Correct Method of Advising Parents Fatwa No: 536437
- Fatwa Date:3-9-2026
Please don’t send to another fatwaI saw a fatwa where you said don’t advise parents if they get angry but how far does this apply?If I see them doing wrong and I know they’d ignore me and keep on doing and probably get angry do I advise?Do I advise other family like uncles who smoke if I just started talking to them and it’s probably make them not want to talk to me or with aunts wearing hijab but show faceAnd do I have to reach out to every one of my parents siblings if I have a lot?salam
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 is His slave and Messenger.
Indeed, sincere advice (naṣīḥah) is among the greatest obligations of the religion, based on the Prophetic hadith reported in Sahīh Muslim: "The religion (Islam) is sincere advice."
It is a right owed by a Muslim, to be given to young and old alike — to one's parents, siblings, and paternal uncles. An-Nawawi devoted a chapter to this in his book 'Al-Adhkar' (p. 494), titled: "Chapter: Admonishing someone of greater standing than oneself"
Know that this matter requires particular care and attention, for it is obligatory upon a person to offer sincere advice, admonition, and enjoining good and forbidding evil to every young and old person, so long as he does not predominantly expect that his admonition will lead to harm. Allah the Exalted Said (what means): {Invite to the way of your Lord with wisdom and good instruction, and argue with them in a way that is best...} [Quran 16:124]
Furthermore, advice should be given gently and wisely, and not in a manner that angers the one being advised — especially if they are a parent. If this results in the parents' anger, one should refrain from direct advice and instead occupy himself with supplication for them, while seeking another way to convey the advice and the ruling. He should vary his approach and means of advising, using whatever influences them — stories, encouragement, warning, and rational and logical arguments — and he might give them a letter or a recording on the matter, or seek the counsel of scholars or elders on their behalf.
Al-Qarafi mentioned, in Al-Furuq, several issues relating to enjoining good and forbidding evil, among which was that parents are [also] to be commanded to good and forbidden from evil. Imam Malik said: "One should lower to them, in that (enjoining good and forbidding evil), the wing of humility out of mercy." [End of quote]
It is stated in Nisab Al-Ihtisab by Shaykh 'Umar Al-Sunami (p. 196): "Know that enjoining good and forbidding evil is not waived on account of the right of fatherhood and motherhood, because the texts [establishing this obligation] are unrestricted, and because enjoining good and forbidding evil is for the benefit of the one commanded and forbidden, and the father and mother have the greatest right that the child should convey this benefit to them... And the sunnah in commanding parents to good is to command them once; if they accept, well and good, and if they dislike it, one should remain silent toward them and occupy himself with supplication and seeking forgiveness for them, for Allah the Exalted will suffice him regarding what concerns him of their affair." [End of quote]
The obligation of giving advice is not waived merely because the advisor thinks the one being advised will not accept it. Rather, if the advisor knows with certainty that the one being advised will not accept it and that it will have no effect on him, then the obligation is waived from him, and he does not sin by refraining. An-Nawawi says: "Sincere advice is obligatory to the extent of one's capacity, when the advisor knows that his advice will be accepted, his instruction obeyed, and that he is safe from harming himself." [End of quote]
Allah Knows best