Avoid excessive spending and falling into debt
By Haliza Abu Bakar

In one of his recent titahs by His Majesty Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, he touched upon the importance of personal financial management, the habits of excessive spending and being in debt and to instill the habit of gratefulness and appreciation in us.

The titah was made in conjunction with the new month of Syawal 1427 or more commonly known as Hari Raya Aidilfitri.

On the topic of debts, His Majesty briefly mentioned the effects and difficulties of a person in debt not only in this world but also in the afterlife.

Therefore, it would be appropriate to elaborate more on this topic, especially to find out what Islamic perspectives are regarding to debts.

When it comes to the topic of spending, moderation has always been the key in Islam. To spend one's wealth excessively, especially on unnecessary items just to satisfy "wants" and "temptations" is disapproved. Allah even said that those who are extravagant are actually related to the devil. This can be proven from the excerpt from the al-Quran below:

"Verily, spendthrifts are brothers of the Syaitan (devil), and the Syaitan (devil) are ever ungrateful to his Lord". (Surah Al-Israa: 27)

From that, we can see that extravagance is one of the characteristics despised by Allah. We are encouraged to spend only on what we can really afford and to avoid giving into every temptation.

From appearance alone, one cannot tell if someone is in debt, however, red warning signs should clearly go off when one finds his/her savings diminishing or almost gone to pay off others instead or when the main proportion of your income goes to your revolving debts.

One of the key known areas where people easily fall into debt is via the use of credit cards, simply because credit cards are one of the easiest sources of credit.

Spending via credit cards can also represent a "style" or "status", therefore sometimes tempting the holder to use it on unnecessary basis.

However, without proper financial management and understanding of your credit card spending, people can easily find themselves digging their own hole of financial burden.

I'm sure most of us know that being in debt is not encouraged, whether you're a Muslim or not. We've seen from television series, movies or even from reading books or newspapers that being in debt is an ugly situation and one which all of us rather avoid.

However, I know there are some situations which sometimes cannot be helped when we have to borrow money, for example, to finance for your new home.

Again, here is where moderation comes into place. Try to avoid the temptation of excessive borrowing.

Nevertheless, in any situation concerning debt, there are conditions set out by Islam and one of them is to pay off these debts as soon as possible. If we have the means to pay our debt, it should not be prolonged and procrastinated.

Paying off your debt is a responsibility and failure to carry out the responsibility is frowned upon. This does not just relate to our financial debts but also encompasses our religious practices.

For example, repaying obligatory prayers if we missed any, repaying any "puasa" or fast we missed during Ramadhan, any Zakat we have not paid as well as Haj for those who have left us and did not get the chance to perform it.

In a way, Allah has been teaching us indirectly to always pay our debts, be it to Him, to society or to others.

In addition, anyone who deliberately delays payment of their debt will not benefit from "keredhaan Allah" and their good deeds will not receive the blessings from Allah either.

The burden does not stop there. It continues even after their death as can be seen from these hadiths below:

"The soul of the believer is hanged by his debt until it is paid out". (Narrated by At-Tarmizi, Ahmad and Hibban)

"Whoever dies owing a Dinar or a Dirham, it will be paid from his Hasanaat, for then there will be no Dinars or Dirhams". (Stated by Ibn Umar as narrated by Ibn Majah)

From the hadiths, we can see that leaving this world with debts will cost us much more dearly in the hereafter.

Our souls will be left hanging and hindered from entering a noble place and our good deeds will be taken away to "pay off" the debts.

This is one of the things meant by His Majesty when referring to the difficulties in the afterlife.

Therefore, try to avoid bringing your debts to your deathbed as it may also bring hardship to your loved ones.

Imagine if you die leaving debts behind, the responsibility to pay the unpaid debts will be placed upon your loved ones to settle.

According to Islam, if a person passed away, any debts left behind will need to be settled before his/her assets can be distributed to his/her heirs.

So if you leave behind little or no assets at all, how will your loved ones ever cope with their daily life, as well as the struggle to pay your outstanding dues?

Another thing to remember is if we do have to borrow, set the "niat" or intention in our hearts that we will pay off our debts. Insyallah, Allah will make it easier for us to be able to repay our debts.

The Prophet said, "Whoever takes the money of the people with the intention of repaying it, Allah will repay it on his behalf, and whoever takes it in order to spoil it, then Allah will spoil him." (Narrated by Abu Hurairah)

With the "niat" or intention, pray and make a "doa" to Allah so you will soon be free from debt. Even if you do not own any debts, still pray and make the "doa" so you can avoid getting into debt. This was what our Prophet Muhammad practised during his time.

As the Prophet had done, pray to Allah for protection from the burden of debts and from being dominated by other people.

So as you can see, debt is a major responsibility. Being in debt might also affect you and your loved ones in all aspects - financially, emotionally and physically.

It can affect you emotionally due to the stress and worry.

Think what all those stress and worry can lead to in terms of your health.

Also, just because you may have succeeded in avoiding paying off your debt in this world does not mean that the debt will not be claimed in the hereafter. So if you're one of the people who has a list of things to do before you die, be sure to include "repay all debts" as one of the top things to do.

Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin