Assalaamu alaykum. I am 22 years old and I am a Moroccan living in Morocco. I am applying for the Schengen Visa and I am afraid that they will ask me to take photos without my headscarf. My family thinks that that is okay because these are procedures and we do not have any other choice. Besides, all the other hijabi women accept this rule! I definitely refuse it because I consider it disrespectful towards our cultural identity and I cannot even picture myself taking off my headscarf outside! My question is: By refusing, am I going to be unfair to my father, who has wasted time, effort and money in the process of requesting the Visa? The same goes for my family who lives in Europe and has been waiting for us to visit them. I actually want to know what the sharia has to say about it. May Allaar reward you.

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 ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

You are correct in refusing to take photos without your headscarf, thus exposing your hair or other parts of your body that the woman is not allowed to expose except for a necessity. The woman is ordered to cover her body before non-mahram (marriageable) men by the consensus of scholars, except for the face and hands, about which scholars held different views regarding the obligation to cover them. Allaah, The Exalted, says (what means): {...and to wrap (a portion of) their Khumur over their chests...} [Quran 24:31] Ibn Katheer commented on this verse, saying, “Khumur is the plural of Khimaar, which means something that covers, i.e. it covers the head. This is what people call "Maqaani' (plural of Miqna'a)”.

What you did does not involve undutifulness towards your parents. Indeed, children are obliged to obey their parents in whatever is good and lawful. It is impermissible to obey them in disobeying Allaah. The Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said, “There is no obedience in matters involving disobedience to Allaah. Obedience is in matters which are good.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 84942.

Lastly, we would like to emphasize the danger of traveling to non-Muslim countries for no real need or necessity. Verily, this may harm a person's religiosity given the widespread temptations there; so Muslims should be aware of that danger. Please, refer to fatwa 86405.

Allaah knows best.