A DAD told his young daughter it was forbidden to play with non-Muslim children, a court has been told.

When he went to court seeking custody of the little girl, who was born in 2007, a federal magistrate said it was disturbing that he had tried to alienate the girl from the non-Muslim community in Australia.

The Federal Magistrates' Court, sitting in Victoria, heard that the girl had refused to play with another, fair-haired girl during a visit with a family counsellor.

The girl allegedly said "Baba says it is haram", explaining to her mother that she was not allowed to play with non-Muslim children.
The family counsellor searched for the meanings of the words on the internet and discovered "Baba" meant father and "haram" meant forbidden, the federal court heard.

In a judgment published this week, Federal Magistrate Philip Burchardt ordered that the child live with her mother and spend time with the father every second weekend.

Mr Burchardt said the father was clearly a loving parent but he did not appear to have an understanding of his daughter's developmental needs.

"Furthermore, his conduct in seeking to alienate (the girl) both from the non-Muslim component of the Australian community and from her mother and grandmother is very disturbing," Mr Burchardt said.

The court heard that the parents had an arranged marriage but the mother claimed the relationship was characterised by physical and verbal abuse, claims denied by the father.

The father also denied telling his daughter who she could play with.

"(He) denied being in the business of telling the child that it was forbidden or otherwise bad to play with non-Muslims, but the evidence of (the family counsellor) makes it plain that he does," Mr Burchardt said.

The father, who is a devout Muslim, also complained to the family counsellor about the mother's style of dress.

Although he denied using denegrating words to describe his ex-wife, Mr Burchardt said his denials were dishonest.

"Putting the matter in the round, the father abhors the mother for no longer adhering to the style of life that he would wish her to," he said.

Photographs tendered to the court since the parties' separation were inconsistent with the mother's assertions she was still fearful of the father.

Mr Burchardt was unable to make a finding about whether there was family violence, nor on the mother's claim that the father had placed the girl under the front wheel of the mother's car to prevent her from driving off.

hadfields@heraldsun.com.au