Question:

Please inform me about the Hadeeth that says: "Anta wa Maaluka li-Abeek" (you and your property belong to your father). Does this apply also to daughters? The reason I'm asking is because a father is requesting (as if by right) money from his unmarried daughters, even though he has his own income and is capable of working more to provide better for himself and his family.

Fatwa:

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.

Imaam Ahmad and Ibn Maajah reported on the authority of 'Abdullaah Ibn 'Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, that a man came to the Prophet to present a dispute between him and his father and said "O Messenger of Allah! He is in need of my money, the Prophet said to him: "you and your property belong to your father."

Here "belong to your father" means that using the money of a child is lawful for the father. It does not mean that the ownership of all the belongings of a child is transferred to his father because the child is responsible to pay the Zakah of his property, and his property is also distributed among his heirs after his death. Thus, the Prophetic narration approves a father to take and use the money of his child, as long as he does not spend it lavishly, whether his child permits him or not.

Muslim Jurists have clearly stated that a father can freely use the money of his child with two conditions as mentioned by Imaam Ibn Qudaamah :

'First, he should not do wrong to his son, should not harm him, and should not use the thing that the child is in need of.

Second, he should not take from a child to give to another child.'

Imaam Ahmad precisely mentioned this point. Imaam Ibn Qudaamah furthermore said: 'Imaams Maalik, Abu Haneefah, Al Shaafi'ee said, he (a father) has no right to take from the belongings of his son except according to his need.' The Prophet said: "Verily your blood, your property are as sacred and inviolable as the sacredness of this day of yours, in this month of yours, in this town of yours…"

The opinion of scholars that a father can take only what he needs is based on the narration that the Prophet said: "They (your children) and their properties belong to you, if you need them." [Al­-Haakim and Al-Bayhaqi]

Therefore, the aforementioned saying of the Prophet "you and your property belong to your father" should be understood as we explained. So, a father should not cause harm to his son taking from him what he wants based on his misunderstanding of the narration.

Know that the narration includes female children as well, as the narration reported by Al-Haakim reads: "Your children are your gift…… they and their properties belong to you."

Allah knows best.

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa center at Islamweb