A woman asks: I live in a family where men and women who do not wear the hijab gather, and there is joking and laughter and the like among them, and when I asked about that
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The questioner : This questioner, Umm Abd al-Rahman from Bahrain, says: O honorable Shaykh, I live in a family where men and women who do not wear the hijab gather, and there is joking and laughter and the like among them. When I asked about that, I was told that it is not permissible, and that it is not permissible for me to sit with them or to share meals with them. However, this causes me distress, and I spend the entire time they are gathered secluding myself in my room alone. What do you advise me to do? May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh : The advice for you and for those like you who face this situation is to fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to the best of your ability, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted:[At-Taghabun 64:16].
Second, the advice for these people is to admonish them in the best manner, so that perhaps Allah will guide them through the hand of a person.
Third, a person should be flexible and broad-minded regarding matters in which there is disagreement among scholars, provided there is no decisive, conclusive evidence. It is not obligatory for a person, and it is not permissible for a person, to compel people to what he sees, or to move them away from what they see. As long as the matter is one of independent legal reasoning and there is no decisive, conclusive text, then every person has his own independent legal reasoning. So people are left to their independent legal reasoning, and their reckoning is with Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
For example, if this woman is in an environment where her family believes it is permissible for a woman to uncover her face before non-mahram and her husband, then it is not obligatory for her to compel them to what she sees as the obligation of the hijab, nor is it permissible for her to compel them to that. However, she may debate them on this issue and discuss it with them until everyone reaches what the Islamic legal evidence requires. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.
The Shaykh : The advice for you and for those like you who face this situation is to fear Allah (Mighty and Majestic) to the best of your ability, due to the saying of Allah the Exalted:
So fear Allah as much as you are able
فاتقوا الله ما استطعتمSecond, the advice for these people is to admonish them in the best manner, so that perhaps Allah will guide them through the hand of a person.
Third, a person should be flexible and broad-minded regarding matters in which there is disagreement among scholars, provided there is no decisive, conclusive evidence. It is not obligatory for a person, and it is not permissible for a person, to compel people to what he sees, or to move them away from what they see. As long as the matter is one of independent legal reasoning and there is no decisive, conclusive text, then every person has his own independent legal reasoning. So people are left to their independent legal reasoning, and their reckoning is with Allah (Mighty and Majestic).
For example, if this woman is in an environment where her family believes it is permissible for a woman to uncover her face before non-mahram and her husband, then it is not obligatory for her to compel them to what she sees as the obligation of the hijab, nor is it permissible for her to compel them to that. However, she may debate them on this issue and discuss it with them until everyone reaches what the Islamic legal evidence requires. Yes.
The questioner : May Allah bless you.