Praise be to Allaah.
We ask Allaah to forgive
you and pardon you, for zina is a major sin and a serious crime, especially
on the part of one whom Allaah has blessed with marriage, but she was
ungrateful for the blessing of Allaah, betrayed her husband, transgressed
his honour and contaminated his bed. Hence the punishment for this married
woman is to be stoned to death, as a punishment from Allaah, and Allaah is
Almighty and Most Wise.
But by His Mercy, He shows
kindness to His slaves, gives them respite and invites them to repent, and
He accepts repentance and gives reward for it. How merciful, great and kind
He is, may He be glorified and exalted.
Allaah says (interpretation
of the meaning):
“And those who invoke
not any other ilaah (god) along with Allaah, nor kill such person as Allaah
has forbidden, except for just cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse
___and
whoever does this shall receive the punishment.
69. The torment will be
doubled to him on the Day of Resurrection, and he will abide therein in
disgrace;
70. Except those who
repent and believe (in Islamic Monotheism), and do righteous deeds; for
those, Allaah will change their sins into good deeds, and Allaah is
Oft‑Forgiving, Most Merciful”
[al-Furqaan 25:68-70]
So continue repenting and
turning to Him, beseeching Allaah to accept it from you, and Allaah accepts
the repentance of those who repent.
One of the signs that
Allaah has accepted repentance is that He conceals His slave and does not
expose him, and He extends his life span so that he will draw close to Him
and make his peace with Him. We praise Allaah for having helped you to pray
regularly and wear hijab, and to obey Him and repent. We hope that Allaah,
the Most Generous and Most Merciful, has forgiven you, and we ask Him to do
that.
If Allaah has concealed
you, then do not break that concealment that He has bestowed upon you, and
do not tell your husband or anyone else anything about what happened. Your
repentance is regret and righteousness and doing good deeds.
As for the child, he is to
be named after your husband, and that is not cancelled out unless he rejects
the child by means of li’aan, because the basic principle is that the child
belongs to the marital bed, as the Prophet (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) said.
The scholars of the
Standing Committee were asked: There is a married woman who committed zina
when she was still married. She got pregnant as a result and gave birth to a
child, either male or female. With whom should that child stay? Should he
stay with her husband based on the hadeeth “The child is for the (owner of
the) bed and the fornicator gets nothing” or not? If he stays with his
mother’s husband, should he adopt him and regard him as one of his own
children with regard to all rights, or will he just be under his care only?
But if he is attributed to the adulterer, should he regard him as one of his
real children or keep him with him even though he is still illegitimate?
They replied: If a married
woman commits zina and becomes pregnant, then the child belongs to the
(owner of the) bed (i.e. the husband), because of the saheeh hadeeth. If the
owner of the bed wants to deny the child by engaging in li’aan then he may
do that before the shar’i judge, and in that case the child does not belong
to anyone according to the consensus of the Muslims. But adoption is not
permissible and the adopted child does not truly become the child of the one
who adopted him. And Allaah is the source of strength.
End quote from Fataawa
al-Lajnah al-Daa’imah (20/339).
See also the answer to
question no. 85043.
And Allaah knows best.