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Does the deceased remain accountable for his debt after his son pledges to pay it and begins to do so, or does the responsibility transfer to the son?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Scholars have differed on whether the guaranteed person's liability is discharged merely by the guarantee or by the guarantor's payment. The majority of scholars hold that the guaranteed person's liability is not discharged except by the guarantor's payment. They based their argument on the hadith of Jabir concerning the deceased man who owed two dinars, and the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, did not pray over him until his debt was settled. They also cited the hadith: "The soul of a believer is tied to his debt until it is paid off." Others, however, maintained that the guaranteed person's liability is discharged merely by the act of guaranteeing. The preponderant view is that of the majority, except for one who had no money and died with the intention of paying off the debt, in which case Allah will pay it off on his behalf and overlook it by His grace.

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

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