And in the report of Muhannā ibn Yahyā, he said: “The mother and grandmother have the greater right to the girl until she marries.” Abū ʿAbd Allāh said in Targhīb al-Qāsid: “If the child is a girl, the father has the greater right to her, without her being given a choice. Another report from him states that the mother has the greater right to her until she menstruates.”

This second report is similar to the positions of Mālik and Abū Hanīfa. In al-Mudawwana, Mālik’s position is that the mother has the greater right to the child until puberty, whether the child is male or female. If the child reaches puberty and is female, the circumstances are examined: if the mother lives in a secure household, with protection and safeguards, she retains the greater right to her for as long as she remains unmarried, even if she reaches forty years of age. If the mother lacks such protection, security, and safeguards, or her own conduct is unsatisfactory, the father or testamentary guardian may take the girl from her. The same applies to the other guardians. In this respect, the testamentary guardian is like the father, provided that he takes her into trustworthy and protected care.

The position of al-Layth ibn Saʿd is similar. He said: “The mother has the greater right to the girl until she reaches puberty, unless the mother is unsatisfactory in her own conduct and her upbringing of her child; in that case, the girl is taken from her when she reaches puberty—unless she is still young and there is no fear for her.”

Abū Hanīfa said: “The mother and grandmother have the greater right to the girl until she menstruates. Those other than the mother and grandmother have the greater right to her until she reaches an age at which she may be sexually desired.” Al-Tahāwī’s wording is: “Until she no longer needs such care, just as with a boy, without qualification.”

As for giving a girl the choice, this is al-Shāfiʿī’s position. I have not found it transmitted from either Ahmad or Ishāq, as giving a boy the choice has been transmitted from both of them. It has, however, been transmitted from al-Hasan ibn Sālih ibn Hayy that she is given the choice once her breasts have begun to develop. Giving a boy the choice is the position of al-Shāfiʿī, Ahmad according to the well-known report from him, and Ishāq, on the basis of the hadith reported