Egypt’s Public Prosecution ordered the return of five-year-old Shenouda back to his Christian adoptive parents with temporary custody on Tuesday, 29 March, after a fatwa (religious edict) by the country’s Grand Mufti, the government’s first and primary source of religious authority.
Shenouda is set to return to his adoptive mother, Amal Ibrahim, who was instructed by the prosecution to complete all legal fostering procedures to finalize her complete custody. Shenouda was previously placed in an orphanage, renamed Youssef, and assigned the Islamic faith after the court declined to rule custody to his family.
Al-Azhar International Fatwa Center, the online platform for Al-Azhar religious edicts, recently stated that in the case a child is found by non-Muslims, then he should follow the religion of those who found him; thereby indicating that Shenouda remains Christian, as per the religion of those who found him, according to the “Egyptian Streets” website.
