Egypt.. Al-Azhar Center for Electronic Fatwa issues a fatwa regarding the religion of the child “Youssef / Shenouda”

And in Posted on FacebookAl-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwa said: “A question was sent to the Al-Azhar International Center for Fatwa to inquire about the religion of the child who was found inside a church..“

And the answer:

• In this issue, the scholars have held multiple opinions, and the one that Al-Azhar tends to among these opinions is what a group of Hanafi gentlemen went to, which is that if a foundling child is found in a church and the one who finds it is not a Muslim, then he is on the religion of the one who found him..
• This is what the Hanafi masters stipulated in their books: “If he is found in one of the villages of the people of the Dhimmis, or in a sale or church, he is a Dhimmi.” [الهداية في شرح بداية المبتدي 2/ 415]”

What is the story of the child Shenouda

• The child Youssef or Shenouda, who was a few days old, was found in front of the Church of the Virgin, Mother of Light, north of Cairo.
• After church consultation, the child was adopted by a Coptic family, since they had no children, and an official birth certificate was drawn up for him in the name of the foster parents.
• Fearing that the child would inherit from his adoptive parents, she filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor to challenge his attribution to the foster family.
• The complaint is that the child has been kidnapped and that the mother and father are not the biological parents.
• The couple and the child underwent a DNA test, and it was proven that he was not biologically related to them.
• The child was placed in an orphanage and named “Youssef” instead of Shenouda.
• A new birth certificate was drawn up for the child with a new quadruple name, and he was named Bassem Youssef, instead of Shenouda.
• The child’s religion on the birth certificate was changed from Christianity to Islam
• After 6 months of judicial sessions, the Egyptian Administrative Court decided not to have jurisdiction over the case of the foundling child.

It is mentioned that according to Egyptian law, any foundling child of unknown parents is considered a “natural Muslim”, and that sponsoring an orphan child in the Egyptian constitution is not in any way considered adoption.