Denying the child without making Li`an

Q 2: A man died a month ago, after having been married for ten years. Immediately following his wife's delivery of a child, he divorced her and denying the child insisting that it was not his. Whenever we talked with him about this matter during his lifetime, (Part No. 20; Page No. 329) he would refuse to attribute an illegitimate son to himself.He did not give the child his name. The brother of the deceased calculated the estate and did not include the child among the legal heirs. The deceased did not make Li`an (allegation of adultery against a wife, accompanied by mutual invoking of Allah’s Curse/Wrath if lying) during his lifetime, nor did he file the case to the legal judiciary system. The child lives now with his maternal grandfather. What are the necessary steps that the Shari`ah demands to be taken regarding the child? We ask Allah to preserve you, bless you and keep you under His Care and Success. As-salamu `alaykum warahmatullah wabarakatuh (May Allah's Peace, Mercy, and Blessings be upon you).

A: The child in question should be attributed to the deceased father, because the father did not make Li`an during his life. The Prophet, (peace be upon him) stated, The boy is for the bed (i.e. for the owner of the bed where he was born), and stone is for the adulterer. The story of `Abd ibn Zam`ah and the claim of Sa`d ibn Abu Waqqas, both constitute clear evidence on this issue.