The Clans
IN THE NAME OF GOD, THE MOST GRACIOUS, THE DISPENSER OF GRACE[33:5]
[As for your adopted children,] call them by their [real] fathers’ names: this is more equitable in the sight of God; and if you know not who their fathers were, [call them] your brethren in faith and your friends. However, you will incur no sin if you err in this respect: [what really matters is] but what your hearts intend – for God is indeed much-forgiving, a dispenser of grace!

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* v.5 : I.e., “make it clear that your relationship is an adoptive one, and do not create the impression that they are your real children” – thus safeguarding their true identity.
* I.e., by making a mistake in the attribution of the child’s parentage, or by calling him or her, out of love, “my son” or “my daughter.”