Who is disqualified from establishing child custody (Hadanah)?
Chapter on Who is More Entitled to Child Custody
Al-Mughni
Book of Maintenance (Nafaqāt)
Primary text
Custody is not established for a minor child or an insane person because they are incapable of undertaking such a duty and are themselves in need of care. Custody is also not established for a transgressor (*fasiq*) because they are not trusted to fulfill the obligatory duty of custody, and the child has no benefit in being raised by such a person as they will be brought up according to the transgressor's ways. This view is held by 'Ata, Ath-Thawri, Ash-Shafi'i, and the People of Opinion.