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Malik related to me that he had heard that Umar ibn al-Khattab or
Uthman ibn Affan gave a judgement about a slave woman who misled a man
about herself and said that she was free. He married her and she bore
children. It was decided that he should ransom his children with their
like of slaves.
Muwatta Malik Book 36, Hadith 33
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Malik related to me from Yahya ibn Said from Sulayman ibn Yasar
that Umar ibn al-Khattab used to attach the children of the Jahiliyya
to whoever claimed them in Islam. Two men came and each of them
claimed a woman's child. Umar ibn al-Khattab summoned a person who
scrutinized features and he looked at them. The scrutinizer said,
"They both share in him." Umar ibn al-Khattab hit him with a whip.
Then he summoned the woman, and said, "Tell me your tale." She said,
"It was this one (indicating one of the two men) who used to come to
me while I was with my people's camels. He did not leave me until he
thought and I thought that I was pregnant. Then he left me, and blood
flowed from me, and this other one took his place. I do not know from
which of them the child is." The scrutinizer said, "Allah is greater."
Umar said to the child, "Go to whichever of them you wish."
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Yahya said that he heard Malik say, "The way of doing things
generally agreed upon in our community in the case of a man who dies
and has sons and one of them claims, 'My father confirmed that so-and-
so was his son,' is that the relationship is not established by the
testimony of one man, and the confirmation of the one who confirmed it
is only permitted as regards his own share in the division of his
father's property. The one testified for is only given his due from
the share of the testifier."