How can a woman conceive from her husband who has been absent for twenty years—during which she has had more than 200 menstrual cycles—knowing that pregnancy requires sperm, and that the only miracle was the conception of Jesus (peace be upon him) by Mary (peace be upon her)?

The aforementioned Hadith is authentic, and its ruling, like other rulings of the Sharia, aligns with reason and human nature. It does not mean attributing lineage to the husband in all circumstances, even if pregnancy is impossible. Rather, the default is that a child born on the marital bed is attributed to the husband, unless there is something that prevents the possibility of pregnancy from the husband, in which case the lineage is not attributed to him.

So, if there is no impediment to pregnancy and the husband does not disavow the child through li'an (oath of mutual imprecation), then the child is attributed to him, because Islamic law takes precautions to establish lineage, thereby preventing the harm of lineage loss.

The scenario mentioned in the words of Ibn Qudamah, concerning the attribution of lineage to the husband even if he was absent from his wife for twenty years, does not mean establishing lineage even if the impossibility of intercourse is certain. Rather, it means that the attribution of lineage is possible in this case due to the possibility of the spouses meeting, especially in this era where travel and covering long distances have become easy. However, if the impossibility of this possibility is certain, then the child is not attributed to him.