Marital Infidelity And Paternity Dispute in Nigeria: An Islamic Viewpoint

 

Marital Infidelity and Paternity Dispute in Nigeria: an Islamic Viewpoint

By: Dr. Issah Abeebllahi Obalowu

 

Abstract

According to the statistics revealed by the geneticists, there is a rapid and drastic increment in the number of parents that carry out a DNA test to determine the real biological father of their children, whom they have been nurturing for many years.  The phenomenon is said to have resulted from rampant marital infidelity among Nigerians. So, this paper is an attempt to explore the reason for such widespread marital infidelity, the means of curbing it and investigate the Islamic perspective on a DNA test for affirming paternity, and the extent to which the father under whose roof the child was born is compelled with the result of such test. So, the qualitative method is being employed to carry out the research by revisiting the classical literature related to the issue and collecting the data from relevant sources with adequate analysis. After a thorough investigation, the result of the study shows that the major reason for the widespread marital infidelity can be related to the prevailing un-Islamic system of establishing affairs between both sexes by having premarital relationships and intimacy with the opposite sex which usually continues after legal marriage. It also reveals that, based on Islamic jurisprudence, neither a DNA test nor other means of proof can deny the legal husband paternity of a child born under his matrimonial custody and give fatherhood to an adulterer.

 

Summary and Conclusion

The paper addresses the marital infidelity and paternity dispute in Nigeria based on the Islamic point of view. So, the Islamic stance on a DNA test for determining the real biological father of a child is examined. This phenomenon is swiftly growing among Nigerians due to rampant marital infidelity. Likewise, the reasons for the widespread marital infidelity and the Islamic decree on such acts are addressed. Similarly, the mean of curbing marital infidelity in the light of Islamic teachings and guidance, and the Islamic approach to resolving paternity disputes are also discussed.

The research shows that one of the major reasons for the widespread marital infidelity resulted from the lack of proper understanding of Islamic teachings and jurisprudence, hence, several moral and ethical malpractices that are prohibited in Islam occur on the daily basis from the masses. Another main reason that is responsible for this immoral and unethical act can be associated with the premarital relationship between young girls and young boys/men that have become one of the societal norms, despite the total prohibition of such practice in Islam. So, many households resulted in carrying out a DNA test to determine the real biological father of a child born by their legal wife under their matrimonial custody. While in another hand, some men outside the marriage dare to claim a child under another men’s custody based on the DNA test result. 

Surprisingly, some wives also have the courage to deny their legal husband under whose roof the child was born from being the biological father of their children. All these acts are totally condemned in Islam since the only legitimate means of establishing paternity in Islam is through legal marriage that fulfils the requirements. If a wife gives birth six months from the day in which the marriage took place, the baby is considered to be fathered by the husband under whose matrimonial home the baby was born. So, such a child neither can be disowned by the father nor he can be claimed by any other man, except if the legal husband denies being responsible for it during pregnancy or immediately after delivery, then, the baby will be affiliated to the mother alone after mulᾱ‘anah. 

Thus, it is clear that, in Islam, no anyone outside the marriage is allowed to claim a child that is born under another person’s matrimonial custody whether by DNA test or confession. Otherwise, such a person will face the consequences of such a claim and be charged with committing adultery without affiliating the child to him. In Islam, the child is only attributed to the one on whose bed it is born, and the fornicator is deprived of any right. However, no dispute about the fact that a DNA test is one of the modern scientific ways of establishing genealogy that no prohibitive proof has been recorded whether from the Quran and Sunnah or the scholars’ consensus. So, the default verdict on DNA is permissibility and it can be adopted in situations where any classical legal proofs, such as bayyina, firash, iqrar are not involved, or else, the employment of DNA test would be rendered invalid, since the verdict that is established based on the Qur’an, Sunnah or Ijmᾱ‘ supersedes the one that is established based on the technical or scientific proof. So, the employment of DNA tests is restricted to the disputed matters which cannot be established by one of the means approved by the classical proofs.

 Islamic stance that only recognizes the paternity of the legal husband and totally denies the adulterer and places on him capital punishment is the balance and logical solution to such a social problem. In the first place, the verdict serves as a severe punishment for the adulterer, otherwise should be considered as promoting adultery. On another side, the legal husband would not be deprived of his right, as he is the right person to benefit from the child born under his matrimonial custody. 

Therefore, it is obviously clear that the rampant phenomenon of claiming children under another household’s roof by other men outside the marriage is totally condemned in Islam. The legal husband under whose roof the baby was born is only recognized and legit father of the child regardless of the result of the DNA test or any other proof. Such an outsider that dares to claim another person’s child should be punished accordingly under Islamic law.

For full paper, see[1]

 

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[1] See: Obalowu, Issah Abeebllahi, et al., Marital Infidelity and Paternity Dispute in Nigeria: an Islamic Viewpoint, Al-Hikmah International Journal of Islamic Studies and Human Sciences, 5(5), 1-17, 2022. Retrieved from https://alhikmah.my/index.php/hikmah/article/view/299