If he chooses neither of them and says, “I love everyone—my father and my mother,” then lots are drawn between them, since there is no other way to designate one of them.

Issue: If he chooses his mother, he stays with her at night and with his father during the day, so that his father may discipline him. If he chooses his father, he stays with him both night and day; however, his father must not prevent his mother from visiting him, for it is not permissible for him to do so.

If he chooses his mother and then changes his mind and chooses his father, he returns to his father’s custody; and the converse likewise applies.

His statement, “He is not left”—that is, the child in custody—“in the custody of one who will not protect and properly care for him,” applies even if he chooses that person, and even if that person has a greater claim to custody than the other. This is because the purpose of custody is to protect the child from what may harm him and to look after his welfare. That purpose is lost when he remains with someone who does not protect him from corrupting influences or properly raise him.

His statement, “After the age of seven, the father has the greater right to the girl”: a girl is not given a choice after the age of seven; rather, her father has the greater right to her, on condition that he does not neglect her. Thus, if he takes her and leaves her with her mother’s co-wife, who does not look after her welfare but neglects her, favors her own children, constantly rebukes her, and makes her life difficult, then in that case he is not granted custody.

The scholars, may Allah have mercy on them, differed over this issue and held several views. Some maintain that a girl should be given a choice just as a boy is given a choice. They said that the fact that this ruling is reported regarding a male does not exclude the female, because the rationale is the same: