What is the ruling on a father forcing his children to attend places where bidʻah (innovations in religion) are practiced, given that the children fear expulsion from the home for refusing to go, desire to adhere to the Sunnah, consider the severance of kinship ties, and question the fate of their minor siblings in this situation, and what is the ruling on leaving home to live with sisters?

Answer Summary:

The sister asking about the ruling on attending gatherings of innovation is discerning and intelligent. She is a new revert to Islam, and we ask Allah to keep her steadfast.

1. Attending these gatherings, with their innovations and sins, such as chanting Allah's names with singing and dancing and neglecting prayer, contradicts Islamic law and is a grave sin. 2. Delaying abstention from going might serve a benefit by averting harms and attracting benefits, such as maintaining her relationship with her siblings and guiding them, and avoiding her father expelling her from the house, which would lead to greater evils. 3. It is advisable to continue attending but to minimize it as much as possible, invent plausible excuses for her father, and strive to involve wise people from the Sunnis to clarify the truth to her father. 4. She must strengthen her faith through acts of obedience, acquire knowledge by reading books of the Sunnis and consulting trustworthy individuals, while continuing to advise her siblings and inviting some of the attending women to the truth. 5. She should avoid gatherings of innovation as much as possible by sitting in separate rooms, being the last to enter and the first to leave. 6. She should sit with her father and discuss his convictions regarding innovation, while persistently supplicating for him, advising him, and treating him kindly.