Paying a debt that was written off as 'bad debt'

5-5-2014 | IslamWeb

Question:

I have incurred debt years back due to my husband being retrenched. The debt has been written off to bad debt. I have made my intention to save for hajj Inshallah, what would I do, seeing that the debt no longer exist on the companies books so I cannot pay it? Please advise what I can do. Shukran

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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 ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

It is obligatory for you to hasten to repay that debt in order to clear your liability or ask the creditor to exempt you from its repayment even if it has been written off. The fact that the debt has been written off and that the creditor can no longer demand the repayment of the debt does not clear your liability from it. The only way to clear your liability is to repay it or to be exempted from repaying it by the creditor.

Even if we assumed that you have the money but you are unable to reach the creditor and the repayment is absolutely impossible, then this does not clear your liability from it. In this case, you should give this debt in charity intending that the reward would be for the creditor.

As long as you are financially able to repay the debt, you should hasten to clear your liability from it first before saving for Hajj.

Please refer to Fatwa 194371 for more benefit.

Allaah Knows best.