Friday 21 Jumada al-ula 1446 - 22 November 2024
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A husband does not have to assume responsibility for his wife’s own debts

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Publication : 23-09-2001

Views : 21217

Question

A woman is now married but before she was married she had a lot of debts. Her husband knows about her debts and agreed BEFORE the marriage that he cannot afford to pay for her debts and maybe he will if there are any extra income/money. 1. Is the debt on her husband's shoulder's now and will he be responsible for her debt in Akhirah? 2. If she is allowed to help her husband with his work and gets paid for it should she herself pay for her debts? 3. What will happen to both of them if they don't pay her debts on time and die ?

Answer

Praise be to Allah.

The debts owed by this woman are her responsibility; her husband has nothing to do with it and he is not responsible for it. 

If she is helping her husband with his work and getting paid for that, then she has to try to pay off her debt from these wages or otherwise. If they both die and neither of them had paid off the debt, then this woman will remain accountable for it, and Allaah will settle the score between her and those to whom it is owed, unless they forgive her in this world; or Allaah will compensate them because of her good intention to pay it off, as it says in the hadeeth: “Whoever takes people’s money but he intends to pay it back, Allaah will pay it back on their behalf, but whoever takes it and intends to destroy it, Allaah will destroy him.” 

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Source: Shaykh Sa’d al-Humayd