Title: Deducting Money on Early Retirement of Loan Question: My name is Asaed. One of my friend who had to give 28,000/- to some one. As per commitment he is supposed to give this amount in April, 2003. For some reason, to whom the amount has to be delivered requested my friend to give him in the Dec, 2002. My friend told him that he will only give Rs. 20,000 which will be the final settlement. After having few arguments with each other the person to whom the amount has to be delivered agrees to take 21,000 as a final settlement. The purpose to telling you the story is to know, the nature of this 7,000/= which is taken by my friend coercively. Is this 7000/= Halal for him or not? Regards, Allah Hafiz Syed Asaed Uddin Ahmed Answer: The referred deal is clearly a sort of exploitation of the other person's helplessness. It seems that the person had no way out except to accept your friend's unjust offer. Furthermore, your friend did not have any moral right to deduct any amount from the total borrowed amount. In such a situation, the amount in question clearly seems to come under the scope of 'Devouring another person's wealth unjustly', which is expressly prohibited by Islam. Regards, Siddiq Bukhary January 28, 2003