# Are student loans, car finance and mortgages haram? *Not haram, not obligatory: investing in property, hiyal, and student and car loans in the same category* - URL: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ucdrblygy70/s/13/ - Date: 2017-10-19 · Kind: lesson · Transcript tier: machine · Recording: Are Mortgages & Bank Loans Haram? - Mufti Abu Layth (56:42–1:00:07) - Status: general teaching - Watch from the start of the segment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucdrbLyGY70&t=3402s - Recording page: https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ucdrblygy70/ **Topics:** Riba, mortgages and loans; Money and finance; Islam and modernity **Summary (not a quotation; machine-made, unchecked):** Mortgages, student loans, car finance and other bank loans are not haram in Mufti Abu Layth's understanding, though nobody is obliged to take them. He encourages Muslims in the West to invest in property, while leaving renting or Islamic mortgages to personal choice. **Checked position (checked by two independent reviews, not by the channel):** Mufti Abu Layth holds that mortgages, student loans, car finance and other bank loans are not haram, though nobody is obliged to take them, and offers as his own thought, which viewers may discard, that Muslims living as minorities in the West should invest in property and build assets. **Evidence, his words at 58:36:** “Okay? I do not believe them to be haram based on all of these elements.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucdrbLyGY70&t=3516s) ## Longer summary Mufti Abu Layth says that in his understanding these things are not haram, though he is not saying people have to take them. As an added thought he says that Muslims living as minorities in Britain, the United States or Europe should invest in property and have assets and capital, offering it as his own thinking which viewers may accept or discard, quoting the verse about retaining in kindness or releasing with grace. He says renting is fine and that he is not against Islamic mortgages as such, although like the Maliki and Hanbali schools he dislikes the concept of hiyal, which they found denigrating as an attempt to trick God; if it helps someone sleep better they should do it. He puts student loans, loans for repairs, car finance and mortgages in the same category and says he does not believe them to be haram, repeating that riba never had an agreed meaning from the outset, so that Muslims symbolised the term while its meaning stayed blurry. He greets viewers joining, among them a shaykh who studied at the same madrasah in Karachi, and says he will take some rapid questions. ## Sources and names cited - riba - hiyal (legal stratagems, loopholes) - Maliki school - Hanbali school - Quran 2:229 (retain in kindness or release with grace), quoted in passing: https://quran.com/2/229 ## Transcript (machine tier, 56:42–1:00:07) [56:17] That's one way of trying to bend and do gymnastics. I'm just saying, "Look, the whole day and age has changed. Where we live, the whole banking system has I mean, there there was no such thing as a banking system. The whole thing has been created. That there's a promise of tomorrow, there's this, there's that, there's safety structures. It's not loan shark kind of culture. So, I don't feel it to be the same. [56:45] So, that's in my understanding, these things are not haram. I'm not saying people have to take them. I'd like to add another little icing on the cake. This is just my uh point I'd just like to say that uh that I feel that as Muslims and as ethnic minorities Not every Muslim is an ethnic minority and I'm sure there's many uh perhaps indigenous Muslims that are watching this and you know, God bless you all and us all, right? [57:15] Uh but I'm just saying as people in this country or in the United States or in Europe, I feel that we should invest in property. That we should have kind of assets. That we should This is just my you know, it's not even my two cents or whatever it is. You can just throw discard it, you know, as as one of the sh- Sheikhs said, "Banatu afkari." Zuffat ilaykum. [57:44] You know, fa'imsakum bima'rufin aw tasrihum bi'ihsan. You know, that's as Allah says. You know, I reject it I mean, leave it you gracefully or accept it respectfully. I mean, whichever way you want, but th- this is just my thought that I think we should have some kind of status. We should have some capital. [58:08] And you know, if you want to rent, by all means. I'm not somebody that is against that. I'm not somebody that's against Islamic mortgages per se, although I do as the Maliki school and the Hanbali school are against like they don't like this concept of hiyal. They find it denigrating that you're kind of trying to trick God. But but if by all means, if you want to if it makes you you know, if if it makes you sleep better, then by all means. [58:36] I mean, do that. I mean, if But to me, these things are the same. Taking out student loans, taking out loans to fix up anything, taking out car finance, taking out a mortgage, all of these things fit the same category here. Okay? I do not believe them to be haram based on all of these elements. And riba from the very onset or the offset has never had an agreement over what it ever meant anyway to start off with. [59:07] As I explained and went through elaborate detail. And I know that was a bit confusing, but it was important to show that this was never a clear-cut matter. So, although the term pe- Muslims have symbolized the term, uh b- but they never kind of had a concept. The signified was always blurry. [59:34] Right. Woo. Mostly Uh shukran shukran abida shukran. Right, so I hope that's of Right, Sheikh Noman bear ahlan wa sahlan people. That's Sheikh Noman bear in the house from America, California people. Uh we were in the same although at different times we're in the same madrasah back in Karachi, Pakistan. [59:59] So, that's awesome. So, I hope that's been of some help. I'll tell you what, I'll take some rapid rap ## Cite Mufti Abu Layth Archive, segment ucdrbLyGY70/s/13. https://muftiabulayth.org/r/ucdrblygy70/s/13/ Not a fatwa: these answers were given to specific people at specific times. Ask a qualified scholar about your own situation.