Fatwa ID: 03103

Answered by:  Imam Abdul-Malik Sheikh​

Question:

If a woman has children from 2 husbands, can those kids marry each other? When they have different fathers and the same mother?

Answer:

In The Name Of Allah, The Most-Merciful, The Most Kind

Children who share one parent are considered to be half-siblings and therefore marriage between them is not allowed. Allah said:

“Prohibited to you [for marriage] are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your father’s sisters, your mother’s sisters, your brother’s daughters, your sister’s daughters, your [milk] mothers who nursed you, your sisters through nursing, your wives’ mothers, and your step-daughters under your guardianship [born] of your wives unto whom you have gone in. But if you have not gone in unto them, there is no sin upon you. And [also prohibited are] the wives of your sons who are from your [own] loins, and that you take [in marriage] two sisters simultaneously, except for what has already occurred. Indeed, Allah is ever Forgiving and Merciful”(Surah an-Nisa: 23)

The scholars explained that a sister can be from both parents or either one of them. Therefore, in answer to your question marriage between children with different fathers will not be allowed if they have the same mother (Al-Ikhtiyar Li Ta’lil Al-Mukhtar of Imam Al-Mawsuli, Vol 4 p105, Dar al-Ma’rifah, Beirut)

Only Allah Knows Best

Written by Imam Abdul-Malik Sheikh

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham