My family refuses my marriage to a nurse as we belong to our high social class. What can I do?

I am afraid your family is taking a wrong attitude which Islam does not accept. They are basing their objection to your marriage not on any fault they find with the girl herself, but on her profession. Even then, this profession is not what they make it out to be. Even at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) women worked as nurses. We know, for example, that Rufaidah Bint Al-Harith, a woman Companion of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) set up a tent clinic where she nursed Muslim soldiers wounded in battle, and that Saad ibn Muadh, a leader from the Ansar, was her best known patient. This was during the siege of the Jewish tribe of Quraysh. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) himself was the one who asked the Aws, Saad’s tribe, to have this tent clinic set up for Saad so that he could visit him whenever the situation allowed. Nursing, then, is a very respectable profession. Otherwise, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) would not have approved of it.

Now if you are certain that the woman you wish to marry is of strong faith, and has sound moral values, then you should make a greater effort to persuade your family to accept her. It is better not to start a marriage with friction within one’s family. You should try to make your parents realize that they are not really objecting to the woman’s character or to any fault in her, but to her work, which is honorable, useful and provides a good service to the community. You may ask them, if anyone in the family needs to be hospitalized who would after them except a nurse? Would that nurse be called a bad person for looking after the patient? To say so is not reasonable.