, is not admitted; the testimony of one for the other is admitted. ²⁰

The inclusion of parents and children in the 'aqila (the kin who share blood-money): the Malikis, a Hanafi view and one Hanbali view include them; the Shafis, another Hanafi view and the second Hanbali view do not. ²⁰²¹

Theft by a parent from his child's property, and the reverse. The majority hold that a parent is not amputated for stealing from his child's property, on the sayings 'you and your property belong to your father' and 'your children are from your earnings', since hudud are averted by doubts. Abu Thawr and Ibn al-Mundhir amputate a father, by the apparent text of the verse of theft. For a child stealing from his parent, the majority do not amputate him, while the Malikis, a Hanbali narration and al-Kharaqi amputate him. ²¹²²

A parent's slander of his child. The Hanafis, the school of the Malikis, the Shafi'is and the Hanbalis do not punish a parent for slandering his child, by analogy with his non-retaliation for killing him; the Shafi'is and Hanafis discipline him for abuse. A parent who inherits a slander against a woman from his child is not punished unless others share the right. One Maliki view allows the son to claim the slander penalty against his parents. ²²

A child's brigandage (hirabah) against his parent. The Hanafis remove the hudud of brigandage if the victim's child or an unlawful relative is the brigand, since there is an apparent permission to take property at home, and hudud are averted by doubts; the Shafis and Hanbalis agree for a child who takes his father's property as a brigand. A child who kills his father by brigandage is still liable to retaliation. ²²²³

The young of a sacrifice: some jurists require it to be slaughtered with its mother, others do not; details are under sacrifice. ²³

The kid of a goat that looks like a dog: the Hanafis decide its lawfulness by tests (drinking, eating, whether it has intestines or a paunch). The Shafis leave it as a matter of caution unless its shape points to lawfulness. ²³