Silsilat al-Ahadith al-Sahihah - Nasir al-Din al-Albani - (1/711)

Silsilat al-Ahadith al-SahihahNasir al-Din al-Albani

for recognizing underlying meanings and effective causes, their influence on legal rulings, and the attachment of rulings to them; and that this is a matter firmly rooted in sound innate dispositions, even those of women.

This description which the woman advanced as evidence, and upon which she made the ruling contingent, was affirmed by the Prophet, who based its consequence upon it. Had it been invalid, he would have set it aside. Rather, his attaching the ruling to it directly proves that it has an effect on the ruling and is its cause.”

He said:

“The hadith indicates that when parents separate and have a child, the mother has a greater right to the child than the father, unless there is something concerning the mother that prevents her from being given precedence, or some quality in the child that requires he be given a choice. No disagreement is known on this point. The successor of the Messenger of Allah ruled accordingly against Umar ibn al-Khattab ...”

By his words, “something concerning the mother that prevents her from being given precedence,” he indicated that the custodian must be Muslim and religiously upright. This is because the custodian is ordinarily keen to raise the child upon her religion and have the child brought up in it; and once the child has grown older and acquired understanding, it becomes difficult for him to leave it. She may also alter him from the innate disposition of Allah upon which He created His servants, so that he never returns to it, as the Prophet said: “Every newborn is born upon the innate disposition; then his parents make him Jewish, Christian, or Magian.” Thus, one cannot be sure that the custodian will not make the Muslim child Jewish or Christian.

By his words, “or some quality in the child that requires he be given a choice,” he indicated that when a boy has reached the age of discernment, he is given a choice, and this hadith does not apply to him. This is due to the hadith of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him): “The Prophet gave a boy the choice between his father and his mother.”

It is an authentic hadith, as I explained in al-Irwāʾ (2254).

Whoever wishes to examine the legal rulings derived from this hadith in detail and with rigorous verification should refer to the work of the erudite Ibn al-Qayyim, Provisions for the Hereafter.

على اعتبار المعاني والعلل، وتأثيرها في الأحكام، وإماطتها بها، وأن ذلك أمر مستقر في الفطرة السليمة حتى فطر النساء. وهذا الوصف الذي أدلت به المرأة، وجعلته سببا لتعليق الحكم به قد قرره النبي ﷺ ورتب عليه أثره، ولو كان باطلا ألغاه، بل ترتيبه الحكم عقيبه دليل على تأثيره فيه وأنه سببه ". قال: " ودل الحديث على أنه إذا افترق الأبوان وبينهما ولد، فالأم أحق به من الأب ما لم يقم بالأم ما يمنع تقديمها أو بالولد وصف يقتضي تخييره، وهذا ما لا يعرف فيه نزاع، وقد قضى به خليفة رسول الله ﷺ على عمر ابن الخطاب ... ". وقد أشار بقوله: " ما يمنع تقديمها " إلى أنه يشترط في الحاضنة أن تكون مسلمة دينة لأن الحاضن عادة حريص على تربية الطفل على دينه، وأن يربى عليه، فيصعب بعد كبره وعقله انتقاله عنه، وقد يغيره عن فطرة الله التي فطر عليها عباده فلا يراجعها أبدا كما قال النبي ﷺ: " كل مولود يولد على الفطرة فأبواه يهودانه وينصرانه ويمجسانه " فلا يؤمن تهويد الحاضن وتنصيره للطفل المسلم. وأشار بقوله " أو بالولد وصف يقتضي تخييره ". إلى أن الصبي إذا كان مميزا فيخير ولا يشمله هذا الحديث، لحديث أبي هريرة ﵁: " أن النبي ﷺ خير غلاما بين أبيه وأمه ". وهو حديث صحيح كما بينته في " الإرواء " (٢٢٥٤) . ومن شاء الاطلاع على الأحكام المستنبطة من هذا الحديث مع البسط والتحقيق، فليرجع إلى كتاب العلامة ابن القيم: " زاد المعاد ".