Hadanah is custody and physical care of a child.
The Canadian position
Canadian courts decide guardianship on best interests; a testamentary nomination is evidence, not a direction.
Canadian law gives effect to whatever a valid will says, so an Islamic concept takes effect here through the drafting rather than automatically.
The Islamic position
Distinguished from wilayah, which concerns the child's property.
Confirm the position for your own family and school with a qualified scholar rather than relying on a general summary.
They are two different offices, and classically they sit in different hands. Hadanah — day-to-day care — goes first to the mother and down the female line, in an order every school sets out differently. Wilayah — authority over the child and over the child’s property — goes to the father and, after him, to the wasi the father named. The schools differ sharply on the order of care, on the age at which care ends and whether the child then chooses, and on whether the grandfather or the mother holds guardianship of property at all.
All four Sunni schools researched and sourced. Reviewed 2026-09-01. Full positions, evidence and sources — Hadanah and wilayah — who cares for a child, and who has authority over the child.
Making an Islamic will in Canada — province by province, and what makes one valid where you live →
This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.
Citations & sources
Every factual claim on this page traces to a source below. Details change — check the original source before relying on any figure, fee or legal position. Anything under “further reading” is related material, not a source for what is stated here.
- Substitute Decisions Act, 1992 — Government of Ontario
- Succession Law Reform Act, RSO 1990, c S.26 — Government of Ontario
- Administering estates — Government of Ontario
- Evidence needed guardianship application ontario — Treadstone Law
- Kinship care vs guardianship ontario — Treadstone Law
- Evidence ircc uses challenge physical presence calculation — Treadstone Law
- When personal care poa takes effect ontario incapacity — Treadstone Law
- Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law