Assalamu alaikum, the one who has lost his father or both his mother and father, prior to attaining puberty, is considered an orphan. Even if mother is alive, child can still be an orphan Also, i dont know about the background of the following website, however, it also mentions it in there: "Islamic Definition of an orphan, however is as follows: "A child,mle or female, whose father dies before the child attains puberty." For details kindly refer to: 1. Al-jam 'li Adham al-Qur'an (by al-Qurtubi) Vol-II page-14 and Vol-II page-14 and Vol-V, page-8. 2. Ahkam al Qur'an (y Abu Bakr Ibn al-Arabi), Vol-I page-215. 3. Al-fiqh al Islami wa Idiuatuhu (by Dr Wahbah al-Zuhayli) Vol-VIII,page-79." http://www.cii.gov.pk/faq.asp Wasalam, Haroon
aH, i was not talking about rasulAllah sallAllahu 'alaihi wasallam. a question just came to my head after i read: if someone has lost only one parent, are they still called yateem? or is there another word for it?
actually, the line was specific from a tafsir and in context meaning RasulAllah sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam had lost both parents in his childhood. so when he was born, sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam, his father had already passed away.
i was told by one scholar that yateem in fiqh is one who has lost both parents. if only one, then not a yateem.
well, i did a search for yateem (يتيم) in Sakhar dictionary (القاموس) and it returned following results (bereaved of parents, either of them or both) فاقد أحد الأبوين أو كليهما (fatherless) يتيم الأب (motherless) يتيم الأم (sole, only) مفرد,وحيد (unequaled, unparalleled, peerless) منقطع النظير