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Is it permissible for a woman to abandon religious observance for fear of imprisonment or dismissal from work in a Muslim Arab country that prohibits manifestations of religiosity?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A Muslim must emigrate from a country where they cannot openly practice their religion to a country where they can worship their Lord, based on the Almighty's saying: "Indeed, those whom the angels take [in death] while they are oppressing themselves, will be asked, 'In what [condition] were you?' They will say, 'We were oppressed in the land.' The angels will say, 'Was not the earth of Allah spacious enough for you to emigrate therein?' For those, their refuge is Hell – and evil it is as a destination." And His saying: "O My servants who have believed, indeed My earth is spacious, so worship only Me." The expression "lack of religiosity" is incorrect, because many religious matters can be performed without anyone knowing.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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