Surah Al-Baqara: Verse 280 - وإن كان ذو عسرة فنظرة... - English

After that there is the sixth verse (280) which, in comparison to the anti-human claim of ربا riba, has stressed upon pure moral behavior of showing lenience to the poor and the have-nots. It is said that, if your borrower is too poor to pay back your loan, the provision of Shari'ah is that he be given time until he has the means, and should you forgive him your loan, it is much better for you.

The general habit of ربا riba-consumers is that they, once they know that their borrower is poor and cannot pay the loan back at the appointed time, add up the ربا riba amount in the principal unleashing a vicious series of ربا riba over ربا riba, even increasing the rate of riba in that process.

Here Allah Almighty, the wisest of all law-givers, gave the law that a genuinely poor borrower who is unable to pay back his loan should not be harassed. Instead, he should be given respite until such time that he becomes capable of doing so. Along with it was given the inducement to forgive the loan which is more beneficial for the lender.

The word, صدقہ sadaqah has been used here by the Qur'an to mean the act of forgiving. The hint given is that this forgiveness will become an act of charity in your case and will bring forth great merit. As for the statement - 'if you forgive, that is better for you' - it can be said that this action was obviously a matter of total loss for them because they were not only being asked to surrender ربا riba but also were going to lose their own principal! Still, the Qur'an called it 'better' (khayr). There are two reasons for this:

1. This betterment will be witnessed soon after the transitory life of this world when, in lieu of this insignificant earning, one will get the eternal blessings of Paradise.

2. Perhaps there may be yet another hint towards the possibility that one will himself see how good comes out of his deeds. There will be بر کہ barakah (increase, bliss) in what one has. The essence of بر کہ barakah is that a little serves to take care of a lot more needs, even without a quantitative increase in what one has. As such, it is commonly witnessed that there is unlimited بر کہ barakah in the wealth of those who spend in صدقہ sadaqah and خیرات khayrat. The little they have serves to take care of so many needs which will never be liquidated with large amounts of money spent by those whose money is Haram (unlawful).

Then there is the wealth not blessed with بر کہ barakah. One never realizes the purpose for which it is spent. Or, it so happens that such rich people have to spend huge amounts of money on undesirable heads such as medicines, treatment and consultancy fees, which is something the poor do not face. First of all, Allah Almighty blesses them with health which frees them from spending on their treatment and, in case they do fall ill, ordinary treatment gives them their health back. Seen from this angle, forgiving the poor person the loan due to him, which is apparently a matter of loss, becomes under this Qur'anic teachings, a beneficial act.

This teaching of giving respite to a poor borrower has also been commended in authentic ahadith some of which are reproduced below.

According to a hadith, in the Mu'jim of al-Tabarani, a person who wishes to be under the shadow of divine mercy when there will be no other shadow for anyone to hide under, he should treat the poor borrower with lenience and deferment, or forgive him the debt, if it comes to that.

Another hadith similar to this appears in Sahih Muslim as well. It is said in a hadith from the Musnad of Ahmad that the person who grants respite to a penniless borrower will get a daily ثواب thawab of صدقہ sadaqah in proportion to the amount due against that borrower. And this calculation covers the act of giving respite well before the deadline for repayment arrives; and when the deadline for repayment does arrive and the borrower does not have the means to pay, the respite given at that time will bring forth for the giver of respite a daily ثواب thawab of giving twice that amount in صدقہ sadaqah.

Another hadith says that a person who wishes that his prayer be answered, or his misfortune be removed, he should give respite to the penniless in debt.