Leaving Daughter With Apostate Mother

Question 5549

Which is better, to give up on ever succeeding in raising to be a good Muslima my now 1 year old daughter from whose mother I divorced for her apostasy and who has indicated already that she may oppose attempts on my part to raise our daughter Muslima during the 1-3 whole days /week during which she and the Kaafir (non-Muslim) court system in the US allow me to spend with her; or to give up on it all as some brothers have done in similar circumstances, and make hijra (emigrate) to get ilm (knowledge) in the Muslim land and leave my daughter to almost certain ruin at the hands of the kuffar (non-Muslim) child rearing system like other brothers have done in order to make hijra for ilm in the Muslim lands

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

I advise you to strive to bring up your daughter and never to leave her, because you are responsible for her and will be questioned about her on the Day of Resurrection. “Each of you is a shepherd and is responsible for [will be questioned about] his flock” [hadeeth]. There is another matter, which is that you will have a reward equal to hers if she is guided and does righteous deeds because of your upbringing. How could you leave the apple of your eye to someone who will lead her to the torment of Hell? Allaah says of the kuffaar (interpretation of the meaning):

“Those (Al-Mushrikoon) invite you to the Fire, but Allaah invites (you) to Paradise and forgiveness by His Leave” [al-Baqarah 2:221]

So strive to take care of your daughter, and Allaah will help you and make things easier for you. May Allaah give you strength.

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Question 5549

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