Status of Student Loans in the US Dr. Main AlQudah

Top 20 FREQUENT WORDS

university 105 loans 89 necessity 73 riba 52 usa 50 muslim 44 students 42 prohibited 36 borrowing 28 based 25 dates 25 scholars 25 fatwa 24 permissible 24 prohibition 24

DOCUMENT KEY POINTS

• further if a fatwa permitting these loans was given would they be unconditionally permissible even for postgraduate students or would the ruling apply only to a first degree which is the essential one all these questions and others led amja assembly of the muslim jurists of america to pay special attention to this issue as it is one of the new incidents of fiqh affecting thousands of muslims living outside muslim jurisdictions

• these numbers are taken from a study titled muslim americans middle class and mostly mainstream published on and prepared by the pew research center
• doctor main alqudah student loans in the usa al huda university largecom com islam usa

• chapter two funding resources for university study the university of houston will be used as a sample in this study taking into account that resources funding education at american universities are if not identical almost the same particularly when the funding resource is managed by the state or the federal government
• this dramatic rise in tuition fees along with other reasons kept of qualified students from enrolling in universities granting bachelors degrees and from entering community colleges

• scholarships for foreign students if a student living outside the state of texas wins a competitive scholarship from his department of study at the university of houston that is based on his yearly academic excellence and estimated at he becomes eligible for another scholarship which exempts him from the enormous fees that foreign students usually pay

• the federal fseog grant with the same conditions stipulated for the pell grants this ranges from to every year based on the annual income of the student s family as well as on university of houston policy
• grants grants differ from scholarships in that grants are offered on the basis of the student s financial conditions ie they are offered to needy students whereas scholarships depend on the student s academic achievement and excellence

• the university of houston grant the grant ranges from to offered to bachelor level students
• the federal acg and smart grants in addition to being an american national the applicant must be accepted into the pell grants program mentioned above be a fulltime student and his achievement and marks are not less than a certain point

• federal labor program this program allows the student to work part time in or outside the university so long as this work is somewhat related to the program of study
• summer aid program students who were deemed eligible for financial aid before the summer session and did not use it benefit from this program on condition that they register at least one half of the study load

• student loans subsidized vs unsubsidized loans

• as for how sufficient these loans are for students needs the newsletter of the university of houston showed the following first an undergraduate student who financially relies on his parents can borrow from the basic type of loans the federal stafford loans a maximum amount of subsidized by the state and unsubsidized
• fourth postgraduate students and guardians of students enrolled at the bachelor level can take out a federal loan the federal plus loan which covers the areas that any previous loan failed to satisfy but it is not subsidized by the government and commands high interest rates reaching

• chapter three introduction to rulings on student loans the purpose of this research is to explain the shareea ah rulings on these loans but before we can do so we need a clear perception of the essence of these loans and their necessity in the light of the research conclusions and a set of facts about us musli miss surely a man cannot judge something unless he forms a clear understanding of it

• in general borrowing in the united states is not always connected with need in the fiqhi sense of this concept because funding through taking loans and long term settlement thereof have become part of the culture of the american people a including of course muslims a and of a living style that both the needy and wealthy people resort to
• some grants offered to students based on their financial need include citizens residents and international students in their eligibility criteria and certain grants are sometimes awarded to illegal immigrants

• the government determines the needy citizens based on the data recorded in the tax form that people themselves fill in and the dederal definition of the poverty line may therefore be faulty
• another reason why living below the poverty line is not necessarily associated with need is that some people do not register their entire annual income when they fill out tax for miss accordingly they look needy and of lowincome but the reality is otherwise

• riba enters this loan in another way which is the obligation of paying all interests if the student fails to settle the entire debt before the six month period after graduation elapses
• thus to prohibit this contract would be to prohibit a means that might lead to a forbidden act rather than the contract itself what is prohibited in itself becomes permissible under necessity whereas what is prohibited by virtue of others becomes permissible due to need or considerable benefit

• chapter five ruling on unsubsidized loans if the aforesaid alternatives including subsidized loans prove insufficient and the student needs to borrow at interest in order to complete his course of study what will the sharee ah ruling be dealing in riba interest is undoubtedly a major sin in the sight of allah the almighty yet to deprive muslim students of the university education provided by the countries which dominate the fields of science culture and other specializations in the world of knowledge requires consideration
• however shareea ah rulings of permissibility or prohibition are not issued on the basis of logic emotions or human reasoning they are issued on the account of precise texts grasping their implications and knowing their causes and clarifying and establishing their frame of reference

• prohibition of borrowing in interest by virtue of others is a prohibition of means i have never found an explicit text authentically attributed to recognized contemporary scholars stating that borrowing at interest is permissible for the purpose of studying since borrowing at interest is prohibited by virtue of others a prohibition of means
• this statement was mentioned in one of the council s fatwas in which they permitted muslims living in the west to borrow at interest in order to buy a house subject to certain conditions and regulations

• considering what has been stated above it is permissible for muslim students to borrow at interest in order to continue his university studies if borrowing proves to be the only solution for doing so based on the fact that university education is a need

• an nawawi expresses the same thought when he explains the prophet s saying gold for golda both the taker and the giver are equal
• an nawawi s commentary on muslim s saheeh with ibn hajar al a asqalaani fat h al baari sharh saheeh al bukhaari daar al maa rifah beirut a edited by muhibuddeen al khateeb imam ahmad s musnad hadith no

• riba an nasee ah signifies that a borrower delays the payment of the debt in return for extra money and the more the debt is delayed the higher the money will be paid until one hundred becomes thousands
• based on what is stated above borrowing at interest is not prohibited by virtue of others a prohibition of means it is prohibited in itself a prohibition of purpose exactly like lending at interest

• in a question submitted to senior judge faisal mawlawi may allah have mercy on his soul titled ruling on taking a riba based loan from the university to continue one s study the questioner asked i am a muslim living in sweden and want to continue my university study but i could not do that except by taking a riba based loan from the university

• the point in this fatwa is the sheikh s saying a and if it is not necessity it will unquestionably be a need that most muslim jurists treat in equal terms with necessity
• continuing of study may be considered necessity since seeking knowledge is an obligation and if it is not necessity it will unquestionably be a need that most muslim jurists treat in equal terms with necessity

• there are some comments on this argument that permits borrowing at interest due to a need scholars cited the rule that need is treated in equal terms with necessity in permitting the prohibition in the books of fiqhi rules and al ashbaah wan nadhaa ir in order to prove that certain forms of dealings are endorsed in shareea ah by explicit texts
• need is defined as those things which put the muslim in difficulty if not fulfilled even if he or she can do withouta this fatwa implies permissibility of borrowing at interest due to the need for education

• this rule is extended to every issue revolving around the excluded act and all others partaking the of the issue causing exclusion for instance the exclusion of al a araaya it was not legislated to abrogate or cancel the rule of riba but it was excluded due to people s need
• in this regard al ghazaali may allah have mercy upon him lays grounds for the rule what has been established against analogical deduction cannot be extended to other cases saying the second section refers to what is excluded from another rule when there is significance for its exclusion

• this means it is not required that need be established for it to be lawful for individuals to deal with leases hiwaalah and salam rather they are rulings and lawful transactions from the beginning and shareea ah permitted them due to people s need for them
• also the hadith of selling borrowed items was commonly reported in the two saheehs with different narratives signifying the permissibility of selling the ripe dates for dried dates without measuring them due to people s need for this sale

• if this is impossible then provided that they are a large population and that waiting for the times of necessity to pass would deprive them of their needs then this ruling would apply to them as to all people ie they should take only to the extent that they need as detailed previously to sum up it is not valid to support the permissibility of borrowing at interest to continue university studies by the rule need is treated in equal terms with necessity in permitting the prohibited
• imam al joowayni explained what a muslim can take when the prohibited is unavoidable and the lawful is unavailable saying in this subject it is supposed that prohibition dominates and people of the area cannot leave their dwellings or move to other lawful locationsa it must be limited to the extent needed and things related to luxury and entertainment are forbidden

• in the introduction to his book diraasah fi maqaasid ash shareea ah under the topic limiting the objectives to the main five fundamentals doctor yoosuf al qaradaawi said there are some commented on how scholars of usool proved the existence of some necessities and fundamentals such as supporting protection of one s mind by the prohibition of wine alcoholic beverages and punishing their consumer
• i find that protecting one s mind in islam is achieved through many methods and ways which include making seeking knowledge obligatory for every muslim man and woman as well as going on journeys to seek knowledge and continuing to seek knowledge from cradle to grave

• other scholars said that it means the one who is forced and overpowered to eat these unlawful ite miss mujaahid said it means the man who is forced to it such as when the enemies take him and force him to eat pork or commit any act of disobedience to allah the almighty

• another form is that the owner of the garden gifts certain palm trees to a man then the owner is harmed by the the free access the man has to his property so he estimates the fruits and buys their ripe dates by dried dates paid in advance
• the commentator on this hadith explained the prophet s saying have you sufficient for your needs to mean do you have enough food that makes you your family and your children in no need of it the hadith proves that not only the fear of dying from hunger makes eating the meat of dead animals lawful but also lack of wealth and subsistence

• ibn hajar al a asqlaani explained this hadith which was narrated by al bukhaari and said according to maalik a ariyyah must not take place in this manner except when a gift is made due to the harm the owner of the garden endures when others enter it or to alleviate the harm caused by the other party when it is the owner of the palm trees that irrigates them and spends on them
• therefore a dispensation was made for people in need who do not have money and own unwanted amounts of dates so that after estimation they could buy ripe dates with them despite the variety of versions of al a araaya no scholar has stated that necessity or fear of imminent death was the motivating factor for permitting this sort of transaction

• this form of sale involves riba in three ways selling ripe dates for dried dates relying on estimation or guesswork in valuing the two payments of riba and postponing delivery if we said it would be delivered at the time of picking the fruits
• ibn al a arabi al maaliki al qabas sharh moowatta maalik ibn anas daar al gharb al islaami beirut ash shaatibi al moowaafaqat

• since necessity a or need according to the aforesaid opinion a permits the protection of life and property without any difference between them and the rest of the five fundamentals ie protection of one s religion mind and honor the conclusion would be that everything muslims need to protect their religion life mind property and honor are to be considered necessities which permit things intrinsically prohibited
• doctor wahbah az zuhayli may allah preserve him after exploring some definitions that jurists suggested for necessity said it seems that all these definitions define necessity in the context of food only so they are neither sufficient nor inclusive of the full sense of the term which represents a principle or a theory by virtue of which the prohibition becomes lawful or the obligation not required

• al a araaya and eating the meat of dead animals are made permissible by shareea ah texts and according to scholars advocating it permitting loans based on istihsaan is considereda necessity due to the absence of any alternative and the existence of people s need for it
• necessity and need in order for shareea ah rulings to be harmonious as well as to make both become well defined

• it was narrated on the authority of abdurrahmaan ibn tarfah that when the nose of his grandfather a arfagah ibn saa d was cut off on the day of the battle of al kulaab he got a silver nose but it developed a stench so the prophet sallallahu a alayhi wa sallam ordered him to get a gold nose
• it is permissible to use silver in utensils or the like to fulfill a need which means that one benefits by the silver in this aspect even if other alternatives exist

• the cases we have contested and proved so far show that people can take the amount that if abandoned will inflict harm in the present and the future and the harm we have already talked about refers to the thing which is expected to spoil the structure weaken the authority or destabilize the affairs of living
• month grace period but these do not satisfy his basic needs then provided that he has tried in vain to move to another place or country where he could afford to continue his studies and provided that his graduation has become contingent on his taking a riba based loan he would be permitted to borrow at interest

• al a izz ibn abdus salaam may allah have mercy upon him a muslim scholar from the seventh century of hijrah said when the prohibition spreads on earth to the extent that the lawful no longer exists it will be permissible to use an amount of the prohibition that the need calls for
• a student to be discharged from liability and guard his religion should not borrow at interest on the first days of his university study but must first resort to the lawful sources of funding and continue his study till all lawful means are blocked and borrowing at interest becomes the only way to continue his studies

• from that time on this ruling became the official amja stand and not a personal fatwa of this author anymore alhamdu lillah below is amja declaration all praise is due to allah and may peace and blessings be upon the messenger of allah his family companions and those loyal to him
• this is what allah has helped me to compile on the topic of student loans

• if all of these are inexistent and the interest based loans are the only way to facilitate the beginning or continuation of a university education or the only way to secure the muslim communities need for what cannot be done without of professions and expertise then this is considered an urgent necessity that removes the sin even though the ruling of impermissibility remains

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DOCUMENT WORD ANALYSIS

Main Category

AlHuda Material\Dr. Main

KeyWords

loan universities students necessarily muslim usa drmain alqudahstudent ibn riba permit grant allah borrow daar educates fatwa edited scholarship fund

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Status_of_Student_Loans_in_the_US-_Dr.Main_Alqudah

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Number of Pages

47

Published Date

2014-07-30 06:36:52

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