Section: If a woman arrives from the land of the Romans and she has a child (40) with her, and a man acknowledges him, [the child’s] lineage shall be attached to him because of the possibility of [it being his] and the absence of any challenger. This is because it is possible that he entered their land, or she entered the lands of Islam and he had intercourse with her (41); and caution is exercised for the establishment of lineage. For this reason, if a man's wife gives birth while he is away from her, twenty years after his absence, the child is attached to him, even if his arrival to her is not known, nor is her departure from her town known.

Section: If he acknowledges the lineage of a minor, he is not thereby acknowledging the marriage of his mother. This is the opinion of al-Shafi'i. Abu Hanifa said: If she is famous for being free, he is [thereby] acknowledging her marriage, because the lineages and circumstances of Muslims must be presumed to be correct, and that is [by assuming] he was born to her in a valid marriage. We argue that the marriage is not a necessity of his wording nor its content, so he is not acknowledging it, just as if she were not known for being free. What they have mentioned is not correct; for lineage is presumed to be correct, yet it may be attached due to intercourse in an invalid marriage or by ambiguity (shubha), so he is not obligated by his acknowledgement to what his wording does not include and does not necessitate (42).

Section: If he has a slave woman who has three children, and she has no husband, nor has he acknowledged having intercourse with her, and he says, "One of these is my child," his acknowledgement is valid, and he is asked to clarify. If he specifies one of them, his lineage and freedom are established. Then he is asked about the manner of the procreation (istilad). If he says, "It was through marriage (43)," then the child bears the wala' (clientage), because he has been touched by slavery, and the mother and her other two children are pure slaves. If he says, "I procreated her while she was in my possession," then the acknowledged one is free by origin, no wala' is upon him, and the slave woman is an umm walad (mother of a child). Then, if the acknowledged one is the eldest, his two siblings are children of an umm walad, and their ruling is the same as hers regarding emancipation upon the death of their master. And if he is