Wants to Study About Islam But His Parents Prevent Him
Fatwa No: 450796

Question

I am 20 yrs old boy.I am born in a Muslim family.But my parents are not a true believer.I want to study about Islam.But my parents didn't give permission.can I disobey them?

Answer

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.

You must learn the religion of Islam even if your parents prevent you from learning it. Your disobedience to them in this matter is not considered being undutiful and disobedient to them, but you have to be kind and dutiful them [in other permissible matters]. One of the ways of being kind and dutiful to them, is to teach them what they need to learn from Islam.

If you are not able to learn the necessary Islamic knowledge in your country, then you are permitted to travel in its quest, even without the permission of your parents.

Al-Jami’ li Akhlaq ar-Rawi wa Adab as-Saami’ authored by Al-Khateeb Al-Baghdadi reads:

The obligation that is imposed on every Muslim is only to seek the knowledge whose ignorance cannot be tolerated, so it is permissible to travel without the permission of the parents if there is no one in the student’s country who knows the obligatory rulings and the laws of Islam. However, if he knows the obligatory knowledge, then, in this case, it is disliked for him to travel except with the permission of his parents.” [End of quote]

For more benefit on traveling to seek knowledge without parents' permission, please refer to Fatwa 361555.

For more benefit on the limits of obedience to parents, please refer to Fatawa 271255, 131695, and 123554 and 401131.

Allah knows best.

Related Fatwa