Lying to father to get money for secondary expenses
3-9-2015 | IslamWeb
Question:
I am a university student. My father is stingy; he is difficult to deal with when it comes to money issues. However, he gives me money without discussion when I ask him to give me money for study. But when I ask him to give me money for personal use, he refuses without stating any reasons. It should be known that I do not spend money in unlawful ways as I do not smoke or do bad things. My father is aware of this fact. My father’s stinginess causes me many problems in my life. As you know, money is the backbone of life; I cannot buy anything for myself, cannot go out with my friends and cannot work beside my study. In summer, I work with him during the whole holiday. Is it permissible to ask him to give me a sum of money larger than the sum I need for study to meet my personal needs, because my financial maintenance is obligatory upon him and he neglects this right? This is the only way I can have money for my personal needs because I talked with him many times but without any result.
May Allaah reward you.
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.
According to the Quran and Sunnah, lying is absolutely forbidden. So, it is impermissible for you to lie to your father or to anyone else. The case in question does not permit lying, especially since the father fulfills his obligations of providing you with food, drink, clothing, residence and education, according to the Shaafi‘i opinion which obliges the father to support his son, even if he is an adult, when he does not earn money. The extra luxuries beyond the ones mentioned are not obligatory upon the father. Hence, it is impermissible to lie by taking more money than that needed for study to use for extra luxuries.
Dear brother, you should know that the father is more prudent and aware of your interest because if he was stingy, he would not pay your study expenditures without discussion.
I advise the questioner to ask his mother to talk to his father on his behalf. He should be gentle with his father by drawing near to him and be humble and say good words. This would make the father more willing to respond to his requests.
Allaah Knows best.