Q: A married women and single man had an affair and had an illegitimate child. The husband accepts the child. Now the biological father wants contact with the child who is four. What is the ruling with regard to this? The biological father is now married.
A: The affair you described is indeed sad from whichever angle one looks at it. The people involved obviously had to make sincere and strong taubah (repentance) continuously.
As regards the child, since the woman is married, its lineage will be attributed to her husband and not the biological father. The child will be considered as a child of that marriage and the husband will be regarded as the legitimate father. This is based on the hadith of Rasoolullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) that “A child (born from zina) will belong to the marriage, and for the adulterer will be stoning.”
The man who committed adultery with the woman will, therefore, have no right over the child whatsoever.
And Allah knows best
Mufti Siraj Desai