Is it permissible for a person in financial difficulty to borrow with riba (usury or interest) to pay off his debt when threatened with imprisonment?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner says: A man has debts, and he is threatened with imprisonment if he does not pay them, but he has no means to pay. Is it permissible for him to borrow with riba for this matter, as a case of dire necessity?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible to force a person who is unable to pay to settle his debt. Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Baqarah 2:280] So this postponement is a command from Allah. [Al-Baqarah 2:280] This relieves him of the debt, and that is better; otherwise, wait. Yes.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. A questioner says: A man has debts, and he is threatened with imprisonment if he does not pay them, but he has no means to pay. Is it permissible for him to borrow with riba for this matter, as a case of dire necessity?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible to force a person who is unable to pay to settle his debt. Allah the Exalted said:
And if someone is in hardship
وَإِن كَانَ ذُو عُسْرَةٍpostponement until [a time of] ease. But if you give [from your right as] charity, then it is better for you
فَنَظِرَةٌ إِلَىٰ مَيْسَرَةٍ وَأَن تَصَدَّقُوا خَيْرٌ لَّكُمْ
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، 546- هل يجوز للمعسر الاقتراض بالربا لسداد دينه عند التهديد بالسجن؟ - صالح الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.