I am a Muslim man from North Ossetia in the Russian Federation. I live in this country with my divorced mother, and I am her only child. There are no Muslim scholars in this land. Is it permissible for me to travel in order to seek knowledge and leave my mother? She does not object to this. It is worth mentioning that my mother’s parents are alive and her brother lives with his family in the same town.

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

We ask Allaah The Almighty to grant us, as well as you, firmness on His religion. May Allaah The Almighty reward you for being dutiful to your mother and for your keenness to gain knowledge of the Sharee‘ah (Islamic law). As long as you do not fear for your mother while you are travelling, because there are people who would take care of her as well as your father and they do not object to your traveling to seek knowledge, then it is obligatory upon you to travel to learn sciences of the religion as soon as you can. It has become incumbent upon you to seek knowledge because there are no scholars in your land as you said. Moreover, some scholars say that in the matter of seeking knowledge – despite being a collective obligation, if it cannot be sought in the same country— parents should not be obeyed if they tell their son not to travel for knowledge, as long as there is no fear for them.

Allaah Knows best.