What is the ruling on a mother's custody of her five-year-old daughter after her separation from the father and her marriage to a foreigner, especially given her desire to travel with the child, and the father's refusal and referral of the matter to the judiciary?

It is not permissible to reside in non-Muslim lands for one who has a Muslim country where they can reside. It is obligatory to strive to leave those lands and emigrate to the lands of Islam.

As for the custody of children after the separation of the parents, it belongs to the one who is better in religion, character, and ability to provide good Islamic upbringing, and not merely based on affection or sound judgment.

The Sharia has granted custody of a younger girl to her mother as long as she does not marry or reach seven years of age, and to the father thereafter. For an older girl, custody is granted to her father unless she is harmed by her mother's co-wife.

There are several reasons for the mother to lose custody: 1. The mother's marriage. 2. The mother's travel and relocation away from the child's father's place of residence. 3. The environment to which the mother will move, where the child's proper Islamic upbringing cannot be guaranteed.

The mother must choose between her new marriage and the custody of her daughter. She can either maintain her new marriage and leave her daughter with her father if he is trustworthy, or choose her daughter and divorce the second husband, while enabling the child's father to see her.