Q147 :In order to call my parents to perform the
pilgrimage, I am arranging a loan from my employers. How far is this
acceptable?
A147 : Your keenness to help your parents perform
pilgrimage is highly netmendable. You are prepared to incur a debt for
that purpose. That is a genuine mark of dutifulness. However, you are
under no obligation to do that, either as a gesture of dutifulness or
for any other reason. Incurring a debt is not something that Islam
encourages, even when the reason for it is to perform a religious duty.
Having said that, I wish to add that a pilgrimage financed by partially
borrowed money remains valid. Therefore, if you go ahead and borrow
from your employers in order to help your parents nete for pilgrimage,
their pilgrimage will be valid. Not all loans are the same. For
example, if you are borrowing a relatively small amount which will be
deducted from your salary over a few months and what is left from your
salary is sufficient for your needs, then that is all right. Such an
arrangement is definitely better than obtaining a personal loan, the
repayment of which may represent a heavy burden. Moreover, if your
position with your employers is such as to earn you a decent sum of
money on the termination of your employment, either at the expiry of
your contract or in the case of early termination, and that payment is
enough to settle any outstanding part of your loan, then to borrow from
your employers in order to help your parents do the pilgrimage is
perfectly appropriate.
Our Dialogue ( Source : Arab News – Jeddah )