Is It Sinful to Lend Money to Someone Who Will Use It for Sin?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
Is it haram to lend money to a non-Muslim if you know he will use it to purchase alcohol? If they drink from it afterward. Will their drinking cause me to sin?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
I pray you are in good faith and health.
Giving non-Muslim money to borrow will be permissible, even though one knows he will buy alcohol from it. However, it will be disliked as one knows it will be spent on something impermissible. This comes under indirectly assisting in sin. One will not be sinful if a person goes on buying and drinking alcohol.
Degrees of Assisting Another in Sin
In the Hanafi school, the degrees of assisting another in sin are:
- Direct assistance in sin;
- Indirect assistance in sin;
- Possible cause for sin.
It is impermissible (haram) to do something that directly assists in sin, slightly disliked (makruh tanzihan) to do that which indirectly assists in sin, and better to avoid something that may be a possible cause for sin. [Usmani, Fiqh al-Buyu; Nahlawi, Durar al-Mubaha]
Related:
When Am I Assisting Someone in Sin?
What Are the Principles of Work and Assisting in Sin? [Video]
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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
