Can a Person Burdened with Debt and Guilty of Violating People’s Rights Lead Prayer?
Source: Fatāwā Muḥammadiyyah, vol. 1, p. 427
❖ The Question
Is a person suitable for imāmah (leading prayer) if he is guilty of violating people’s rights (ḥuqūq al-ʿibād), heavily in debt, and that debt was taken for worldly luxury and extravagance?
❖ Answer
Imāmah and Ḥuqūq al-ʿIbād
Neglecting and delaying the fulfillment of people’s rights is a major sin in Islam. Even a martyr in the path of Allah is not forgiven for this sin.
Imāmah, in the sight of Sharīʿah, is a sacred and honorable position which requires special qualities.
Allah ﷻ says in the Qur’an:
﴿…وَاجْعَلْنَا لِلْمُتَّقِينَ إِمَامًا﴾ [الفرقان: 74]
“(O our Lord!) Make us leaders of the righteous.”
Choosing Righteous People as Imams
ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās (رضي الله عنهما) narrated:
إِجْعَلُوْا أَئِمَّتَكُمْ خِیَارَکُمْ فَإِنَّھُمْ وَفْدُکُم بَیْنَکُمُ وَبَیْنَ رَبِّکُم
“Appoint the best among you as your imams, for they are your representatives between you and your Lord.”
(Reported by al-Dāraqutnī, al-Bayhaqī — though isnād is weak, meaning supported by other narrations — Mirʿāt Sharḥ al-Mishkāt, vol. 2, p. 110)
Similarly, al-Ḥākim narrated from Mirthad al-Ghanawī (رضي الله عنه):
إنْ سَرَّكُمْ أَنْ تُقْبَلُ صَلَاتُكُمْ فَلْيَؤُمَّكُمْ خِيَارُكُمْ، فَإِنَّهُمْ وَفْدُكُمْ فِيمَا بَيْنَكُمْ وَبَيْنَ رَبِّكُمْ
“If you wish your prayers to be accepted, let the best among you be your imams, for they are your representatives before your Lord.”
(Nayl al-Awṭār, referencing Fatāwā Nadhīriyyah vol. 1, p. 394)
➡ These narrations indicate that a person neglecting people’s rights is not suitable for imāmah.
❖ The Imam Being in Debt
Debt can be of three possible types:
➤ Case 1: Debt for a Legitimate Need, with Intention to Repay
If debt is taken for a valid necessity and the debtor intends repayment, it is permissible.
- In this case, his leading prayer is valid and acceptable.
Allah ﷻ says:
﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا إِذَا تَدَايَنتُم بِدَيْنٍ إِلَىٰ أَجَلٍ مُّسَمًّى فَاكْتُبُوهُ﴾ [البقرة: 282]
“O you who believe! When you contract a debt for a fixed term, write it down.”
This shows that debt is permissible. The command to write is advisory, not obligatory.
Even the Prophet ﷺ himself sometimes took loans.
Narrated Jābir ibn ʿAbdullāh (رضي الله عنه):
كَانَ لِي عَلَى النَّبِيِّ صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ دَيْنٌ فَقَضَانِي وَزَادَنِي
“I had a debt due upon the Prophet ﷺ; he repaid it and gave me more.”
(Sunan Abī Dāwūd, vol. 3, p. 475, Bāb fī Ḥusn Inqiḍāʾ)
Thus, such an imam is valid.
➤ Case 2: Legitimate Need, but No Intention to Repay / Delays Payment
If debt is taken for a real need but repayment is deliberately delayed or ignored, this is ẓulm (oppression) and a major sin.
The Prophet ﷺ said:
مَطْلُ الْغَنِيِّ ظُلْمٌ
“The delay of a wealthy person in repaying debt is oppression.”
(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Jāmiʿ al-Tirmidhī)
➡ Such a person is not fit for imāmah.
➤ Case 3: Debt for Extravagance, Luxury, or Showing Off
If debt is taken not out of need but for wasteful luxury, display, or worldly pride, then such a person is totally unworthy of being an imam.
Allah ﷻ says:
﴿وَلَا تُبَذِّرْ تَبْذِيرًا﴾ (26)
﴿إِنَّ الْمُبَذِّرِينَ كَانُوا إِخْوَانَ الشَّيَاطِينِ ۖ وَكَانَ الشَّيْطَانُ لِرَبِّهِ كَفُورًا﴾ (27)
[الإسراء: 26–27]
“Do not be extravagant. Surely, the extravagant are brothers of the devils, and Satan is ever ungrateful to his Lord.”
➡ Extravagance and ostentation do not befit even a common believer, let alone an imam.
❖ Final Ruling
- If a person is a sinner, negligent of debts, or indulges in extravagance — he is not suitable for imāmah.
- If possible, and without causing division in the community, such a person should be removed from imāmah immediately.
- If out of necessity one prays behind him, the prayer is valid, but appointing him imam is impermissible.
هٰذَا مَا عِندِي وَاللّٰهُ أَعْلَمُ بِالصَّوَابِ
