Answered by Shaykh Amjad Rasheed
Translated by Shaykh Hamza Karamali, SunniPath Academy Teacher
I hope you are well. My parents have been divorced for many years due to major mistakes made by my father. The children were conscious of this and decided to live with my mother. Subsequently we have never made contact with our father. Is this a mistake on our part, keeping in mind that he was the oppressor?
It is not permissible for you to cut off relations with your father. Rather, as his children, it is obligatory on you to be good to him by maintaining ties with him, and to obey him in matters that don’t contravene the Sacred Law. The presence of discord between him and your mother does not affect this obligation.
You should, however, advise him to desist from his wrongdoing. It is also unlawful for you to assist him in his wrongdoing in any way. It may well be, if Allah Most High wills, that your closeness to him will be a means of preventing his oppression and encouraging him to set right the wrongs that he did in the past.
الجواب: لا يجوز لكم هجرُ أبيكم، فبرُّهُ بصِلَتِهِ وطاعةِ أوامره غير المخالفة للشرع واجبٌ عليكم مع وجود الخلاف بينه وبين أمِّكم، لكن عليكم نصيحتُه وعدمُ إعانته على الظلم، وإن شاء الله تعالى أن يكون قربُكم منه رادعاً له عن الظلم وحاثاً له على ردِّ المظالم إن كان ظالماً.