Her parents refuse to let her wear niqaab because she is young

I am a 14-year-old girl. Studying in the second year in secondary school. I wear hejab that covers my entire body. My clothes are very baggy and I cover my neck and chest by my khimar. Nothing appears of my body apart from my face and hands, as explained by many scholars that face and hands are not ‘awra. There is disagreement amongst scholars regarding hejab, yet I try my best to cover more of my body. I have tried so many times to convince my parents to allow me to wear niqab, but they refuse saying that I am still very young and that I just reached the age of puberty two years ago. What shall I do? Shall I obey them and they will bear the sin before Allah, or shall I disobey them and insist on wearing niqab in order to be closer to Allah? If I insist on wearing it, this will cause many problems to me and they will be displeased with me. What shall I do?.

Praise be to Allaah.

Firstly: 

It is obligatory for a
woman to cover her face before non-mahram men, according to the more correct
of the two scholarly opinions, because of a great deal of evidence which we
have quoted

Secondly: 

It is not permissible for a
girl to obey her father or mother by not covering the face if she is
convinced that it is obligatory, because there is no obedience to any living
being if it involves disobedience towards the Creator. 

And it is not permissible
for the father to order his daughter to uncover her face, even if he thinks
that niqaab is mustahabb, because she is enjoined to do what she knows and
is convinced of, and she will be questioned about that, not about the
convictions of her father or his opinion. If she does not wear niqaab then
she is disobeying her Lord, so what benefit will she have from obeying her
father in that case?  

The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “There is no obedience if it involves
disobedience towards Allaah; obedience is only in that which is right and
proper.” Narrated by (al-Bukhaari (7257) and Muslim (1840). 

Thirdly: 

You should strive to advise
your parents and convince them that you are entitled to freedom in choosing
the opinion which you think is correct, whether it is on the basis of
knowing the evidence or by following a scholar whom you trust, and according
to sharee’ah it is not permissible for you to ignore this opinion just
because it goes against the opinion of your father or mother. Not covering
the face means that you are falling into sin and disobedience, whether you
do it once or twice or more. Every time you appear before non-mahrams with
your face uncovered, you are sinning thereby. 

Perhaps it seems to you
from this answer that the issue is not about convincing your parents that
niqaab is obligatory, because you may or may not succeed, depending on
whether you present the evidence  clearly or nor and whether you are able to
convince them or not. But the issue that you should focus on is the idea
that a girl should follow her father’s opinion, and it is not permissible
for her to give up something that she is convinced of because of his
opinion, and it is not permissible for him to force her to follow his
opinion. 

This is an issue concerning
which there is a difference of scholarly opinion, and the difference
concerning it is to be respected. In such cases we must be gentle when
speaking to parents about it, and be patient in dealing with them, and not
think of them as sinning and disobeying Allaah, or turning away from His
laws. Perhaps they are convinced that it is not obligatory, just as you are
convinced that it is obligatory, and because it is their duty to care for
you and bring you up, they may think that preventing you from doing
something that is not obligatory is their right. 

It seems from your question
that your parents are not opposed to the principle of covering the face, but
they think that you are too young for it. This is something that it will be
easy to convince them about, because if covering the face is obligatory,
then the girl who has reached adolescence is required to do it, and she is
sinning by going against it, and it makes no difference whether she is 14
years old or 20.  

As for the problems that
are expected if you insist on following your opinion and going against your
parents, these are regular problems which will ease with the passage of time
and as your parents get used to seeing the niqaab. It needs patience and
sacrifice, and it is sufficient for the believing woman if her Lord is
pleased with her, even if people are not pleased. 

Some fathers are afraid
that if their daughters start to wear niqaab at a young age, they may be put
off after that and will take it off. Hence we say: Show how convinced you
are of the niqaab and how keen you are to wear it and  adhere to it, and try
to dispel their fears. And some of them are afraid that if she puts on
niqaab, no one will see her properly and that may affect her chances of
marriage later on. 

To sum up: what we advise
with regard to this problem is to be patient in dealing with your parents
and seek the intervention of someone who can convince them, if possible.
Bring them some tapes of scholars who speak of that, and tell them again
about what has convinced you that it is obligatory, so long as you are sure
that the source is trusted by your parents. But if you think it most likely
that the problems with your family caused by your wearing niqaab will be
more than you can bear, then perhaps you can delay it for a little while
until they are convinced, or until their objections have died down, but you
should avoid going out of the house or mixing with non-mahram men as much as
possible. If you can put it on in the street, where they cannot see you,
that is also good, in sha Allaah