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Can I use Student loan ?

Q:

Assalamualaikum. I am a University student from the UK with a student loan. This student loan is not like a bank loan. There is interest in it but, you only make repayments if you earn over $32,000. If you earn below this, you don’t have to pay the loan.

I want to transfer to a better University but this would mean I would have to spend an additional year studying. This means one more year of using the interest loan.

Can I do this, meaning, transfer to the better university?

Jazakallahukhair

A:

Wa Alaykumussalam

Thank you for your query.

According to Ayatullah al-Udhma Sayyid Ali Sistany:

Question: Is it permitted to pay interest to non-Muslims and also take interest from them?

Answer: Giving interest to a non-Muslim in a deal that is based on interest is impermissible and receiving it (interest) is permissible and there is no objection in it.

https://www.sistani.org/english/qa/01220/

If the university loan is given by the bank on behalf of the university:

Question: Banks in the West give loans —known as mortgage— to those who do not have enough money to buy houses; this is to be paid back in [weekly or monthly] installments with a high rate of interest. Is a Muslim allowed to use this facility? If it is not permissible, is there a solution in your view for someone who claims that he needs the mortgage to buy his own residential house and does not possess enough money to pay for it?

Answer: It is permissible to take the money from the bank that is financed by non-Muslim government or private funds but not with the intention of loan. The knowledge that the bank will sooner or later force him to pay the capital as well as the interest does not affect [the lawfulness of] his taking the money.

https://www.sistani.org/english/qa/01239/

It’s like you become the owner of the loan. But if you have to pay the interest forcefully, then do not intend it, according to Ayatullah Sistany’s view.

May Allah(swt) grant you success

Wassalam,

Syed Haider