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What is to be done with a 25-year-old sister who wants to work and does not want to marry, and has sworn not to marry until she works, while her mother and brothers want her to marry?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

A woman should not delay marriage on the pretext of working, because it is legislated and encouraged, and it may be obligatory in some cases due to the great benefits it entails. Marriage is better than dedicating oneself to supererogatory acts of worship, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "I marry women. Whoever turns away from my Sunnah is not of me." If a woman has sworn to delay marriage, it is permissible for her to break her oath and expiate it if she sees that marriage is better for her, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "If you take an oath and then see something better than it, then do that which is better and expiate your oath."

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

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