How to get out of debt as a Muslim
You know it is bad. You have not added it up.
You know roughly what you owe. You know it is bad. You have not sat down and added it all up, and you are not going to tonight either.
That is the normal way people carry debt. Not looking at it is part of it.
Is it a sin to be in debt?
No. Borrowing is allowed, and sometimes there is no other way.
Nabi ﷺ himself bought food on credit. When he died, his armor was held by a man as a pledge for some barley he had borrowed.
So being in debt does not make you a bad Muslim. What matters is what you intend to do about it, and what it does to you while you carry it.
Why does Islam take debt so seriously?
Nabi ﷺ used to ask Allah for protection from sin and from debt, together, inside his prayer.
Someone asked him why he mentioned debt so often. He said that when a man is in debt, he lies when he talks and breaks the promises he makes.
He was not describing a money problem. He was describing what money trouble does to a person's honesty. Someone asks you a straight question about money. The easy answer is a small lie. Then you need a second lie to hold up the first.
And it follows you. Nabi ﷺ said a martyr is forgiven everything except his debt. Debt is owed to people, and people have to be paid back.
He did not warn about debt because it is expensive. He warned about it because of what it does to a person's honesty.
Does my intention matter?
More than almost anything else.
Nabi ﷺ said whoever takes people's money meaning to pay it back, Allah will help him pay it. And whoever takes it meaning to waste it, Allah will ruin him.
So the first question is not how big the number is. It is whether you actually plan to pay it.
What about interest?
The Quran is plain about it. Allah allowed trade and forbade riba, which is interest. The warning for those who carry on with it is one of the heaviest in the Quran.
If your debt charges interest, getting out of it is not only good money sense. It is part of your deen. Pay those off first.
So where do I start?
Write it down.
The longest verse in the whole Quran is about debt, and it tells believers to write their debts down. If Allah asked for it to be written when you borrow, you can write it down when you are trying to pay it off.
Avoiding the number is what makes it grow. You cannot make a plan around a number you will not look at. It is one bad hour with a pen, and then it is over.
Is there a dua for debt?
Yes, two.
Nabi ﷺ taught one to a man who could not pay what he owed, and said that even with a mountain of debt, Allah would settle it for him: Allahumma-kfini bi halalika 'an haramik, wa aghnini bi fadlika 'amman siwak. O Allah, let what You made halal be enough for me so I do not need what You made haram, and make me need no one but You.
And the one he said himself, often: O Allah, I seek Your protection from worry and sadness, from weakness and laziness, from being stingy and cowardly, from being crushed by debt and from being overpowered by people.
What to do
- Write the actual total down this week. All of it, on one page.
- Tell your spouse the truth. They already know something is wrong, and what they are imagining is usually worse than the number.
- Pay off anything that charges interest first, and stop treating minimum payments as progress.
- Say the dua for debt every day, and mean it.
What not to do
- Do not borrow to keep up appearances. The wedding that had to be bigger, the car that had to be newer. That is buying somebody else's good opinion with your own future.
- Do not hide it from the person you share a life with. The hiding does more damage than the debt.
- Do not treat interest-bearing debt as normal just because everyone around you carries it.
One last thing
There is no shame in being in debt. The shame people feel anyway is what keeps them quiet until it is too late.
Tonight or tomorrow, sit down for one hour with a pen. Write the number. Then say the dua.
Source: Sahih al-Bukhari 2068; Sahih al-Bukhari 2916; Sahih al-Bukhari 2397; Sahih Muslim 1886; Sahih al-Bukhari 2387; Quran 2:275; Quran 2:282; Jami` at-Tirmidhi 3563; Sahih al-Bukhari 6363
SM
These are my own opinions, based on what I have seen and what I have been through. It is completely fine for you to see it differently. If you want to talk about anything in this post, write to me at salam@sunnahdaily.com.
For a ruling on your own situation, please speak to a qualified local scholar. You are welcome to email me about it as well, and I will help if I can, or point you to someone who can.