Adult son has choice to live with parents or not

18-5-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. Does a father have the right to demand that his only son (who is adult) lives with him? Thank you

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Answer:

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 is His slave and Messenger. 

The father has the right to ask his son to live with him, and it is preferable for the son to honor his father’s request as much as possible, as this is being kind and dutiful to him. Indeed, there is great virtue in being kind and dutiful to the parents as we have already clarified in fatwa 87019.

However, the son is not obliged to obey him in this matter, and he is not sinful if he does not obey him in this. The scholars stated that there is no custody over an adult child and that he is entitled to live wherever he wishes.

Ibn Qudaamah said, “As regards an adult child who has a sound mind: there is no custody over him, and he may choose to live with whichever parent he wishes. If he is a man, then he may live alone, as he does not depend on his parents, but it is desirable that he does not leave them or stop his obedience and kindness to them.”

They also stated that the children are not obliged to obey their parents in everything that they order, but they restricted that to matters in which there is a benefit for the parents and harm on the child. For more benefit in this regard, please refer to fatwa 84942.

Allaah knows best.