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Her father wants to live with her but she and her husband want to migrate from a kaafir land
I had to move to a non muslim country because I got married and my husband was living there and was working there. It has been some time and now both of us want to leave and move to a muslim country. But in the meantime my father applied to come to this country so he can be close to me.He is nearly 70 years old and doesnt have a wife to take care of him.Now my father says please dont leave me alone ..I am too old to take care of myself. even if my husband gets a job in a muslim country we cannot take my father because of visa problems..

Praise be to Allaah.

You have done well by deciding to leave that kaafir land. It is not permissible for a Muslim to settle in those lands, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “I disavow myself of any Muslim who settles among the mushrikeen.” Narrated by Abu Dawood; classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood. 

In the answer to question no. 27211 we have stated that it is haraam to settle in kaafir lands and it is obligatory to migrate to Muslim lands.

With regard to your father, you must tell him of this ruling and you should not compromise on the idea of leaving the kaafir land for his sake. His going with you to a Muslim country is more befitting for him, and you must try to achieve that. We do not think that it is something impossible. We think that it will be easy to obtain a visa for a man of his age, especially since he is your father and is closely related to you which would allow him to get a visa in most countries. 

If we assume that this is too difficult for you, or that it will take too much time, then what we advise him to do is to stay with a righteous family, or with trustworthy people until he gets a visa and can join you. 

If that is not possible, then you can delay it for a short while until he gets the visa, then he can travel with you to the Muslim country. Your husband can go ahead and prepare accommodation and residency permits for you. 

Finally, if it is not possible to get him a visa, and he has no place to stay in his own country, and there is no one else to look after him apart from you, then what we think is that you should delay your own departure from the kaafir country until Allaah makes things easier for him. If you seek reward with Allaah for that, Allaah may make things easier for you and grant you a way out from your hardship. Try to convince your husband to delay your departure for your father’s sake, and perhaps he will agree to that if he considers his age and the reward that he may earn thereby with Allaah.  

We should point out that if the wife chooses to delay her departure, or decides not to go because of her father, that should be with her husband’s agreement, because she is obliged to obey her husband. If he tells her to go with him and not wait, or not cancel her plans, then she has no right to go against his wishes, and obedience to him takes precedence over obedience to her father. Hence the matter must be worked out between her and her husband. Perhaps he will agree to a solution that lets her honour her father, until Allaah decrees about her father’s situation. 

All of this is based on the assumption that your father does not have other children who can take care of him, as seems to be the case from your question. Otherwise, if there is someone else, or he has a brother or a sister, that will help to solve the problem even if that is only until you and your husband can settle in a place where he can join you.  

And Allaah is the source of strength.

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