Across cultures, adoption and fostering take different forms. In the Arabic language, adoption ( tabannā ) signifies the creation of a fictive relationship of parent to child, by naming the child as one's own and by endowing him or her with rights and duties identical to those of a biological child. Fostering ( kafāla ) is the act of assuming partial or complete responsibility for a child whose parents are temporarily or permanently unable to care for him or her. Adoption in the former sense is forbidden in Islam, while fostering is highly recommen…