Under Islamic law, the father has absolute rights over the children. No Middle East court would ever give a non-Moslem mother precedence over a moslem father. It therefore all comes down to individiuals and families and it can get complicated. That ex Bin Laden wife and daughter who was in the papaers last year for running away from saudi didn't get hauled back or murdered or anything, and I know some estranged families who've sorted things out amicably. But one often reads gruesome stories of deceit and virtual kidnappings because the family pride and religious possessiveness are so much stronger than any Westerner can get his or her head around.