Kewajipan menanggung nafkah anak tak sah taraf: Satu kajian kes di Negeri Kedah

These days, the births of illegitimate child are on the rise and have raised a great concern among the society.The issue at hand is who will be responsible to provide maintenance to these children? This maintenance issue, if not addressed properly, may cause injustices to illegitimate children.The objective of this writing is to discuss the actual parties responsible for providing maintenance to illegitimate children based on Islamic Law and the current legal provisions.This writing is a socio-legal and qualitative nature based on primary and secondary data sources. Library research also constitutes a principal data source used in this writing by way of inductive and deductive analysis through references from the Holy Quran, al-Sunnah and laws.The outcome if this research is that the mother is the person responsible in providing maintenance to her illegitimate child.If the mother is incapable to do so, the responsibility is then shifted to the mother’s heirs and if none, it will then be the responsibility of the government.There is no corresponding responsibility on part of the father.This situation may cause injustices towards the mother’s part and the children.Thus, a refined mechanism should be adopted in dealing with the issues of welfare and maintenance of illegitimate children to ensure dispensation of justice to all parties