The masjid is 20mins on the bike from my house and I cannot hear the athan from the masjid if it were called out loud, my parents are not allowing me to attend the masjid due to the coronavirus situation. I am wearing a mask and keeping my distance at the masjid and we have only a maximum of 8 people allowed inside so there isn't much contact. Am I sinful if I go without their permission?

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

We have already mentioned in previous Fataawa that if the mosque is so far from the person to the extent that he cannot hear the Athaan (call to Prayer) if the Muath-thin (the person who calls the Athaan) calls the Athaan without a loudspeaker, then praying in the mosque in this case is not obligatory on him but it is desirable.

Ibn Hajar said in Fat'h al-Baari:

“The view of the majority of the scholars is that the Prayer is obligatory [to be performed in the mosque] on those who hear the Athaan or that the Athaan is normally heard by the listener, whether inside the city (town) or outside it. An example of this, as explicitly stated by the Shaafi’i School of jurisprudence is when the Muath-thin has a loud voice, while there is no noise, and the person is not deaf…..This is supported (and evidenced) by the saying of the Prophet to Ibn Umm Maktoum [who was a blind man]: “Do you hear the call (to Prayer)? He replied: “Yes’. Thereupon, the Prophet told him: “So, respond to the call (by coming to the mosque).” [End of quote]

If the ruling about praying in the mosque is desirable, and your parents did not allow you to go to attend it, then it is not permissible for you to disobey them.

We have already explained in previous Fataawa the ruling on obedience to the parent in abandoning what is desirable, and we explained therein that the parent should be obeyed in abandoning what is desirable, if he/she has a valid purpose and not due to following his/her whims and ignorance; in which case, their obedience is obligatory. Some scholars have stated that obedience to parents is obligatory if they forbid what is desirable, and it was said that obeying them is only desirable.

The prominent scholar Muhammad Mawloud ash-Shanqeeti said in Nadhm al-Buroor:

“If they (the parents) forbid what is desirable; it is desirable or obligatory to avoid that desirable matter.”

However, in return, try to be kind to your parents when speaking to them and when clarifying to them that there is no overcrowding in the mosque, while taking the necessary precautions that will protect you – Allah willing – from the infection so that they will be happy and allow you to go to the congregational Prayer.

For more benefit on praying in congregation at home if one is exempted from praying in the mosque, please refer to Fataawa 295357, 89364, 82264, 83356, and 83739.

For more benefit on the limits of obedience to parents, please refer to Fataawa 271255, 131695, and 123554.

Allah knows best.