Repaying a loan with forbidden money
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Honorable Shaykh, a man lent another man a sum of money. When he asked for repayment, the borrower said, “I have no money except forbidden money.” Is it permissible to take this money?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible to accept or deal in forbidden money; this is haram (forbidden). However, he should be patient and wait until he obtains lawful money, and then he should demand his right from him. Unless this man is reckless and a liar, in which case he should complain to the authorities and extract his right from him. I think he said this from the standpoint of the wealthy, and the fact that he openly declares, “I have no money except lawful money,” is openly committing sin, and may Allah protect us from that. This is recklessness, which indicates that he is confused and a liar, so he should complain to the authorities and take his right from him.
Honorable Shaykh, a man lent another man a sum of money. When he asked for repayment, the borrower said, “I have no money except forbidden money.” Is it permissible to take this money?
Answer:
No, it is not permissible to accept or deal in forbidden money; this is haram (forbidden). However, he should be patient and wait until he obtains lawful money, and then he should demand his right from him. Unless this man is reckless and a liar, in which case he should complain to the authorities and extract his right from him. I think he said this from the standpoint of the wealthy, and the fact that he openly declares, “I have no money except lawful money,” is openly committing sin, and may Allah protect us from that. This is recklessness, which indicates that he is confused and a liar, so he should complain to the authorities and take his right from him.
Source
شرح بلوغ المرام من أدلة الأحكام [ صالح الفوزان ]، أبواب السلم والقرض والرهن — islamhouse.com (12:08)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.