The slides relate to ISLAMIC CONCEPT OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT. It elaborates on ACKNOWLEDGMENT BY A MUSLIM FATHER OF HIS LEGITIMATE CHILD. Useful for Law students and Professionals.

1. ACKNOWLEDGMENT
AND LEGITIMACY
UNDER
ISLAMIC LAW

2. INTRODUCTION
PARENTAGE
in ISLAM
MATERNITY PATERNITY

3. PATERNITY, HOW
ESTABLISHED
– PATERNITY, UNDER MULIM LAW CAN ONLY BE
ESTABLISHED BY LAWFUL WEDLOCK.
– THE MARRIAGE MAY BE VALID (SAHI) OR IRREGULAR
(FASID) BUT SHOULD NOT BE VOID (BATIL).
– A CHILD BORN OUT OF ZINA (ADULTRY) CAN NOT BE
LEGITIMIZED. (HABIBUR RAHMAN CHOWSHARY V ALTAF
ALI CHOWDHARY)

4. VALID MARRIAGE
OFFER AND ACCEPTANCE
SOUND MIND
FREE CONSENT
NIKAH-NAMA
IMPEDIMENTS

5. IRREGULAR MARRIAGE
UNLAWFUL CONJUNCTION
POLYGAMY
ABSENCE OF WITNESSES
DIFFERENCE OF RELIGION
MARRIAGE DURING IDDAT

6. VOID MARRIAGE
CONSANGUINITY (QURBAT)
AFFINITY (MUSHRAT)
FOSTERAGE (RIZA)

7. MATERNITY, HOW
ESTABLISHED
– UNDER SUNNI LAW, MATERNITY CAN BE ESTABLISHED IN THE
MOTHER WHO GIVES BIRTH EITHER BY A LAWFUL WEDLOCK OR
ZINA (ADULTRY)
– UNDER SHIA LAW, MATERNITY CAN ONLY BE ESTABLISHED BY
LWFUL WEDLOCK AND MERE BIRTH IS NOT SUFFICIENT
– THEREFORE UNDER SHIA LAW, AN ILLEGITIMATE CHILD HAS
NEITHER MATERNITY OR PATERNITY.
– HE/SHE IS CONSIDERED AS FILLIUS NULLIUS; RELATION OF NONE.

8. MEANING OF
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
– Where the paternity of a child, i.e., its
legitimate descent from its father, cannot
be proved by establishing a marriage
between its parents at the time of its
conception or birth, such marriage and
legitimate descent may be established by
“acknowledgement”.

9. CONT…
– An acknowledgement of paternity need not be express.
– Such an acknowledgement may be presumed from the fact
that one person has habitually and openly treated another as
his legitimate child.
– As observed by the Privy Council, “It has been decided in
several cases that there need not be proof of an express
acknowledgement, but that an acknowledgement of children
by a Muhammadan as his sons may be inferred from his
having openly treated them as such.” (Muhammad Azmat v.
Lalli Begum 1881 9 I.A. 8)

10. PARENTAGE
MATERNITY PATERNITY ACKNOWLEDGMENT
by father
VALID OR
IRREGULAR
MARRIAGE
WITHOUR
PROOF
LEGITIMIZE
THE CHILD

11. PRINCIPLE OF THE DOCTRINE
OF LEGITIMACY BY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:
– This is a special mode prescribed by Muhammadan law for establishing
the legitimacy of a child and the marriage of its mother.
– Since a marriage among Muslims may be constituted without any
ceremony, the existence of a marriage in a particular case may be an
open question.
– If no direct proof of such marriage is available, indirect proof may be
relied upon.
– Acknowledgment of legitimacy of a child is one of the kinds of indirect
proof.

12. CONT…
– Thus, under certain conditions, if a Muslim acknowledges a
child to be his legitimate child, the paternity of that child is
established in him. But the doctrine applies only to cases
where the fact of an alleged marriage is an uncertainty.
– It cannot be availed of to legitimize a child who is known to
be illegitimate. The doctrine of legitimacy by
acknowledgement proceeds entirely upon an assumption of
legitimacy and establishment of legitimacy by the force of such
acknowledgement.

13. SPECIAL RULE OF
LEGITIMACY
1. A CHILD BORN WITHIN LESS THAN 6 MONTHS OF MARRIAGE IS
ILLEGITIMATE
2. A CHILD BORN AFTER 6 MONTHS OF MARRIAGE IS LEGITIMATE
UNLESS FATHER DISOWNS IT
3. A CHILD BORN AFTER DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE IS LEGITIMATE:
1. BORN WITHIN 10 LUNAL MONTHS – SHIA
2. IF BORN WITHIN 2 LUNAR YEARS - SUNNI

14. CONDITIONS OF A VALID
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF
LEGITIMACY
Muhammadan law prescribes a special mode of
establishing the legitimacy of a child. When a man
either expressly acknowledges, or treats in a
manner tantamount to acknowledgement of,
another as his lawful child, the paternity of that
child will be established in the man, provided that
the seven conditions are fulfilled.

15. CONT…
1. The acknowledger must possess the legal capacity for entering into a valid
contract.
2. The acknowledgement must not be merely of sonship, but of legitimate
sonship.
3. The ages of the acknowledger and the acknowledged must be such as to
admit of the relation of parentage, i.e., the acknowledger must be at least
twelve-and-a-half years older than the person acknowledged.
4. The person to be acknowledged must not be the offspring of intercourse
which would be punishable under Muhammadan law, e.g., adultery, incest or
fornication.

16. CONT…
5. The parentage of the person to be acknowledged must not be unknown, i.e., the
child to be acknowledged must be known to be the child of some other person.
6. The acknowledged person must believe himself (or herself) to be the
acknowledger’s child, and the child must verify (or at least must not repudiate) the
acknowledgement.
7. The acknowledger should be one who could have lawfully been the husband of the
mother of the child, when it was begotten. Thus, where there is direct proof that there
was no marriage between the man and the mother of the child, or that if there was
such a marriage between them, it would have been void, and then the presumption of
legitimacy cannot be raised by acknowledgement, however strong such presumption
may be. (Rashid Ahmed v. Anisa Khatun, (1932) 34 Bom L.R. 475 PC. 59 I.A. 21)

17. CONT…
– In Rashid Ahmed’s case, A, a Muslim, divorced his wife B, by three pronouncements
of talak, but afterwards, continued to cohabit with her, and to treat her as his wife for
fifteen years. During this period, five children were born to them, all of whom he
treated as his legitimate children.
– However, the Privy Council held that the children were illegitimate. In this case of
divorce by three pronouncements, before A and В could remarry, В should have been
married to another man in the interval and divorced by that man.
– As there was no proof of such marriage with another man and a divorce by him, a
presumption of remarriage between A and В could not be raised, and hence, the
children were held to be illegitimate, and could not inherit from their father.

18. CONT…
– The observations of the Allahabad High Court on acknowledgement of paternity in Muhammad
Allahabad v. Muhammad Ismail (1888-10- All. 289) are relevant. In that case, the Court observed:
“The Muhammadan law of acknowledgement of parentage, with its legitimating effect, has no reference
whatsoever to cases in which the illegitimacy of the child is proved and established, either by reason of a
lawful union between the parents of the child being impossible (as in the case of an incestuous intercourse
or an adulterous connection), or by reason of a marriage, necessary to render the child legitimate, being
disproved. The doctrine relates only to cases where either the fact of the marriage itself or the exact time
of its occurrence with reference to the legitimacy of the acknowledged child is not proved in the sense of
law, as distinguished from disproved. In other words, the doctrine applies only to cases of uncertainty as to
legitimacy, and in such cases, acknowledgement has its effect, but that effect always proceeds upon the
assumption of a lawful union between the parents of the acknowledged child.”

19. EFFECT OF
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
–Presumption of valid marriage
–Can’t be revoked
–No acknowledgment when the marriage is
impossible or disapproved