AMMAN, Jordan — An Arab Christian widow has been ordered by Jordan’s highest court of appeals to surrender custody of her two minor children to be raised as Muslims. Seeking benefit payments after her soldier husband’s death in 1994, Siham Suleiman Moussa Qandah was shocked to be told that her husband had secretly converted to Islam three years before, which made his children legally Muslims. Qandah’s estranged Muslim brother opened a case in May 1998 requesting full custody of the children to see that they received Islamic instruction. A three-year civil court battle followed.
In the final judicial appeal heard Feb. 28, the court ruled that custody of Qandah’s children be handed over to their Muslim uncle. Qandah was faulted for enrolling her children in Christian religious classes at school and taking them to church services with her. The 36-year-old mother tearfully said she could no more deny her Christian faith than abandon her children.
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