The parents, a woman from a Brethren family who had ceased to practise when she turned eighteen and an Egyptian Muslim man, had married in 2001. They had twin boys (circumcised with the mother's written consent) and a girl. After the marriage breakdown in 2010 the mother started attending her parish church and from the beginning of 2012 took the children to church when they were staying with her, though she only gave them food that was halal. Equally, the father had become a more observant Muslim and had started taking the children with him to the mosque. The father regarded raising his children as Muslims as a religious obligation and, as part of the proceedings, sought an order to that effect, believing that attending the parish church as well as the mosque would merely confuse them. The mother believed that the children should be brought up to understand both religions. She was content that their father should teach them about Islam, pray with them and take them to the mosque and said that she would not intentionally feed them non-halal meat; however, she told the sheriff that she would find it difficult to comply with an order requiring their upbringing as Muslims. Sheriff Dunbar agreed and concluded that a specific issue order that the children be brought up as Muslims would not be in their best interests; but he accepted the mother's undertakings in relation to their participation in Islam when staying with their father. [Frank Cranmer]