Children do not inherit their parents’ sins

15-4-2008 | IslamWeb

Question:

salaamalaykum , i wanted to know with a reference from the quran and hadith that if a person has been a fornicator/masturbator all his life and then when he is gifted with a child , then does his evil acts inherit in his newborn children. reply asap

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

 

The fact that the father is sinful or dissolute does not necessarily mean that his children will be the same. Abu Jahl was the worst disbeliever and he is considered the Pharaoh of his era. However, his son ‘Ikrimah was a noble companion and a great conqueror.

However, if you mean that the children will be sinful due to the wrongdoing of their father, then the general principal is that every person is held accountable for his own actions and no one will be accounted for the sins of others. Allaah Says (what means): {Every soul, for what it has earned, will be retained.}[Quran 74:38] Allaah also Says (what means): {And no bearer of burdens will bear the burden of another.}[Quran 17:15]

In all cases, whoever has committed fornication or masturbation is obliged to repent to Allaah. Please refer to Fataawa 83654 and 86527 for the conditions of sincere repentance.

Finally, you should know that if one fears Allaah, Allaah may bless his children, Allaah Says (what means): {And let those [executors and guardians] fear [injustice] as if they [themselves] had left weak offspring behind and feared for them. So let them fear Allaah and speak words of appropriate justice.}[Quran 4:9]

Allaah Knows best.