Paying one's debt comes in priority over performing Hajj

28/10/2009| IslamWeb

Question:

My husband has a student loan about 8 thousand dollars. He is paying a monthly payment of one hundred dollars to finish the amount. We have in our savings 8 thousand dollars that my husband wants to use for Hajj. Now my husband is not working and in this case he stops paying the monthly payments for student loans. My question is shall we pay the student loans and get rid of them? Knowing that we are now without work and if we pay the full amount there will be no money for Hajj, and we do not know if my husband is going to get a job. Please tell me the Fatwa. 

 

Fatwa:

 

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 a person has debts and he has no money to repay his debts and to perform Hajj, then he is not considered as having the financial ability, which is a condition for Hajj to become an obligation (on a person). The financial ability for a person is to find a suitable means which will take him to Hajj after having fulfilled his obligations, legal expenses, and basic needs. Among fulfilling the obligations, a person should repay his debts.

 

Therefore, your husband is not obliged to perform Hajj according to his circumstances which you mentioned in the question. Furthermore, he is obliged to give priority to the immediate debts and obligatory expenses over performing Hajj.  

 

Allah Knows best.

 

Fatwa answered by: The Fatwa Center at Islamweb