CAIRO: Unlike regular custody battles, over 50 cases currently being tried in Egypt’s Family Courts are turning into religious conflicts. Christian men who converted to Islam are seeking custody of their children based on the religious difference.
Custody laws give mothers the right to raise their children until they turn 18, provided that the child is given the opportunity to choose which parent to live with at the age of 15.
In recent cases, some men have used the religion factor to override this law and gain custody of their children. After converting from Christianity to Islam, some men argue that their children can’t be raised by their Christian mothers. They say their concern is that the children will be raised on the Christian faith, and not the newly-acquired faith of their fathers: Islam.
The change in how these cases are perceived – from mere legal procedures to religious conflicts – was triggered by a court ruling passed by a Family Court in Alexandria last September, granting custody of nine-year-old Christian twins, Andrew and Mario, to their Muslim father. The court based its ruling on a fatwa (religious edict) issued by Egypt s Dar El-Ifta on March 27, 2006, stipulating that children should follow the religion of their fathers unless they willingly change their religion as adults.
While the fatwa in essence said the mother can have custody of the children – raising Muslim children by a mother of a different faith doesn’t contradict Islam – it also added a set of restrictions.
The fatwa, issued by Egypt’s Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa, a copy of which was obtained by Daily News Egypt, says, “The religion of the two children should follow their Muslim father’s, unless they change their religion with full will after puberty. If the mother teaches them her religion, takes them to churches, brings someone to teach them Christianity or it is feared that they may get familiar with a religion other than Islam or get used to non-Islamic customs and traditions by living with their Christian mother, she would lose their custody.
According to the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organization (EUHRO), there are over 50 court cases of the same kind, following the Andrew-Mario verdict.
In a similar case, the Cairo Court of Appeals ruled on March 9, 2008 that 10-year-old Nancy and her five-year-old brother Andrew should live under the custody of their father, Ali Abdullah Ahmed, who converted to Islam and divorced their mother. The verdict was based on the same fatwa issued by Gomaa.
A first instance court had given the mother custody on May 9, 2006. The husband then appealed the ruling and submitted a copy of Gomaa’s fatwa and consequently gained custody of the children.
Since there is no legal provision in the Personal Status Law denying a Christian mother custody after her husband/divorcee converts to Islam, a group of the involved Christian mothers called on President Hosni Mubarak to step in.
The EUHRO, which oversees these cases, sent an appeal to President Mubarak to intervene.
“There is no provision in the Personal Status Law preventing a Christian mother from having custody of her children in case the husband converts to Islam, Naguib Gobraiel, president of the EUHRO, told Daily News Egypt.
The ruling, he continued, “accentuates the concept of a religious state. Gobraiel explained that case has changed from a legal to a religious battle because the judges were influenced by Article 2 of the Constitution that says Sharia is the source of legislation.
Lawyer Gamal Hanafi, a Muslim Brotherhood MP, said, “Article 2 of the Constitution addresses the legislature not the judge. Therefore, judges should apply the provisions of law without being influenced by the legislation’s Islamic frame of reference.
Hanafi called for “disengagement between the Personal Status laws and Sharia jurisprudence.
This case needs to be studied carefully so that Muslims and Christians can have equal legal rights, Hanafi told Daily News Egypt, expressing his reservation on Article 2.
“The position of Islamic law in the case of a Christian mother’s custody of her children is clear and does not need interpretation, Abdel-Mo’ti Bayoumi, professor of Sharia and former Dean of the faculty of fundamentals of religion at Al-Azhar University, told Daily News Egypt.
“It is the right of the Muslim father to teach his children about Islam and make them believe in Prophet Mohamed and Jesus. But the mother will raise the children on the Christian teachings only, which would make them adverse to Islam and Muslims, he added.
