Mother may lend money to one of her children apart from the others
22-1-2014 | IslamWeb
Question:
Assalam Alaykum. Thank you dearest brother(s) for your resent answer to my question (no. 2452977). I very much appreciate your reply, and thank you for praying for me, because I really need your prayers. May Allah reward you with the best. I understand that parents should treat their children equally, but in my situation although I am not homeless, I just need a one time loan from my mother to help me start my life financially, so that I can better support and improve myself. My work experience is not something that would bring me a lot of money straight away, and this loan would help me set myself up. The problem here is that my mum is quite changeable. One minute she says she would lend or offer some help to my other siblings, and the next moment her mind is different. She would help myself and my brother, but as for the non-Muslim brother and my sister, she is quite fickle as she has a bad history with them. She says my sister would have to ask her first, but there's no guarantee that she would help her, or in the same way. So my 1st question is: would it still be allowed for me to accept a loan from mum, if she doesn't intend to help some of the others should they need help? i.e. irrespective of whether she has bad intentions towards them or not, can I still take this loan. If I can't it would mean I would have to suffer, while my mother is the one at fault. Also, no one would know about this loan accept for my mum, Muslim brother and I. My 2nd question is: Although I haven't seem him for years, nor has my mother, if the non-Muslim brother wanted help like a loan to help him in business etc. would that be permissible for mum to help him? I want you to know I always try and encourage her to help them and to be loving towards them. Thank you once again for your time and patience. Jazaakumullaahu Khaira
Answer:
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, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.
If your siblings do not need to borrow money from your mother or if they need money, but do not wish to borrow from her, there is no harm for your mother to lend you the money you need even if she did not lend your other siblings any money. The present time is what matters in this regard not the future; perhaps Allaah, The Exalted, will enrich your siblings and they will not be in need of your mother's financial help or borrowing any money from her in the future.
Also, if your brother needs to borrow money from your mother, it is permissible for your mother to lend him. The fact that he is a non-Muslim is irrelevant in this regard. Perhaps such kindness towards him helps to guide him back to Islam. We would like to underline our advice in the previous Fatwa; you should kindly advise your brother and strive in guiding him back to the straight path by all available permissible means. The most important means to accomplish such a goal is to supplicate Allaah, The Exalted, for him, especially by your mother. This is because the parents' supplication for their children is not rejected, as underlined in authentic Ahaadeeth.
Allaah Knows best.