Loans & Debts

Q: I have a question about credit card's if you could please answer it, My question is this: Are credit card's Halaal?

To elaborate on this - if a company offers me 10,000 euros to spend on a card as and when I wish and all I have to do is pay back what I have used in 30 days and no charges will be applied to my month bill, BUT if I don't pay off this amount that I have used in the past 30 days then they will add interest to my repayments, like 15% of what I have used every month till I pay it off and based on this I agree and I enter into this agreement with that company and take and use this card. My intention is to pay off my bill every month before any interest is applied so I don't pay any Riba (interest) and I do, I keep up with my repayments every time and I don't not pay any interest at any point. But I have agreed that if I do miss a payment that I will pay them the interest. Is this permissible? Is it allowed for a Muslim to enter such a contract to make a agreement to pay Riba(interest) if such and such happens, but the Muslims intention is to never be in that situation but yet still agreeing that if I do fall in that situation I will pay you with interest. A brother of mine fell on hard times and he took a credit card to get himself through this hard times and he told me that some Ulema have said that it is permissible if you need it and as long as you stay within the monthly repayments without the add of interest. My understanding is that a Muslim must live by his oath and even agreeing to do Haram(whether or not you do it) is Haraam.

Jazak'Allah Khayrr for your time and I wait to hear your reply and clarity on this matter.

Q: I sold a house for R500 000 on credit and told the customer to pay R50 000 per month over ten months. The customer paid me for the first five months and then passed away. Is it permissible for me to immediately claim the outstanding R250 000 from the heirs or do they still have five months to pay?

Q: My father sold a car for R100 000 on credit and the terms were that the customer would pay R25 000 per month over four months. My father has passed away and it is two months since he concluded the sale. Can we make the customer pay the remaining R50 000 immediately or does he still have two months left to pay?

Q: I am a post graduate student. My question is regarding a scholarship which I applied for and wanted to ask if it is ok for me to take.

I am presently studying in a different state and this scholarship is from the central govt. but I needed a proof of residence of this state for the application. So I got in contact with an agent and he managed to get my application approved for which he is taking a part of the scholarship money.

Anyway, generally I never applied for scholarships in my schooling or college or bachelors but because I have a few unplanned heavy expenses related to my education course, I applied for it thinking it would help. But I am in a dilemma whether to use it or dispose it or just use it for this particular purpose and dispose the remaining or use it for my other personal expenses and if not, then how do I dispose it?

Q: I had rented a house and thereafter negotiated with the landlord to purchase the house. As I did not have the funds to purchase the house, my friend offered to assist by loaning me the full purchase price payable to him as arranged. He forwarded the monies to the seller and the legal transfer process from the seller to me commenced. Soon thereafter my friend went through some financial problems and his family members demanded that I repay the loaned amount to him (my friend) within 24 hours. I was very troubled as I could not arrange such a large sum within such a short time and whilst I was at work another friend happened to pass by. We greeted one another and he noticed the troubled look on my face. Upon his insistence I explained to him the situation and he there and then phoned his bank and asked them to transfer the money to my first friend's account. I was surprised and asked him about the repayment and he said that the house is yours and we will talk about the repayment. Upon my insistence he suggested that I pay 4000 rental monthly for now and then we will discuss the repayment.

NB. Since the house was in the process of getting transferred to my name from the seller, he (second friend) asked the conveyancer to continue with the transfer into my name and when I queried with him, he did mention that the house is yours and it is for you. I continued paying the monthly stipulated rental until one day he passed away.

Upon his death I told my wife to ask my friends widow about the house and she said that she is aware of the situation. She sent her brother to my house who then said that they prefer keeping the house as an investment for the children and they do not want to sell. I did not pursue the matter further until I recently mentioned it to an aalim who felt that it could probably be that I am paying interest and the widow is receiving interest as the amount given to me by the second friend was a loan and not a purchase price of the house.

Can you please advise as to what the status of the above transaction is and who is the owner of the house and what is the status of the monies forwarded to me by my second friend as I would not like be involved in interest in anyway.

Q: Can a rich Muslim apply for minority scholarship given by government for higher education?

Q: My dad died on 10th September due to cancer. After his death, many people came with bills that he had debts. I am his only daughter so how can I pay all this debt and what should I do to pay this debt. Can we use interest money to pay the debt to non-Muslims. 

Q: A person asks his friend for PKR. 100,000 in 2007 and his friend gave him 1,700 dollars as value of USD was almost 59 in 2007 in Pakistan. Now in year 2019 how much he has to payback as loan.

Q: I have loaned a fellow Muslim money. She has disputed paying the total with no valid reason.

She has mailed me to say that she is willing to pay half of the amount due to me in 6 monthly installments. Am I obliged to forgive her?

Q: My brother took a loan from me for 2-3 days by telling me that he needs the money urgently and he had sold his shop and would get money in 2-3 days and pay me. But he was lying to me. He was under heavy debt taken from many people and was not selling his shop (I don't know if he had a shop at all). He just wanted to take money from me.

Four years have passed and he has not returned a single penny. Had he told me the truth, I would have given him only a small amount of money as a loan, and not all my money from which I was making my earning. Now he is expecting to receive some money (about 25% of my loan) but he refused to pay me. The reason is that he wants to educate his daughter at a medical college and needed money for her.

My question is: If my brother gets any money, is he obliged to educate his children first or pay my loan first? He argues that his children are his responsibility. My argument is that I gave him all my money I was using to earn a living for my children.