The laxity in taking on debt and paying zakah in installments

The questioner : A questioner says: Many people are lax regarding debt. They have debts, and this is because they are paid off from zakah.

The Shaykh : This is correct. People have become lax regarding debts because when Ramadan comes, they say, "Praise be to Allah, I owe twenty thousand. I will go to so-and-so merchant, so-and-so, and so-and-so." They present a statement, and whatever is feasible is paid off on their behalf. This is also one of the problems that needs a solution.
However, a sensible person does not take on debt from anyone except in the most extreme necessity. And I think that the most extreme necessity does not exist for us, praise be to Allah. Because a person can be a worker, even if only a municipal worker, in order to earn a livelihood. People in the past would go out to the wadis, gather grass, and sell it to buy dinner for themselves and their families. They would go to the woodcutting places, meaning places for firewood, cut wood, bring it back, sell it, and eat and treat their illnesses. People are people; they are all human, the predecessors and the successors.
So a sensible person does not borrow except for the most extreme necessity. And the most extreme necessity now, as I told you, is impossible, meaning it is nonexistent.
He can go and be a worker, even for three hundred riyals or four hundred riyals or one thousand riyals. But we ask Allah for well-being. Some people have become wanting to show off to the rich. A rich person has tens of millions and his house is complete. A poor person who finds nothing says, "I must have a house like this man's." So he goes and borrows. He borrows for a car.
Like this, its value is eighty thousand, even though he could get a Datsun for twenty thousand. Well, why is this? Is this not foolishness? It is foolishness and recklessness. The common people say, for example, "Stretch your legs according to your blanket." Your blanket, because to cover you, stretch your legs according to it. If it is long, stretch both legs. If it is short, curl up, because if you stretch your legs and it is short, you will be exposed to the cold. This is a good example. If we followed it in our lives, we would attain much good. Yes.
In any case, this problem is a social problem, and we do not know how to solve it. How do we solve this problem? But its solution is that we educate people and say, "Beware of debt. Do not borrow at all unless in the most extreme necessity."