Repaying Loans
Today’s reminder is following on from last week in regards to the good deed of helping others with a loan, for the sake of Allah, without asking for any more benefit from that loan.
Everyone has or will one day go through difficulties that may mean asking others for help, and would want to do it without being humiliated, and there are many that help their brothers and sisters without any humiliation.
However, many people do not take responsibility on the help they have received, to ensure that the debt is repaid without delay or being lazy.
The imam referenced two suras from the Quran to emphasise this point. Firstly, it was the 60th ayat of Sura Rahman which is translated to say:
Is the reward of goodness anything but goodness?
And then the 58th ayat of Sura Nisa which is translated to say:
Allah commands you [people] to return things entrusted to you to their rightful owners, and, if you judge between people, to do so with justice: Allah’s instructions to you are excellent, for He hears and sees everything.
Dear brothers and sisters, we can see that there is a great importance laid upon borrowing and returning things to their rightful owners. It may not be money, it could be any property or item we borrow but the lesson is to return it promptly and of course, in the condition they leant it to you in the first place.
The imam also spoke of hadeeth in regards to this reminder. The first of which is translated to say:
“If anyone accepts other people’s belongings meaning to pay back, God will pay back for him; but if anyone accepts them meaning to squander them, God will on that account destroy his property.”
Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot be borrowing things and not place the correct level of respect and importance on it just because its not ours. Things we borrow from others are placed in our care as a trust and Allah SWT commanded our messenger SAWS to educate us on the importance of this so that we are not disrespectful of others belongings in our care.
Again the imam mentioned a hadith emphasising the importance needing to be placed on debt. It’s translated to say:
“Anyone whose soul leaves his body and he is free of three things, will enter Paradise: `Arrogance, stealing from the spoils of war, and debt.”
And secondly:
“Every fault but a debt will be forgiven to a martyr.”
Dear brothers and sisters, the reminder is quite clear this week in that we need to be mindful of those we borrow from. Just as was the reminder last week on lending to those less fortunate than ourselves, our reminder this week educates us on the importance Islam places on the repayment of debt, whether it is of money or of things.
And so the reminder concludes with a dua that we should all know that enables us to do right by those we borrow from. It is:
