As-sal?mu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatull?hi wa-barak?tuh Sheikh. My husband got a mortgage with riba. I work, so he added me on the mortgage, otherwise he would not qualify for the mortgage. I didn’t know that time riba is a major sin. Now I asked him to sell the house and got out of the riba. If he sells it now, he will lose lots of money since market is really bad now and he got lots of debt. Am I sinful because my name is on the mortgage? I do not want to be part of it at all. I’m making sincere tawba and asking ALLAH عز و جل to help me to be out of it. I can’t divorce my husband on this ground either. Please advise.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

If you were unaware of the prohibition of what you have done when you accepted to help your husband, then we hope that you are not sinful for this. Ibn Uthaymeen said:

"A person who committed an unlawful act because he was unaware of its prohibition will bear no sin, and no punishment is incurred as a result. This is because Allah, The Exalted, is more merciful than to punish a person who did not intentionally disobey Him. However, the situation of the person is investigated to decide whether or not he neglected the duty of learning his religion and seeking the truth. If it is proven that he was neglectful in this regard and blindly followed the example of other people without seeking the truth and verifying the lawfulness of such an act, then he bears a sin for that; he bears a sin for neglecting the duty of seeking the truth, and he would not be for committing the prohibited act in this case. Nonetheless, he may still be excused if it did not occur to him that such an act could possibly be prohibited and he has no scholars who could warn him of such a thing; in this case, his action may be excused.

To conclude, a person may be excused due to ignorance but he is not excused for being negligent in seeking the truth." [End of quote – Excerpted from Liqaa' Al-Baab Al-Maftooh]

Therefore, one must confirm the ruling of what he wants to do (i.e., permissible or not) before undertaking it otherwise he would be negligent in seeking the truth. Al-Akhdhari said in his Mukhtasar: "It is not permissible for him -meaning a pubescent person who is required to carry out religious obligations - to do an act until he knows the ruling of Allah on it, or asks the scholars who are acting according to the Sunnah."

Therefore, you have to seek the forgiveness of Allah and be determined not to do this again. Your regret is evidence of your true and sincere repentance; so we ask Allah to forgive you and have mercy upon you.

As regards selling the house in order to repay the Riba-based loan, then it is not an obligation to do so. But one should hasten as much as possible to repay, especially if by hastening the repayment the interests are waived off the person.

Hence, you should advise your husband to repent to Allah for what he had done and not to return to it again in the future.

For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 81594, 389911 and 89573.

Allah knows best.