Is the debtor bound to repay the debt or to give voluntary charity?

Question

A person trades with one hundred rupees and is in debt for six hundred rupees. With this debt, if he wishes to give some help to a madrasa, a mosque or the like, may he do so or not? Does repaying the debt come first, and does he deserve reward if he gives the help, or not?

Answer

This contribution is at the level of the voluntary (nafl), whereas repaying a debt is fard. If a person prays nafl while a fard still remains upon him, he both receives reward and is held to account for delaying the fard. Therefore, saying that there will be no reward is not correct; however, he should take care to repay the debt.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.