Answered by Sidi Salman Younas
1) Usually after I finish my daily prayers and make my duas I like to make 2 sujood like we do in prayer just to show my gratefulness to Allah as wajal. But recently I heard that we are not allowed to do this, is this correct?
2) I am currently a full time student with about $20,000 in student loans but I am also working full time as it is part of my program and get paid well for my work. I have not began paying back my student loan completely but I love giving my money to Islamic charities. Am I allowed to do this while I have a loan which will start charging me interest after I graduate?
3) I know that a person does not enter janat unless all their loans are paid off, I called my student loan people and they told me that if I die before I can pay back the full loan amount then they take it from my estate and/or the government pays it off or it just gets written off. Does this mean that I will not be liable for the loan in the hereafter since it gets written off or do my parents have to pay it back?
4) Can we give our change money to the beggars’ downtown considering majority of them are drug addicts or does this not matter?
salamu `alaykum
I pray you are well and in the best of health.
[1] There is no harm in prostrating twice to show one’s gratefulness after completing one’s prayer unless such an action leads people into thinking that it is a specific sunna or necessary. Shaykh Ibrahim Halabi mentions in al Halabi al Kabir, quoting Zahidi, that it is disliked to perform two prostrations after the prayer due to the fact that it elevates the status of such an act in the eyes of onlookers from its established shari` status. This is particularly true when such prostrations are done habitually in front of others.
However, there is nothing wrong in doing so if such confusion is not feared, or in doing so while one is alone, or in a manner that precludes people from being led to believe that it is a sunna or necessary action. Thus, the basis of this action is that it is permissible and rewarding when coupled with sound intention.
[2] It should be known that taking out such a bank loan is impermissible as it entails an element of riba, which the Qur’an has strongly prohibited. You should sincerely repent and try to pay off this loan as soon as possible. Cut down on other unnecessary expenses and economize your spending to ensure the quick repayment of such a loan.
Further, the principle is that it is personally obligatory to fulfill contractual commitments and more incumbent to do so than the performance of recommended and supererogatory works. If giving to charities only further delays you from removing yourself from the harm of incurring interest then it would be obligatory for you to pay off your loan first as “avoiding harm is given precdence to seeking benefit.”
[3] The basis is that one should ensure that his loan is paid off during his lifetime since one of the conditions for taking out a loan is the firm resolve and abitlity to pay it back. One should stipulate its repayment in his will, clearly, in case repayment in one’s lifetime may not occur. Stipulating things clearly and beforehand is crucial to avoiding future problems. If your inheritance suffices to pay it off then your inheritors do not have to help. Note here that ones inheritors or family members are not legally required to pay off one’s loans although it would be praiseworthy for them to do so if they are able.
As for being liable in the hereafter then this also depends on one having the actual intention to pay back what one owes others and taking the means to do so – which first involves actually trying to do so actively during one’s lifetime and with that making sure that, if required, such rights are fulfilled after one’s death.
[4] If you are sure or certain that such people use the money they gain through begging directly for impermissible purposes then it give your money to others.
Wasalam
Salman
Approved by Faraz Rabbani