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Can Unmarried Women Go Out without Family Permission?

11 February, 2024
Q As-Salamu alaykum. I'm a 32 adult unmarried lady. Still being at this age, do I need permission from my parents to make every little move to go outside for meeting somebody interested in marriage, to go to bank or having any beauty or medical treatment? Am I not old enough to decide what is right and wrong and don't I have right to privacy? If I have right to spend my money the way I want, why I ask them, why I can't go where I want?

Answer

Wa `alaykum As-Salamu waRahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

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:

You don’t need to wait for your parents’ permission to go out for work or important matters such as meeting someone in a clean environment or shopping or banking or other important personal issues.

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Answering your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and an Islamic Scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:

You don’t need to wait for your parents’ permission to go out for work or important matters such as meeting someone in a clean environment or shopping or banking or other important personal issues.

Parents have no right to restrict your movements. Their right over you is limited to help protect your honor and dignity.

As long your travel is not involving long distances where there are valid reasons for your safety and security they have no right to object to your free movement.

I think the challenges you are facing from your parents are more to do with cultural issues rather than due to sound religious teachings.

Many people today confuse culture with religion. Religion is a set of spiritual and ethical norms meant for all times and cultures; whereas culture and customs are time bound and hence alterable.

For more, see these fatwas:

Can I Marry without the Permission of My Parents in Islam?

Parents Refuse My Choice of Wife: What Should I Do?

Can I Marry against My Parents in Islam?

Allah Almighty knows best.

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