Can my parents force me to marry someone I don't want?

No — you cannot be compelled into a marriage you refuse, and pressure, guilt or emotional blackmail is not consent. The Prophet ﷺ said the previously-married woman is not to be married until she is consulted and the virgin is not to be married until her permission is sought (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1419); and when Khansāʾ bint Khidhām reported that her father had married her off while she disliked the match, he ﷺ annulled the marriage (Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 5138). The classical schools differed over how far a father's guardianship (ijbār) reaches over a virgin daughter, but they agree that a girl who is averse to a proposal is not to be forced into it, and the position acted on in fatwa today is that a marriage the bride was coerced into is invalid or annullable at her request. Parents keep the real right to advise strongly, investigate a suitor and refuse a match they judge harmful — that is a veto on an unsuitable proposal, not a power to compel; Allah also forbade the pre-Islamic practice of disposing of women against their will. If you are being pressured, the Islamic route is mediation through trusted relatives, an imam or a sharīʿah council — not eloping without a walī, which the majority hold invalidates the contract and creates a second problem on top of the first.

Ask your own question → All questions