Back to search

Is it permissible to take out an interest-bearing loan for educational attainment in a non-Islamic country, given the inability to reside in an Islamic country?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Knowledge is divided into two types: The first is an individual obligation (fard ayn) upon every Muslim, which is the knowledge one cannot be ignorant of, concerning the rulings of prayer, fasting, Hajj, Zakat, and essential transactions. It is permissible for him to take a loan with interest to acquire this knowledge if there is no other way, because its loss leads to his destruction religiously and worldly. The second type is that which is not obligatory upon the individual, whether it is permissible (mubah) or a communal obligation (fard kifayah) from the sciences of Sharia or other fields. It is not permissible to acquire this type of knowledge with unlawful money due to its lack of necessity. Therefore, it is not permissible to borrow from an interest-based bank for the purpose of studying and education if they fall under this type.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

Read the full answer on Ftawy