One’s responsibility for his/her sins before embracing Islam
Question
salam aleikum sheikh. i have one important question... i am muslim and my parents are not...they dont axept my islam and have been making war with me now for more than 3 years.. in the past when i was younger and not muslim my dad have take fotografs of me and film me with camera from hollidays and from diffrent places like from the beach where im wearing bikini.. i was then adult not child and now when i have hijab and propper muslim clothes my dad is showing this camerafilms to people sometimes who come home to my parents home, even when he know i dont want it and he have pictures of me in his home in the walls when i dident have hijab.. im so sad that he show all this things to people and im afraid to get sins when he show them but i cant do anything about it.. am i getting sins by this when its not my fault???
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/Archive/images/icon--1.gif, is His Slave and Messenger.
The sin of taking such photos during that time is pardoned upon embracing Islam because Islam erases any sins committed before it, as stated by the Prophet http://www.islamweb.net/ver2/Archive/images/icon--1.gif. You also bear no sin because of what you have mentioned, that your father shows those photos, so long as you are unable to prevent him or erase them; and Allaah never charges a soul with what is beyond its capacity, as He Says (what means): {And We charge no soul except [with that within] its capacity.}[Quran 23:62]
As long as you are unable to get rid of those photos, then, there is no sin on you because your father shows them. For further information, see Fataawa 86230 and 83259.
Dear sister, we advise you to strive in supplicating Allaah to guide your parents, and to do your best to invite them to Islam, for they are the most entitled to your dutifulness, supplication and sympathy. You should also be keen on adhering firmly to Islam, in order to be a mirror through which your parents would see the greatness of this religion.
Allaah Knows best.
