Balancing Obedience to Parents with Choosing One’s Field of Study
19-4-2026 | IslamWeb
Question:
Salam, you recommended some other Fitwas but they were not enough, please answerAfter graduation, I chose trading to fund future da‘wah studies abroad. My parents want me to be a doctor for money and comfort. My mom then became upset and got headaches. To please them partly to avoid great harm, I sometimes skip my institute classes, work on my goal elsewhere, hide my real studies on the computer, switch screens when they check so they think I study what they want, and use tawriyah Is this wrong
Answer:
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 (ﷺ) is His Slave and Messenger.
May Allah reward you for your concern for calling people towards Allah, benefiting the Muslims, and for your eagerness to honor your parents. Parents have a tremendous right, and honoring them is among the greatest obligations and one of the most virtuous acts of devotion. Obeying them is required in matters that benefit them and do not cause harm to the child. As a general principle, a mature individual chooses the field of study that suits him and benefits him. You can see the guidelines regarding obedience to parents in Fatwa 473890.
From what we understand from your question, you are studying medicine in consideration of your parents’ wishes, while studying business without their knowledge.
If this understanding is correct, then there is no blame upon you in what you are doing, and using indirect wording or ambiguity is permissible.
It should also be noted that studying and specializing in medicine carries great benefit. It is reported from Imam Al-Shafi‘i
regarding medicine: “I do not know of any knowledge, after what is lawful and unlawful (Islamic knowledge), that is more noble than medicine—except that the People of the Book have surpassed us in it.”
Harmalah said: Al-Shafi‘i used to express regret over what the Muslims had neglected of medicine, and he would say: “They have neglected one-third of knowledge and entrusted it to the Jews and Christians.” [Siyar A‘laam an-Nubalaa]
Allah Knows best.