How is a debt repaid if it is impossible to reach the creditor?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
Connect me with someone. In the name of Allah. I rode with a car owner from one area to another for a fare of seven hundred Syrian pounds in 1995. I told him that I would pay the fare upon arrival because I did not have the required amount at that time. When I arrived at the destination, I did not get the money, and the car owner left, and I did not know him. I only know the name of the car owner, his tribe, and the place from which I rode. The question is: How do I repay the amount if I cannot find the car owner? And should the amount be repaid in Syrian currency or Saudi currency, since the pound was worth more than one real at that time, whereas now one real is worth more than ten pounds?
Answer:
The obligation is a right belonging to another person. Then the owner of the right was lost, and he was not known, or he was not heard from, or he was sought but not found, and his heirs were not known. If he was unable to deliver the right to him, or to his heirs if he was dead, and if he was unable to do so, he should give it in charity, and intention suffices on behalf of the owner. So, you, the questioner, if you intended to stand [pay] and did not reach him, and if it came from you that you are less able than him, then by intention you should give out the amount that is due to him, at the fare that was agreed upon between you and him. If you agreed on it, give it out. And if you give out its value because it has decreased and has become somewhat obsolete, if you give out its value, that is more cautious and more complete in clearing the conscience. If the depreciation is severe, giving out the value is more cautious in clearing the conscience. But if the depreciation is slight, do not deviate; give the specific currency on which the right was established, and give it in the causes of good, in charity to the poor, or in a charitable project, with the intention of it being on behalf of its owner, and place it as a debt on your conscience due to the inability to deliver the right to him, or to his heirs if he was dead.
Connect me with someone. In the name of Allah. I rode with a car owner from one area to another for a fare of seven hundred Syrian pounds in 1995. I told him that I would pay the fare upon arrival because I did not have the required amount at that time. When I arrived at the destination, I did not get the money, and the car owner left, and I did not know him. I only know the name of the car owner, his tribe, and the place from which I rode. The question is: How do I repay the amount if I cannot find the car owner? And should the amount be repaid in Syrian currency or Saudi currency, since the pound was worth more than one real at that time, whereas now one real is worth more than ten pounds?
Answer:
The obligation is a right belonging to another person. Then the owner of the right was lost, and he was not known, or he was not heard from, or he was sought but not found, and his heirs were not known. If he was unable to deliver the right to him, or to his heirs if he was dead, and if he was unable to do so, he should give it in charity, and intention suffices on behalf of the owner. So, you, the questioner, if you intended to stand [pay] and did not reach him, and if it came from you that you are less able than him, then by intention you should give out the amount that is due to him, at the fare that was agreed upon between you and him. If you agreed on it, give it out. And if you give out its value because it has decreased and has become somewhat obsolete, if you give out its value, that is more cautious and more complete in clearing the conscience. If the depreciation is severe, giving out the value is more cautious in clearing the conscience. But if the depreciation is slight, do not deviate; give the specific currency on which the right was established, and give it in the causes of good, in charity to the poor, or in a charitable project, with the intention of it being on behalf of its owner, and place it as a debt on your conscience due to the inability to deliver the right to him, or to his heirs if he was dead.
Source
قناة «فضيلة الشيخ ابن باز Alsheikh Binbaz»، 382 كيف يُسدد الدَّين إذا تعذَّر الوصول للمدين؟ للإمام ابن باز — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.