Child Custody in Islamic Law

by Ahmed Fekry Ibrahim

Pre-modern Muslim jurists drew a clear distinction between the nurturing and upkeep of children, or "custody", and caring for the child's education, discipline, and property, known as "guardianship". Here, Ahmed Fekry Ibrahim analyzes how these two concepts relate to the welfare of the child, and traces the development of an Islamic child welfare jurisprudence akin to the Euro-American concept of the best interests of the child, enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). Challenging Euro-American exceptionalism, he argues that child welfare played an essential role in...