Darulifta Ahlesunnat
(Dawateislami)
Question
What do the scholars of Islam say about the
following:
A man is in debt and unable to pay it back. Will his debt be cleared if
someone repays it for him without his permission?
بِسْمِ اللہِ
الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِیْمِ
اَلْجَوَابُ بِعَوْنِ الْمَلِکِ
الْوَھَّابِ اَللّٰھُمَّ ھِدَایَۃَ الْحَقِّ وَالصَّوَابِ
It is permissible to pay someone’s debt without the permission of the
debtor. In this scenario, the debt will be paid, and the act of clearing the
debt is a good deed for which there is hope of reward.
It is stated in MajmaꜤ al-Ḍamānāt: لو قضی
دَین غیرہ بغیر امرہ جاز, – “If someone pays the debt of another without
the debtor’s request, this action is permitted.”[1]
Shaykh Zayn al-Dīn, Ibn Nujaym al-Ḥanafī رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه said: لو قضى
دَين الحی ان قضاه بغير امره يكون متبرعا, - “If someone clears the
debt of a living person, without the debtor’s request, he will be deemed as
having performed a rewardable action.”[2]
Paying off a debt
without the consent of the debtor will clear the debt.
Regarding this, it is
stated in al-Fatāwā al-Hindiyyah[3]:
لو قضی دَین الفقیر بزکاۃ
مالہ ان کان بامرہ یجوز وان کان بغیر امرہ لایجوز وسقط الدَین
Imām Aḥmad
Razā Khān رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه explains:
Whether Sayyid
Muhammad Ahsan paid off this debt with his own money or borrowed money, it was
a debt on one brother, which another paid off of his own accord. He showed good
conduct with his brother, for which there is hope of reward. However, there is
no entitlement of recompense; so a person who shows
good conduct cannot demand reimbursement. Books
of jurisprudence have explicitly stated on this issue that whoever clears the
debt of another, without the debtor requesting him to do so, will not have the
money returned to him.
It is mentioned in ꜤUqud al-Durriyyah: المتبرع
لا یرجع بما تبرع بہ علی غیرہ کما لو قضی دین غیرہ
بغیر امرہ
– “Someone who does an act of kindness cannot demand for the return of that
which he contributed; like someone clearing another’s debt without his
request.”[4]
وَاللہُ اَعْلَمُ عَزَّوَجَلَّ وَرَسُوْلُہ
اَعْلَم صَلَّی اللّٰہُ تَعَالٰی عَلَیْہِ
وَاٰلِہٖ وَسَلَّم
Answered By: Mufti Abu Muhammad Ali Asghar Attari
Ref No: NOR-12390
Date: 3rd Ṣafar al-Muẓaffar 1444AH/31st August 2022