Section 88
Persons entitled to guardianship
of Islamic Family Law (Federal Territory) Act 1984
Although the right to hadhanah or the custody of the child may be vested in some other person, the father shall be the first and primary natural guardian of the person and property of his minor child, and where he is dead, the legal guardianship devolves upon one of the following persons in the following order of preference, that is to say—
(a)
the father’s father;
(b)
the executor appointed by the father’s will;
(c)
the father’s executor’s executor;
(d)
the father’s father’s executor;
(e)
the father’s father’s executor’s executor:
Provided that he is a Muslim, an adult, sane, and worthy of trust.
(2)
The father shall have, at all times, the amplest power to make by will such dispositions as he thinks best relative to the guardianship of his minor children and the protection of their interests, provided that he is in full possession of his senses.
(3)
Subsection (1) shall not apply where the terms and conditions of the instrument vesting the property in the minor expressly exclude the persons mentioned therein from exercising guardianship over the
Islamic Family Law (Federal Territories) 63
property, and in that case the Court shall appoint a guardian of the property of the minor.
(4)
A person shall, for the purposes of guardianship of person and property, be deemed to be a minor unless he or she has completed the age of eighteen years.