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Fatwa CenterHer husband’s parents are against her wearing Niqaab
Question
As'salaamu Alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatu, I have an odd question...maybe not odd but rather different that the norm. Info about me: -Im newly married to a Moroccan man(I am not Moroccan) for about 2 month. -Im observing Hijaab and desired to observe niqab again. (Wore it in my past when i was living in the UK) Before we got married I Skype'd (video chatted) with his parents, so they could ask me questions. So everything went well, or so i thought. Apparently my husband told them that I used to wear niqaab and was planning on wearing it again. They blew up. They said that niqab is not part of Islam and that as long as i wear niqab i am not welcome to come to their home in Morocco. (we live in USA) They are Muslim as well so i didn't expect this. It is even going to the point that when his father found out i took my husbands last name and had it on my social networking sites online, he became VERY angry. He is in a high Government job and doesn't want his name associated with a niqaabi woman, so he has told us that i have to either remove the last name online AND on documents or remove the niqaabi photos online. Im upset about this and dont know what to do. Its making me feel that im not good enough to be associated with him because of my niqab. My husband is saying that we should listen to his father,so i took down all the photos AND changed back to my maiden name. He's now saying that its not goof enough because it still shows up on the Google search! I am doing everything i can! My question is should i listen to his father? Should my husband agree to his father on this demand? I am comforting my husband as he is in a hard place with his father being mad about it and me feeling sad about it but my husband is also taking his bad moods about it on me by saying i am "stubborn" whenever i try to voice my opinion. What should i do? May Allah reward you for all the fatwa you deliver that help peoples life. Ameen.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The Sharee’ah ordered woman to cover her face and face covering [Niqaab] is an obligation on the Muslim woman according to the preponderant opinion of the scholars 
as we clarified in Fataawa 83033 and 83702. Therefore, saying that Niqaab is not Islamic is a wrong and irrational statement.
The one who said this may say that he is of the view that Niqaab is not an obligation upon woman, but to say that it is an innovation and that it does not belong to Islam, then this is a wrong and unacceptable statement.
Therefore, you should abide by the Niqaab and not take into consideration anyone who prevents you from wearing it. However, you should be wise in dealing with any problem that might arise in this regard from your husband or from his parents. Moreover, your husband is not obligated to obey his parents in regard to the issue of Niqaab.
As regards your parents-in-law ordering your husband to ask you to remove your pictures from the Internet sites or to restore your last name which you had before marriage, meaning removing the family name (of your husband), then he is obligated to obey them in this regard. Indeed, we have already issued Fataawa 89932 and 85803 clarifying that it is not permissible for a wife to take the family name of her husband.
With regard to obeying the father of your husband, then you are not obliged to do so, but your husband is obliged to obey his parents in what is permissible.
Concerning the statement of your father-in-law that you have no place in their home in Morocco if you wear the Niqaab, then you should not take it into consideration. In case you return to Morocco, your husband is obligated to provide you with a separate accommodation; so you are not obligated to live with his relatives. Moreover, you are not sinful if you do not go to their home to visit them if there are any men you are not permitted to remove your Niqaab in their presence, like the brothers of your husband. This is because your father-in-law is the cause of this problem. However, we stress that you should be wise and not react in a way that may worsen the situation. Also, your husband should know that this matter is part of Islam, so he should not please anyone while displeasing Allaah.
Allaah Knows best.
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