Should a university student who wishes to marry a girl of good religion and character, but whose father refuses and insists on marrying him to his relatives, be patient until graduation and marry the girl he desires, or marry his relatives and try to reform them?

Obeying one's parents is obligatory unless it involves disobedience [to Allah]. Try to persuade your father to let you marry this girl if she is religious and of good character. However, if he does not agree, do not disobey him. You must be patient and supplicate, for the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, commanded Abdullah ibn Umar to divorce his wife when his father asked him to. Therefore, refraining [from the marriage] is preferable in the case of the father's disapproval.