Adoption from Pakistan

To add to the above, Pakistan is considered "liberal" in terms of the ability of American Muslims to bring home Muslim children. In short, there aren't a lot of religious "tests" for the adoptive parents, and some guardianship decrees will meet USCIS requirements. Still, you really need to work with an experienced agency or attorney to make the adoption happen. Other countries with legal systems based on Shaaria are often a lot more conservative. As an example, Saudi Arabia will generally NOT allow American Muslims to adopt Muslim children. There is a perception that American society is so corrupt that even a devout Muslim family will have trouble raising a child to be a practicing Muslim. There is also a perception that American Muslim clerics are too liberal and that conversions to Islam by American Muslim clerics cannot be viewed as valid. Recently, there have been a lot of discussions of adoption from Morocco, another historically "liberal" Muslim country. Be VERY cautious with regard to adoption from that country, especially if you were not born to a Muslim family. There are unscrupulous facilitators who have advised non-Muslims that they can do a sham conversion in Morocco very easily, simply by affirming belief in one God, Allah, and in Mohammed as His prophet. These facilitators say that, having gone through a sham conversion, Americans can get custody of a child and bring him/her home. People should never try to adopt by committing fraud or unethical acts. Pretending to be Muslim in order to acquire a child is an outrage to Islam, and could easily cause the Moroccan government to ban adoptions by Americans. And the USCIS could easily decide, if they suspected that the clients of certain agencies or facilitators were obtaining decrees of guardianship under false pretenses, that the children of such families will be denied adoption visas. Sharon