even if he is a more distant relative than someone who fails to perform the duty.

Third: Custody belongs to whichever of the two parents resides where the child lives. Therefore, if the father is in one land and the mother in another, custody is awarded to the father for fear that the child’s lineage may be obscured by his being far from his father.

Ibn al-Qayyim said, “If, however, the father intends to cause harm and, in order to strip the mother of custody, travels so that the child will have to follow him, this is a ruse that contradicts the Lawgiver’s purpose. It is impermissible to employ such stratagems to separate her from her child in a way that makes seeing and meeting him difficult and that burdens her with the pain of separation and loss. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, ‘Whoever separates a mother from her child, Allah will separate him from those he loves on the Day of Resurrection.’”

Al-Buhūti states in Al-Mubdiʿ, “This is what the authoritative scholars intended.”

He also says in Al-Inṣāf, “This is clearly a form of harm, and he is not to be allowed to do it.”