Can a Father Do Whatever He Wants To Do With His Son’s Wealth?

Answered by Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat 

Question

A friend can manage his child’s property as much as he wants, even against his child’s will, because he heard that the child is his property in Islam, and the child’s property is the parents’ property as well. Is this correct?

Answer

Your friend seems to have misunderstood the idea conveyed by the hadith: “You and your property belong to your father.” [Ahmad] He cannot do whatever he likes with his son’s property.

If the son is a minor, he is to do what is beneficial for the child—even if there is a financial loss. If the son is an adult, then the father can take what he needs from his son’s wealth if he is poor and in need. This is the understanding of the scholars with regard to this hadith.

Imam ‘Abd al-Ra’uf al-Munawi said, “It means: if he needs your wealth, he can take it. It does not mean he can take it unconditionally because none [of the scholars] have said this.” [Munawi, Fayd al-Qadir]

May Allah allow us to live according to the Sunna.

[Shaykh] Abdul-Rahim Reasat
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat began studying Arabic Grammar and Morphology whilst studying for a degree in English and History. After graduating, He traveled to Damascus and studied Arabic, Hanafi Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Theology, and Logic with Shaykh Adnan Darwish, Shaykh ‘Abd al-Rahman Arjan al-Binsawi, Shaykh Husayn Darwish, Shaykh Muhammad Darwish, the late Shaykh Rashad Shams, and others. He then moved to Amman to continue his studies in those fields, as well as in Tafsir, Quranic Sciences, Hadith Methodology and Commentary, Prophetic Biography, Prophetic Perfections and Traits, Rhetoric, Arabic Literature, and Tajwid. His teachers include Shaykh Ali Hani, Dr. Hamza al-Bakri, Dr Salah Abu al-Hajj, Dr Mansur Abu Zina, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Shaykh Ahmad Jammal, and others.