Review of Mother’s Guardianship

Abstract

Guardianship, in law, is the power and authority granted to a person by law to care for an incompetent or his/her property. In Islam, a child’s guardianship has a different concept from custody and one can declare that the two terms, although very similar, are in need of revision in the legislation process. It must be noted that according to law, the people having guardianship are the father and the paternal forefather and there is no place for mother in the vital matter of guardianship. According to arguments, such a concept can be deployed for the mother too because the verses in Quran and the accounts which prioritize the forefather’s guardianship over that of the mother are those regarding the marriage of a virgin girl and so generalizing this point to other areas is open to criticism and we can permit such a right for the mother in other areas other than marriage.