Settling a debt in a different currency when its value has risen
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner:
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. This questioner says: I borrowed a sum of money amounting to ten thousand dollars three years ago. Now I have been able to settle this amount, but in a different currency. The owner of the money told me, “Give me the value of it today, not the same value as it was three years ago.”
The Shaykh:
Yes, that is correct. It is the value on the day of repayment, the day of repayment. Yes.
The questioner:
Then he says, may Allah preserve you: You know that the dollar has risen several times over, and this causes me harm. So is this obligatory upon me?
The Shaykh:
You give him what you took from him, even if it has risen. You give him what you took from him, whether dollars or other currency, just as you took it from him, even if its value has risen. Because this is his right over you; it is a debt in your liability.
Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. This questioner says: I borrowed a sum of money amounting to ten thousand dollars three years ago. Now I have been able to settle this amount, but in a different currency. The owner of the money told me, “Give me the value of it today, not the same value as it was three years ago.”
The Shaykh:
Yes, that is correct. It is the value on the day of repayment, the day of repayment. Yes.
The questioner:
Then he says, may Allah preserve you: You know that the dollar has risen several times over, and this causes me harm. So is this obligatory upon me?
The Shaykh:
You give him what you took from him, even if it has risen. You give him what you took from him, whether dollars or other currency, just as you took it from him, even if its value has risen. Because this is his right over you; it is a debt in your liability.
Source
شرح إغاثة اللهفان من مصائد الشيطان لابن القيم، فصل ومن مكايده التي بلغ فيها مراده : مكيدة التحليل — islamhouse.com (40:18)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.