Azhar Ghouse v. Chamed Ghouse and Others – sllr 1986 volume 1 page 048

In Azhar Ghouse v. Mohamed Ghouse and others, the Court of Appeal addressed whether a child adopted under the Adoption of Children Ordinance (No. 24 of 1941) is deemed “a child born in lawful wedlock” for purposes of intestate succession governed by Muslim law, despite the prevailing principle that adoption, under Quranic and traditional Muslim law, does not establish consanguinity for inheritance. The key issue concerned the interpretation of section 6(3) of the Adoption Ordinance in conjunction with section 2 of the Muslim Intestate Succession Ordinance, particularly in determining whether statutory provisions or religious principles should control the entitlement of adopted children to succeed to their adoptive parents’ estate. It was determined that the statutory enactments operate to