aaa

Non-Muslim Parents Forbid Me to Fast: What Can I Do?

15 May, 2020
Q If a young woman converted to Islam and lives with her non-Muslim parents, who categorically forbid her from fasting, what should she do if they deprive her housing for that? Thank you.

Answer

Dr. Wael Shehab
15 May, 2020

In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. 

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

In this fatwa:

1- A new Muslim has to strongly maintain his/her family and kinship ties while practicing his/her religious duties as much as possible.

2- Hence, the questioner is urged to wisely deal with the matter. He/she may fast some days according to his/her best capacity and then make up for the missed fast-days later.

Answering your question, Dr. Wael Shehab, PhD in Islamic Studies from Al-Azhar University and currently the Imam of the Downtown Toronto Masjid in Canada, states:

A new Muslim should practice Islam as much as he/she can. If it is extremely difficult for him/her to fast for the whole month of Ramadan, he/she may fast some days according to his/her best capacity and then make up for the missed fast-days later when he/she becomes able to.

If a new Muslim faces some problems with parents, he/she should wisely do his/her best to solve these problems. It is not a must for him/her to tell them he/she is fasting; he/she may tell them that he/she couldn’t eat for “some” reasons.

He/she should look for workable solutions that enable him/her to fast and avoid clashes with his/her parents at the same time.

Almighty Allah knows best.

Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.