Would it Be Permissible to Transfer My Tuition Fees to My Friend To Pay It So Hajj Does Not Become Obligatory On Me?


Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel

Question

Alhamdulillah, I have been accepted for a course to study and become a doctor. I have opted to take a year out and work so I will not have to take out an interest loan. Tuition fees are £7000+ per year in the UK, and I must fund four years. However, at some point through working, I will have enough money that Hajj would be obligatory, and if I were to go, it would make it a little harder to save up. Would it be permissible to transfer money to my friend each time I accrue enough for each year of tuition, e.g., every £7000, and ask them to pay for my tuition fees on my behalf? That way, I’d never meet the wealth for the obligation. Would this be allowed?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate

I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.

If you have enough money to go for Haj and back, then you may transfer the money and pay for your tuition fees.

Hajj is only obligatory upon those who are free from debt. It is not obligatory on a person overall in debt i.e. if a person is indebted and his liabilities exceed his assets, Hajj is not obligatory (fard) upon him/her.

[Ibn ʿAbidin, Radd al-Muhtar]

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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.