Question:

A listener from Jazan says that he wishes to marry a woman he has chosen for himself, but his father disagrees and wants him to marry a relative of theirs, knowing that she does not pray. What should I do? Guide me and advise me, and may you be rewarded.

Answer:

Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad, his family, his companions, and those who follow them in righteousness until the Day of Judgment.

Our answer and guidance to the questioner is first to state: It is not permissible for a father to prevent his son from marrying a woman he is pleased with for himself, nor to force him to marry a woman he does not want simply because she is a relative of the father. This is because these matters pertain to a person’s private life, which is a matter of personal choice where one controls his own affairs. Therefore, it is not permissible to force him into something he does not want, nor to prevent him from what he desires. This is regarding the father of the questioner, and I direct advice to him to let his son marry whoever he wishes.

As for the son: He is not obligated to obey his father in this situation—meaning, he is not obligated to obey his father by marrying a woman he does not want and leaving the woman he desires. He has the right to marry the woman he wants, even if his father dislikes it, provided that this woman does not have a flaw in her religion or character.

Especially since the questioner mentions that the woman his father wants him to marry does not pray: A woman who does not pray is not permissible for any Muslim man to marry until she returns to Islam, because whoever leaves the prayer is a disbeliever with a disbelief that expels them from the fold of Islam. Just as it is not permissible to give a woman in marriage to a man who does not pray, it is likewise not permissible for a person to marry a woman who does not pray.

It is not permissible for a father to force his son to marry a woman he does not want, nor to prevent him from marrying a woman he desires if she possesses good character and religion. The son is not obligated to obey his father in this matter, and he has the right to marry whomever he desires. This is not considered Uquq (undutifulness) toward his father.