Please I need to know the Islamic ruling on this. If a person keeps his money with me can I borrow from it without his knowledge? And if I can, what actually can I use it for? For settling some debt, or for taking care of some immediate necessity, or for trading?

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. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

Whoever has kept a deposit of someone else is obliged to preserve it as it is and not use it without the knowledge [and consent] of its owner. If the person who is entrusted uses the deposit without the knowledge of its owner, he is sinful and transgressed other people's rights, and he should be liable for it in case he loses it after such unacceptable behaviour. However, one is liable for the deposit even if he uses it with the knowledge and consent of its owner.

The jurists stated that if a person trades with the deposit without the permission of its owner, then the profit thereof is for the owner of the deposit. This view is reported by Imaam Ahmad. In another narration the latter says: "The profit is neither for the owner of the deposit nor for the person who is entrusted to keep it, rather the profit should be given in charity."

To conclude, a person who is entrusted to keep a deposit is not allowed to use it in business, or to pay a debt or else. He is obliged to keep it as it is until its owner takes it from him or gives him permission to use it.

Allaah knows best.