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Fatwa CenterTaking student loans based on false information that father provided
Question
Im a student and live with my parents.Since the beginning of my studies i get financial support from the state(loans with no interest).When i noticed that my dad deceived the local tax office by indicating a lower income than his actual i cancelled my student loans.The work my dad does may not be haram but clearly part of his income is, because of his false statements.Therefore i also considered my student loans as haram because the application form also include the income tax statement of my dad.Lately my dad struggles with health issues, he had a surgery because of a herniated disk and a smaller surgery because of a vascular occlusion.He still didnt recover completely and often has heart aches and other disorders.So he applied for a special unemployment benefit.Since the processing of his application took a long time he still continued to work,otherwise we couldn´t pay the rent.In his application form he once again stated false inform. ,he stated that he doesn´t work and my mother doesn´t live with us.When my parents found out that i cancelled my student loans there was a huge argument. I pointed out that what they´re doing isnt comfortable with Islam.But they claim that nothings wrong with it.Since i´m part of the household and legally have a right to receive student loans the employment office take my student loans into the account at the determination of the benefit-amount.That´s why my dad gets less money.Because this problem puts a lot of mental straint on me i agreed on applying for the student loans again.I feel sorry for my dad so i decided to apply for a job. However i came to know that i can´t work because this would have effects on the social benefit of my dad.When i´d tell them that i want to work we will definetly end up with a huge dispute. I don´t want to stress out my dad,im afraid he could have a heart attack.Am i accountable for the haram income+Do you consider my student loans haram, because of the false statements of my dad in the applic.form?
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
It is not permissible to engage in any transaction that involves cheating, fraud or forgery and it is also prohibited to help others take part in such transactions even in non-Muslim countries. In fact, Muslims should be even more keen to refrain from cheating and forgery with non-Muslims in hopes that their hearts soften when Muslims show them how honest they are, how they honor their trusts and similar Islamic conduct.
Therefore, if you can only receive the student loans based on false information provided by your father, and if the providers of the loan knew that the information was false they would not grant the loan, then it is not permissible for you to apply for or benefit from it because you are not eligible with respect to the terms of having rights to it. Please refer to fataawa 87439 and 88631.
You should advise your father that these acts of cheating and fraud are not permissible and encourage him to fear Allaah for his own sake and for yours and to desist from these actions. He should also know that no one dies before receiving what Allaah has provided for him. The Prophet, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, said: “The Holy Spirit (Jibreel) has communicated to me that no soul dies before its appointed time and without having received its provisions in full; so fear Allaah and seek provision with decency, and do not let the slow coming of provision cause you to seek it by disobeying Allaah, for that which is with Allaah cannot be attained except by obeying Him.” [Ibn Maajah]
Your father bears the sin for what he has done in committing forgery and deceiving the authorities, and you are not responsible for that. However, you are not entitled to receive any of these student loans as long as you are not eligible to receive them without your father falsifying information.
On the other hand, there would be no blame on you for finding a lawful job to earn enough money to pay your own expenses and help out your father. Try to convince your parents in a kind way to allow you to get a permissible job if you can find one as long as your going out for this job does not bring about any Fitnah (temptation) or harm.
Allaah Knows best.
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