Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

The National Council for Women has recently raised a new issue, where the Council called for the necessity of creating equal rights for Christian women married to Muslim men in the cases of custody and inheritance, especially after the calls from some jurists to grant the Christian women   rights in her Muslim husband's inheritance as well as granting   custody of her children as is the case with the Muslim wife.

اWithin this context, the case of Andrew and Mario has circulated around the Egyptian judiciary for more than ten years and has not yet been settled   . Kamīlyah Lutfī Jāb Allāh (a Christian mother) has since filed 25 cases   to obtain custody of her sons and not change their religion from Christianity to Islam, after their father Medhat Labīb Ramsīs converted to Islam.

 

Rose al-Yūsuf opened this thorny issue which is closely related to religion, especially after the spread of divorce cases among Muslim and Christian women and their custody cases.
 

Jurists and activists in the field of women's issues have a viewpoint regarding inheritance and custody rights of Christian women married to Muslim men.

 

‘Azza Sulaymān, head of the Centre for Egyptian Women's Legal Assistance, stated the importance and fairness of guaranteeing the Christian wife's rights in her children's custody as well as her Muslim husband's inheritance after his death. Years ago, she requested that the centre enforce such requests within the draft amendment to the Personal Status Law, but her demands were criticized by the Church leaders and the Azhar under the pretext that this would encourage   marriage between Christian women and Muslim men.

 

Sahar Mansr, social researcher and activist believes that the Christian wife has the right to inherit her Muslim husband’s property as long as Islam legalized marriage between Muslims and Christian women. She adds that custody is the right of any mother regardless of religion.

 

Najīb Jibrā’īl, legal advisor to Pope Shenouda and head of the Egyptian Federation for Human Rights asserted that depriving the Christian wife of her rights in her Muslim husband's inheritance as well as her children's custody contradicts with the Egyptian Constitution and the international conventions, referring to Egyptian Mufti Dr. ‘Alī Jum‘ah's legal opinion that nursery is not related to religion and the children's best interest must be taken into account.

 

Regarding the Azhar stance, Dr. ‘Abd Allāh al-Najjār, member of the Islamic Research Complex, said the debate over the legacy of the Christian wife from her Muslim husband was resolved by Article 7 of the inheritance law which stipulates the non-legacy of any party of different religions, stressing that this article is not discriminatory against Christian women.