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Is it permissible to repay a debt that caused a debtor to be imprisoned, when that money is the result of drug trafficking?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

If the question is about the ruling on repaying a debt with illicit money that the debtor does not own, then it is obligatory for whoever earned money from drug trafficking to repent to Allah and dispose of the illicit money by spending it on the welfare of Muslims. However, if he is in need of repaying his debt and fears imprisonment, and he does not have the means to repay his debt, then it is permissible for him at that time to repay the debt from this illicit money. Ibn Taymiyyah said: "If this prostitute and this酒 peddler repent, and they are poor, it is permissible to give them from this money the amount of their need."

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

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