Q. I
have a daughter in the US who is in her forties now, is married, and has one
daughter nine years old. She is seriously considering adopting another child.
In this world you cannot have a child and not give him your name so he / she
can have an identity to travel and go to school. I know in Islam it is haram to give him / her your name but my
daughter’s logic is as follows:
- She cannot in these days travel
without identity especially in foreign countries.
- She will bring an orphan and
raise him / her as a Muslim.
- She will tell him / her at
the right age that she and her husband are not his real parents and that he / she
is adopted.
Is this allowed in Islam and if
not, what is the alternative?
A.
Actually the reason in Islam regarding the nomenclature has to do with the need
to preserve origins. You can actually petition to have the child maintain its
name, and this can also be changed upon the achievement of citizenship if the
adopted child is NOT presently an American citizen. But your pattern of
thinking brings up something that Professor Abdullah Saeed of Australia
addresses: that of time and context. If American law is that the adopted child
must have its parents' name, then your daughter is correct, for according to
Islamic law, there are two maxims that apply here, one being a sub-maxim of the
other:
1. Necessity brings license.
2. If a situation has certain
problematic points, then the law grants license (to achieve that which is
good).
You may also know that today,
many jurists think of "The goals of the Shari'ah" since we are not
always cognizant of the context for certain Qur'anic rules. What we know is
that God wants us to preserve life and do that which is good. Your daughter's deed
is in keeping with all of these, and the child, as she notes, will be given the
opportunity and knowledge to do what it wants when it achieves adulthood.
May God grant you and her that
which is reserved for those who make the world a better place.
Posted
June 13, 2015