Ruling on paying off from zakah funds the debt of one who owes usurious debt
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A person was obligated to pay a usurious debt by dealing with a usurious bank, and then he went bankrupt. Is he given from the zakah?
Who went bankrupt?The questioner: The borrower.
The Shaykh: Yes.
He is given from the zakah;Because he is a debtor who falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted: [At-Tawbah: 60] As for the amount of the principal, there is no dispute about it. As for the usurious increase, if we are in a country where, if the matter were brought to the authorities, they would cancel this increase, we say: Do not help him with it; because this debtor can get rid of it. And if we are in a country that rules with this usurious increase, it means: that this debtor must pay it, so he is given [from the zakah] to pay it.And it is not said: This is assistance in sin and transgression. Is the sin originally on the one who takes the usury or on the one who gives the usury? The original sin is on the taker; because he is the wrongdoer. As for this one, he is the one who has been wronged. So now we want to free him from this injustice.
But my opinion on the matter: If two parties contract on a usurious matter, whether in banks or elsewhere, with the consent of both, we do not give the usurious increase to the one who takes the usury, nor do we exempt the one who gives the usury from taking it. We take it and place it in the public treasury; because each of these two has disobeyed Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), so we do not enable him to continue in his disobedience.
Who went bankrupt?The questioner: The borrower.
The Shaykh: Yes.
He is given from the zakah;Because he is a debtor who falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted:
and those in debt
وَالْغَارِمِينَBut my opinion on the matter: If two parties contract on a usurious matter, whether in banks or elsewhere, with the consent of both, we do not give the usurious increase to the one who takes the usury, nor do we exempt the one who gives the usury from taking it. We take it and place it in the public treasury; because each of these two has disobeyed Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), so we do not enable him to continue in his disobedience.