We are two brothers & one sister; our mother is living & father passed away. When I returned home about two years ago, I found out that my mother had kept three apartments as part of my inheritance. Due to unintentional mistakes & wrong decisions taken by my brother & sister, they racked up a huge amount of debt against the building which also includes their share of apartment. I do not have any children. Neither my brother nor I am financially well off. So I thought that if I sell off one small apartment from my share, then it will ease up the burden by 50% for the whole family. And accordingly I did sell it year and half ago. But we still have a long way to go to free up the property from bank mortgage. I much later got furious in my heart (but I never expressed it) over my older brother’s continuous cribbing of his bad financial situation etc. etc. So one day I thought of suggesting him that he should let go one of his apartment as well and that way we both divide the responsibility of paying off the common debt of the family. But he has two children to whom he wants to pass on his share of the property. I later decided not to suggest him the above for three reasons. First, I have noticed that he is increasingly becoming a practicing Muslim trying to & correct himself. Second, I later realized that my brother was probably trying to air-out his feelings for which I misunderstood him plus he is trying hard to pay off the remaining debts. Third I wanted to avoid misunderstandings. My question is: (1) Having now realized that at the time of my decision to sell of that apartment, I was not thinking of Allah or charity, will I still be rewarded in the hereafter by Allah subhanotala for my action, the sole purpose of which was to ease up the burden of the family (& honest, I had attached no strings)?; Can I still offer two rakat nafl Salah & ask Him to accept my contribution as charity & forgive me if I had committed any mistakes while taking that decision?

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.

First of all, one should find out whether or not all these three flats are really your share of inheritance from your father, or that your mother gave you more or less than your deserved share. It is only the Muslim judge in your country who may inform you about this. But if all the heirs are happy with this division of inheritance and all are adults and have sound reasoning, then this is permissible.

Secondly, if these debts resulted from a loan which involved Ribaa (interest and usury), then whoever borrowed the money is obliged to repent to Allaah and be determined not to do that again. So, you should blame your brother and sister while advising them if they had done so, as a means of fulfilling the obligation of forbidding evil.

Thirdly, if it is your brother and sister who are responsible for the debts which you referred to, and you wanted to help them to repay the debts as a way of charity, then you will be rewarded for your act, Allaah willing, because this is being kind to relatives and fulfilling their needs even if you did not intend the reward when you did so. Helping a needy person and fulfilling his need is an act of charity even if you did not intend the reward.

As-Subki said: "The scholars confirmed that helping a needy person without intending the reward is an act of charity as well."

Allaah Knows best.