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Wa `alaykum As-Salamu wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
Brother, we do really appreciate your question, which shows how interested you are to become well acquainted with Islam and its teachings. May Allah bless your efforts in the pursuit of knowledge!
One of the main duties upon man is to show kindness towards his parents. Allah Almighty says: (Your Lord decrees that you shall worship none but Him and that you shall treat your parents most excellently. If one of them or both of them attain old age with thee, say not ‘Fie’ unto them nor repulse them, but speak unto them a gracious word) (Al-Israa’ 17:23).
Therefore, considering your primary responsibility towards your parents, it is not at all religiously advisable for you to move to a Muslim country, even though you may enjoy greater freedom to practice Islam. However, if your parents have someone to take care of them and they are perfectly pleased with your moving to such a country and settling down there, and you are constantly keeping in touch with them and visiting them, then you are certainly allowed to do so.
In his response to your question, Sheikh Ahmad Kutty, a senior lecturer and Islamic scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, states:
It is your obligatory duty to take care of your parents if they have no one to take care of them. This obligation far outweighs all other reasons you have mentioned. In Islam, whenever we are faced with a choice between two evils, then we are to choose the lesser of the two: The evil of abandoning your parents is far greater than the evil involved in having less freedom to enjoy some of the provisions of your religion such as the observance of hijab. Also, our duty towards our parents comes second only to our duty of worship to Allah; Allah says: (Your Lord decrees that you shall worship none but Him and that you shall treat your parents most excellently) (Al-Israa' 17:23). We read in a number of well-attested traditions that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) turned away a number of Companions who wanted to join him in jihad because they would be abandoning their own parents who needed care. He told them that their primary jihad consisted of taking care of their parents.
Therefore, considering your primary responsibility towards your parents, it is not at all religiously advisable for you to move to Saudi Arabia or elsewhere, even though you may enjoy greater freedom to practice Islam there.
Having said this, however, I must add: If your parents have someone to take care of them and they are perfectly pleased with you moving to Saudi Arabia or elsewhere and settling down there, and you are constantly keeping in touch with them by paying them frequent visits, communicating with them, and paying them due respect, and so on, then you are certainly allowed to do so. Otherwise, you will be incurring the greater sin of displeasing your parents. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “Shall I tell you of the three foremost sins (in the sight of Allah)?" He repeated this thrice, then said, “It is to associate partners with Allah; to displease one’s parents, and to make false oaths.”
May Allah grant us true discernment and rectitude in our words and actions and save us all from the wayward inclinations of our own souls. Ameen. Excerpted, with slight modifications, from: www.islam.ca
You can also read:
Dutifulness to Parents
Dutifulness to Dead Parents
Parents
Should I Leave France Due to Hijab Ban?
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