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﴿ فَاسْأَلُوا أَهْلَ الذِّكْرِ إِن كُنتُمْ لَا تَعْلَمُونَ ﴾

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Does reminding a person in financial difficulty of the repayment time contradict the explicit text of the verse (so give them time until they are able)?

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Question:
The questioner says: Honorable Shaykh, I lent a person a sum of money on the condition that he would repay it at a specific, known time. I later learned that he is in financial difficulty. Is it permissible for me to remind him of the repayment time when the time for my reminder arrives, or does this contradict the obligation to give a person in financial difficulty time?

Answer:
A loan does not have a set time, and no time is fixed for repayment. Rather, as soon as the borrower is able to repay it, he should hasten to do so. If he is in financial difficulty, he is given time until he is able, as the Exalted and Majestic is He said:
And if someone is in hardship, then [let there be] postponement until [a time of] ease. But if you give [from your right as] charity, then it is better for youوَإِن كَانَ ذُو عُسْرَةٍ فَنَظِرَةٌ إِلَىٰ مَيْسَرَةٍ وَأَن تَصَدَّقُوا خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ
[Al-Baqarah 2:280]
. So either you give him time until he becomes wealthy and repays you, or the better option is that you give him charity and forgive this debt as long as he remains in financial difficulty. Yes.
Source قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل تذكير المعسر بوقت السداد يخالف نص الآية (فنظرة إلى ميسرة)؟ الشيخ صالح الفوزان — youtube.com

The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.

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