Question
What is the ruling of adopting a child?
Answer:
ﺑﺴﻢ اﷲ اﻟﺮﺣﻤﻦ اﻟﺮﺣﯿﻢ
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful
It is permissible in Islam for someone to adopt a child, however, the Islamic legal rulings concerning one’s legitimate biological child will not apply to one’s adopted child, i.e., the adopted child will not become a person’s real child by means of adoption. Thus, it is permissible for the male adopter to marry the female adoptee (who is a non-mahram) and the female adopter to marry the male adoptee (who is a non-mahram). Also, the adoptee cannot inherit from the adopter just like his real children, and if the adopter is a male and the adoptee is a female or vice versa, then when the adoptee reaches the age of maturity, both must observe hijab from one another because they are not each other’s mahrams. Allah (SWT) says: And He has not made your adopted sons your real sons. (Surah Al-Ahzab: verse 4)
Kifayatul Mufti: v. 5, p. 276 (Darul Isha’at); M’aariful Quran: v. 7, p. 92 (Maktaba-e-Darul-’Uloom)
Only Allah knows best
Written by Maulana Mohammad Ahsan Osmani
Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah
Darul Ifta Birmingham