Is It Permissible to Hire a Nanny?
Shafi'i Fiqh
Answered by Shaykh Jamir Meah
Question: Assalamu alaykum
Is it permissible to hire a nanny?
Answer: Assalam ‘alaykum. I hope you’re well inshallah.
It is permissible to have a nanny look after one’s children, and there is no dislike in it. In fact, the Prophet ﷺ had a foster-mother/wet-nurse in Halima al Sa’diyah in his childhood and went to live with the Banu Sa’d in the desert regions, as was the custom in Arabia at the time.
However, having a stranger look after one’s children is a big step, particularly in today’s world, so one should choose the person very carefully. Perhaps the following suggestions will help in choosing a suitable nanny:
1. Make sure that all the relevant security checks and references have been made on the prospective nanny. Choose agencies carefully, preferably based on personal recommendations.
2. Ask the prospective nanny as many questions as you need to feel comfortable that they are the right person to look after your children. Especially ask them about how they discipline children. Pray Istikhara.
3. Tell your children to inform you (if they are able to) of anything that seems abnormal about the nanny or anything that happens during the day that they find amiss. Look out for any odd behaviour from your children, both when the nanny is present and absent.
4. Have a trial period so you can observe the nanny at work with your children.
5. Children are very impressionable and since your children will be with this person for much of the day, although it is not obligatory, it would be preferable to hire a practising Muslim nanny rather than a non-practicing Muslim or a non-Muslim.
6. Call your children 2 – 3 times a day to check up on them if they are very young. Or have set times that they must call you.
I pray the above suggestions are of some help.
Warmest salams,
[Shaykh] Jamir Meah
Shaykh Jamir Meah grew up in Hampstead, London. In 2007, he traveled to Tarim, Yemen, where he spent nine years studying the Islamic sciences on a one-to-one basis under the foremost scholars of the Ribaat, Tarim, with a main specialization and focus on Shafi’i fiqh. In early 2016, he moved to Amman, Jordan, where he continues advanced studies in a range of Islamic sciences, as well as teaching. Jamir is a qualified homeopath.
