Answer
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:
- Islam is a universal religion that encourages its followers to remain kind and dutiful to all people, including parents and relatives.
- Muslim husbands should encourage and help their wives to remain dutiful towards their parents.
- Muslim wives are required to remain kind towards their parents. They should help their parents to the best of their ability, supporting them with their own money if they have enough, emotionally supporting them, and standing by them through all circumstances.
Responding to the question, Sheikh Muhammad Saleh Al-Munajjid, the prominent Saudi scholar, states,
The responsibilities of a married woman towards her parents are like those of any unmarried woman. The rights of parents remain intact and sacred both before and after marriage, but obedience to the husband takes precedence over obedience to the parents if a conflict were to arise.
If a woman’s parents command her to do something that conflicts with her husband’s command, then her husband’s command must take precedence. But Muslim husbands and wives must strive to avoid conflict and achieve harmony with their parents.
Married woman should make sure that they try to visit their parents from time to time and give them gifts according to their circumstances.
If a married woman’s parents were in need of money and she has enough disposable income, then it would be obligatory for her to spend on them as much as her circumstances allow her. If a married woman does not have money of her own and requests money from her husband to help her parents, then she will be rewarded for that, in sha’ Allah. This is part of honoring her parents.
Read also:
How Does Islam Care for Ties of Kinship?
Duties of Children towards Their Parents in Islam
Being Undutiful to Parents: The Second Major Sin 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.
Source: Taken, with some modifications, from www.islamqa.info.