She wants to bring her friend to live with her, but the landlord has already stipulated that no one should live with her

Question: 147535

I am a girl studying in France, and I live on my own in a student residence. In order to get this accommodation, I was obliged to sign a contract listing everything having to do with the apartment. One of the things that it says in this contract is that I am not allowed to use this apartment for business purposes, or sublet it, which means allowing another student to live there and contribute to the rent. My question is: I have a friend here in this country who had problems with her roommate, who asked her to leave the house. Now she has nowhere to live. Can I bring her to live with me? Please note that by doing this, I will have broken the contract that I signed, and if they find out I will be kicked out of the residence. I may have to pay a fine, and I will never be allowed to return to this residence. What should I do?

Answer

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah and his family.

Firstly:

The Muslim, man or woman, should not live in a non-Muslim country unless they fulfil the conditions which make that permissible. That is more emphatically forbidden in the case of a Muslim woman, if she is travelling without a mahram, because staying there poses many dangers to faith and moral conduct.

For more information, please see the answer to question no. 27211 .

Secondly: if the owner of the property has stipulated that the renter should live there by himself, and no one else should live with him, then he is obliged to fulfil that condition.

That is because Muslims are obliged to fulfil contracts and promises. Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning): {O you who have believed, fulfill [all] contracts} [al-Maa’idah 5:1]. It was narrated from Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “The Muslims are bound by their conditions.” Narrated by Abu Dawood (3594); classed as saheeh by al-Albaani in Saheeh Abi Dawood.

If the contract does not forbid hosting someone, then you can host her for a while until she puts her affairs in order and is able to look for another place to live.

You can ask the owners of the flat for permission, and tell them about that so as to avoid causing any problems.

And Allah knows best.

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