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)
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