Loans & Debts

Q: Could you please explain to me what is interest, riba and usury. If one has the talent to do a halal business (by Allah) and no money, and other has money but he can't do business, the one who is giving the money to the first person for the business and asking him to give a profit of 50% and at last he should return his money. Does this come under interest/riba/usuary. If yes then how should the business situation be dealt with. What does one do if one did that, and falled in a loss.

Q: Is taking a loan a sin and if it is a sin then what is the punishment if the loan is taken?

Q: I thought that if you commit shirk, you will not enter Jannah but I also read a hadith that if you have a debt then you will not enter jannah, what happens on day of judgement to someone who never paid his debt?

Q: I am from India. Me, my husband and kids stay with my in-laws in their house. Can we take a loan for buying our own house.

Q: Can a Muslim take out a usuruous loan to support their family if they are living in conditions that are dangerous such as, if their home is being burglarized and living in a dangerous neighborhood filled with gangs and drugs? Is this a condition of zaroorah (necessity) or haajah (need)? Can one commit a major sin, dealing with Riba (Usury/Interest), in order to get his family away from these conditions. Please advise. 

Q: I'm confused about what is meant when "food bought from riba is haraam". I currently have some money from a loan I took out that has interest on it (I was under a lot of pressure from my family and got yelled at for trying to avoid the loan). I was wondering, does all the food bought from this money automatically become haraam to consume because the loan is haraam? If so, I plan on just leaving the unnecessary leftover money in the bank until I have halal earnings. Because if I empty out my bank account trying to return this money, lol can't even imagine what my family would do to me. But yeah, I feel guilty about this loan but I was practically forced into this when I started getting ridiculed for trying to stay halal. So my other question is, wouldn't the sin fall on the person who pressured me into paying riba rather than me?

Q: If you are in debt, does it affect your taubah or forgiveness? I mean can a debt stop you getting your sins forgiven? would Allah forgive your sins if your in debt?

Q: Can your debt cancel out your good deeds?

Q: One of the banks in my residence country is offering a short term interest free loan. I am only interested in using this loan because it is interest free. It has a fixed processing fees (1 % of the amount of loan) and a onetime fixed insurance fees to be paid. Can you please advise, if it is alright to utilize this loan.

Q: While I was studying at university (in the UK) I regrettably took out a student loan due to my lack of deen at the time, now I have come to realise that this was totally impermissible and wish to make amends.

According to the terms of the loan, I do not need to repay the loan if I earn below £17,775 per annum. The loan will be written off if I do not earn above this threshold after 25 years. I can repay the loan (plus interest) and make taubah but I feel very uncomfortable with this. My other option, which I am fully prepared to undergo, is that I continue to earn below the threshold for the next 25 years. I want to know:

1. Whether it is permissible to deliberately earn less in order to avoid paying any interest?

2. Whether I should repay the loan (through voluntary payments) but not the interest?

3. Whether I should simply repay every thing and just make taubah thereafter?