Question Summary:
Returning a loan when the creditor cannot be found or has passed away

Question Detail:

If you owe someone money but when the time came to pay him off, you can't find him or his dead.

Answer :

In the Name of Allaah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.

In principle, if the creditor happens to pass away prior to the debtor paying his debt, then the debtor shall pay off the debt to the inheritors of the creditor[i].

If the debtor cannot locate the creditor or his inheritors, he should give the amount owed in charity on behalf of the creditor, intending the reward for the creditor[ii].

And Allaah Ta’aala Knows Best

Muajul I. Chowdhury

Student, Darul Iftaa

New York, USA

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.

[i]  كفاية المفتي (8/138)

[ii]  جامع الفتاوى (6/260) 

فتاوى عبد الحي (ص331)