Re: Al-Albaani: Is Paradise Forbidden for a Child born of Fornication?
Dear brothers and sisters you seem to have misunderstood the post. In the hadith the term that is used in Arabic to refer to the fornicator is, 'Ibn Zaniyyah,' if translated literally it means, 'the son of fornication,' but the Shaikh explained that what is meant by that term is someone who is a habitual fornicator, someone who is addicted to it, so much so that he has become known by it and as such is named the 'son of fornication,' it is such a person that the hadith is referring to. The Shaikh clearly said that by this term, "The child who is born out of fornication and who himself is not a fornicator is **not **what is meant here."
In Arabic, the term, ‘Ibnus-Sabeel,’ literally translated as, ‘Son of the path,’ means a traveller. It doesn't literally mean ‘the path’ got pregnant and then gave birth to a child. So that child’s father/mother is called, ‘Path.’
In Arabic, the term, ‘Ibnul-Ahdhaar,’ literally translated as, ‘Son of warnings,’ means a person who is highly cautious. So the term 'Son of warnings' doesn't mean a ‘warning’ got pregnant and then gave birth to a child. Here is a classical line of poetry with the usage in question:
أَبْلِغْ زِيَادًا وَخَيْرُ الْقَوْلِ أَصْدَقُهُ … فَلَوْ تَكَيَّسَ أَوْ كَانَ ابْنَ أَحْذَارِ
“Inform Ziyad – and the best of speech is that which is most truthful – even if he is intelligent and highly cautious (lit:, ‘son of warnings,’ ‘Ibnul-Aadhaar’)”
In Arabic, the term, ‘Ibnul-Aqwaal,’ literally translated as, ‘Son of many sayings,’ means a person who is given to talking, a habitual talker. It doesn't mean some ‘sayings’ got pregnant and gave birth to a child.
In Arabic, the term, ‘Ibnul-Madinah,’ literally translated as, ‘Son of the city,’ means a city-dweller. It doesn't mean the ‘city’ got pregnant and gave birth to a child. Again, here’s a line of classical Arabic poetry showing how this term is used in such a way:
رَبَتْ وَرَبَا فِي حِجْرِهَا ابْنُ مَدِينَةٍ … يَظَلُّ عَلَى مِسْحَاتِهِ يَتَرَكَّلُ
“It (the wine) was cultivated, and cultivated with it a seasoned city-dweller, who continues to press with his foot on the spade/shovel.”
So in the same way, the term, 'son of fornication,' is not talking about the baby born from that act, because such a child has no sin. It is talking about the habitual fornicator.
Because if it did it would mean that we have one child whose father is called, ‘The Path.’ Another whose father is, ‘Warnings.’ A third whose father is called, ‘Sayings.’ An unfortunate fourth whose father is called, ‘City,’ and the last miserable one has one called, ‘Fornication.’
These are well known expressions, all based on the same grammatical and syntactical rules and understood by the people whose tongue it is in the way it was explained in the original post.
Another thing which proves this is the hadith of the Companion Maa'iz in which it is mentioned that the Prophet sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam ordered that the baby that was born as a result of the fornication be cared for, here is the hadith from Sahih Muslim:
“Abdullah bin Buraidah narrated from his father that Maa’iz bin Maalik Al-Aslami came to the Messenger of Allaah and said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah! I have wronged myself and committed Zinaa, and I want you to purify me.’ But he turned him away. The next day he came to him and said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah! I have committed Zina,’ but he turned him away a second time, and the Messenger of Allaah sent word to his people saying, ‘Do you know whether there is anything wrong with his mind?’ They said, ‘All we know is that he is of sound mind, and he is one of our righteous men as far as we can tell.’ He came to him a third time, and he sent word to them again asking them, and they told him, ‘There is nothing wrong with him or his mind.’ When he came a fourth time, he had a pit dug for him then he ordered that he be stoned. Then the Ghaamidi woman came and said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah! I have committed Zinaa , purify me,’ but he turned her away. The next day she said, ‘O Messenger of Allaah! Why are you turning me away? Perhaps you are turning me away as you turned Maa’iz away. But by Allaah, I am pregnant.’ **
He said, ‘Then no (not now), go away until you give birth.’ When she gave birth, she brought the child to him wrapped in a cloth, and said, ‘Here he is, I have given birth.’ He said, ‘Go away and breast-feed him until he is weaned.’ When she had weaned him, she brought the boy to him, with a piece of bread in his hand and said, ‘Here, O Prophet of Allaah, I have weaned him, and he is eating food.’ He handed the boy over to one of the Muslim men.**
Then he ordered that a pit be dug for her, up to her chest, and he ordered the people to stone her. Khaalid bin Al-Waleed came forward with a stone, which he flung at her head. The blood spurted onto Khaalid’s face and he cursed her. The Prophet of Allaah heard him cursing her and he said, ‘Calm down, O Khaalid! By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, she has repented in such a manner that if the Maks(3)]-collector repented like that, he would be forgiven.’ Then he ordered that the funeral prayer be offered for her, and she was buried.”
So the baby was innocent of course and was not harmed in any way.
A child in Islaam does not bear the sins of the father, Allaah said:
“And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another. And if a heavily laden soul calls [another] to [carry some of] its load, nothing of it will be carried, even if he should be a close relative.” [Faatir 35:18]
I hope this clarifies what was being said.
Jazaakumullaahu khaira.
Was-Salaam
for explanation. Will you please enlight more about the ‘disobedient to his parents’, ‘one who reminds others of his favours’ and ‘drunkard’ too as reported by Nisaa’i.