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It has already been stated that a female custodian loses her right to custody if her husband is unrelated to the child. If her husband is a blood relative of the child, there are two possibilities: either he falls within the prohibited degrees of marriage or he does not. If he falls within those degrees, the marriage does not affect her right to custody, whether he himself is entitled to custody, like the paternal uncle or paternal grandfather, or is not, like the maternal uncle or maternal grandfather.

If he falls outside the prohibited degrees, he may either be entitled to custody, like a paternal uncle’s son, or have no such entitlement, like a maternal uncle’s son. If he is entitled to custody, she retains the greater right to the child, provided there is no unmarried female custodian more closely related to the child than she is, even if her husband is more distantly related than the other guardian. If he has no entitlement to custody, she loses her right in all cases, just as she would if he were unrelated to the child. Ibn Wahb held that a husband causes his wife to lose her right to custody even if he is a blood relative of the child.

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There is disagreement over what brings about the loss of a wife’s right to custody when her husband is unrelated to the child. One view is that it occurs upon consummation of the marriage; another is that it occurs upon a judicial ruling ordering that the child be taken from him. This underlies their disagreement concerning a man who divorces his wife, with whom he has a child, and she remarries, but he does not learn of her remarriage until her husband divorces her or dies, or he learns of it but only a short time elapses: may he take the child from her once she is no longer married, or not?

If, however, he knows of her remarriage but does not promptly take the child from her, allowing a long time to pass before her husband divorces her or dies, he may not then take the child from her. By doing so, he is considered to have relinquished his right to the child, subject to the disagreement over whether silence is equivalent to acknowledgment.

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There is also disagreement over the extent to which she loses her right to custody through this marriage. One view is that her right is extinguished altogether; this is the apparent meaning of what is stated in al-Mudawwana. Another is that she loses her right only in relation to the person who took custody of the child during her marriage. A third is that she loses her right only for the duration of her marriage: if her husband divorces her or dies, she regains custody of her child. These three positions form the basis for