Was what the questioner and his wife did by leaving Canada with the infant daughter, fleeing from her non-Muslim father after he gained her custody, and out of fear of his raising her on atheism and distancing her from Islam, an act that is legally correct or incorrect, especially considering the deceased mother's will that her father not raise her? And is the Muslim grandmother more entitled to the custody of the child than the non-Muslim atheist father, especially since the child was raised on Islam?

If a girl embraces Islam and her disbelieving father wishes to raise her in disbelief, then what the grandmother did by taking her and fleeing with her is praiseworthy and obligatory. This is because a child's Islam is valid, and it is not permissible to allow the father to force her into apostasy. Therefore, custody is not established for a disbeliever over a Muslim, because it is a guardianship, and because the disbeliever would tempt the child away from her religion. Prioritizing the preservation of faith takes precedence over the child remaining with a disbeliever. Furthermore, preventing the father from seeing his daughter is not harmful if it leads to changing her religion.