The Ruling on Guaranteeing a Debt for a Fee
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, guaranteeing a debt for a fee has become widespread among people, such as when the guarantor says, "I will guarantee you, but for a sum of such and such." What is the ruling on that?
Answer:
This is not permissible. Guaranteeing a debt is a contract of kindness; it is a contract of kindness intended to be done for a fee, and it is not permissible to take a fee for it. Also, if he pays off the debt on your behalf and then demands it from you later, and he has already taken a fee, this becomes riba (usury or interest). He paid off the debt on your behalf as a loan, and then he demanded it from you and you paid it to him, even though he had taken a fee for the guarantee; this becomes riba. Yes.
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, guaranteeing a debt for a fee has become widespread among people, such as when the guarantor says, "I will guarantee you, but for a sum of such and such." What is the ruling on that?
Answer:
This is not permissible. Guaranteeing a debt is a contract of kindness; it is a contract of kindness intended to be done for a fee, and it is not permissible to take a fee for it. Also, if he pays off the debt on your behalf and then demands it from you later, and he has already taken a fee, this becomes riba (usury or interest). He paid off the debt on your behalf as a loan, and then he demanded it from you and you paid it to him, even though he had taken a fee for the guarantee; this becomes riba. Yes.
Source
الفوزان -أشرطة- شرح زاد المستقنع مع الأسئلة - 067-كتاب الفرائض - 6-12-24 هـ — archive.org (1:16:18)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.