Child Custody Issues

We make a special appeal to all husbands and ex-wives embroiled in a custody battle to consider the following:

Allah Ta’ala advises us in Surah Baqarah: "The mother shall not be hurt through her child, nor shall the further be hurt through his child." Nowadays our couples-at-war are perpetrating the exact opposite of what Our Allah has commanded. We are using kids as pawns in a war of attrition, to get back at the other.

These innocent flowers of Jannah are turned into vicious instruments of hell, when inconsiderate parents give vent to their spite, malice, and craving for vengeance. Mothers will run to the court for maintenance, but deny the father visitation rights. Their ill-considered behaviour results in court cases that cost thousand of rands. Don’t they realise that should they co-operate with the ex-husband, such money could come the way of the children, instead of lining the lawyer’s pockets? Husbands in turn, shirk their duty of maintenance for children. Either they pay too less or nothing at all. While at the same time, ex wives should not extract exorbitant maintenance amounts from the fathers, and then use this money to go on shopping splurges. This is abuse of trust. In short, in custody battles and maintenance there is much abuse of Shariah going on. For Allah’s sake, we call upon all parties to bring this to a halt immediately. Let sanity and Islamic morality prevail.