Advancing a Loan to Allah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Advancing a loan to Allah refers to, according to most scholars, voluntary charitable donations in the way of Allah, for instance, spending on friends and relatives or utilizing for entertainment of guests or investing in the service of scholars and righteous people. Some scholars point out that besides the prescribed zakat, there are other financial obligations imposed on man, such as maintenance of parents, wife and children. The loan will not be lost, but will be handsomely returned by Allah from His great grace and largess.

Abu Huraira reported Allah's Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace, as saying: Allah descends to the lowest heaven at half of the night or at one-third of the latter part and says: Who is there to supplicate Me so that I answer him? Who is there to ask Me so that I grant him? And then says: Who will lend to One Who is neither indigent nor tyrant? (This hadith has been narrated by Sa'd b. Sa'id with the same chain of transmitters with this addition:" Then the Blessed and the Exalted (Lord) stretches His Hands and says: Who will lend to One Who is neither indigent nor tyrant?) [Muslim]

It is better for a person to do good in his lifetime than advising someone else to do the good deed at the time of his death. This advice for doing good on behalf of the deceased includes voluntary charitable donations. It also includes prescribed prayers, zakat, fasts and other prescribed worship, and duties to Allah that were missed out or neglected. For any fidyah and/or kaffara, it is better to pay them out with one's own hands while one is living and be absolved of the responsibility rather than expecting the heirs to discharge it. Your heirs may do it or they may neglect to do it.

The Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, once asked the blessed Companions: "Which of you holds his wealth to be dearer to himself than the wealth of his heirs?" They replied: "O Allah's Messenger, there is not a single one of us who does not hold his wealth to be dearer to himself than the wealth of his heir." Allah's Messenger then said: "Consider carefully what you are saying." They submitted: "This is indeed our considered opinion. We do not know any better." He then said: "The wealth of one of you is only that which he sends forth, and the wealth of his heir is that which he leaves behind."

May Allah increase our provision, both physically and spiritually, and help us spend in His way only. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam