Question Summary:
How much rights do parents have over their children?

Question Detail:

My questions are very general in nature. We always come across them. MY question is regarding a boy who is of 20 years of age and he is still doing his studies. He’s unmarried and jobless and completely relies on his parents. How much right do his parents have to impose their decision on him? Can they force him to leave his studies or in other words, can they make him deprived of their financial support to him? Do they have the right to expel him out of their wealth? Or can his father donate all of his wealth to a charitable organization without giving his son anything?

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
Generally, when a person reaches the age of maturity, he is not mentally matured and does not have the resources to progress in life. It is expected of the father to offer all types of moral and financial support to his son for him to progress in life.
When a person is in his youth, that is the most crucial part of his life. He needs to be guided on the correct path. He could be easily swayed on the wrong path. The father ought to be there to ensure his son threads the correct path in life. If the father abandons financial support to his son based on a principal, he may be principally correct but practically wrong. At time, breaking a principle is also a principle to achieve ones goal. .[i]

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Mawlana Abdul Hannan Nizami,
Student Darul Iftaa
USA
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
www.daruliftaa.net