Daughter asking her parents to repay their debts to her Fatwa No: 118657
- Fatwa Date:3-3-2009
Assalam alaikum, Sir, I would like to ask you about an issue which deals with a womans money. She gave all her savings to her parents because they were in need of money, to build there house instead of taking loan from the bank the daughter offered all her savings to her parents. She didn't want her parents to be burdened with the bank loan and interest. And also her parents had promised to pay it back later in the future. But as it is said in one of the hadith that" You and your money belongs to your father" she wants to know if taking back the money(in future) which she has lended to her parents is considered haram.Will she be punished in the hereafter if she takes back that money. She is very disturbed with all this. Please help.(The daughter is married and has kids).
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 is His slave and Messenger.
First of all, may Allaah reward this daughter for being kind and dutiful to her parents, and for realizing the enormity and seriousness of the sin of Riba (interest or usury), and for making her parents avoid getting a forbidden loan. She should advise them with wisdom and clarify to them that it is forbidden to borrow money with Riba.
As regards her question, she should distinguish between the permissibility of taking back her loan from her parents when they give it back to her, and asking them to repay their debts to her.
There is nothing wrong with the first part, which is taking back the loan.
With regard to the second part, which is asking them to repay the debts, then this is permissible and it is not considered as severing ties of kinship with them. Indeed, we already discussed the meaning of the Prophetic narration which you mentioned in the question in Fatwa 89942. The narration is not evidence that it is forbidden for the son or the daughter to ask their father to repay them for what he took from them as a loan.
Allaah Knows best.