The Messenger of Allah ﷺ even placed legal interdiction (ḥajr) on certain Companions so that the debts they owed could be discharged.

Interdiction is of two kinds:

1. An interdiction imposed on a person for the benefit of others. Examples include placing a bankrupt under interdiction to protect the creditors, and restricting a deathly-ill person from bequeathing more than one-third of his estate so as to safeguard the heirs.

2. An interdiction imposed on a person for his own benefit, lest he squander or ruin his wealth. This applies to a minor, a spendthrift, or someone of unsound mind. The proof is the Almighty’s statement, “And do not give the foolish your property” (Q 4:5). Some exegetes say that “the foolish” refers to children and women, meaning one should not hand over his property for them to squander. Others hold that it refers to spendthrifts, minors, and the insane, who are not given control of their wealth lest they spoil it. The verse attributes the property to the addressees because they are its guardians and custodians.

Type One – Interdiction for the benefit of others.

Here the focus is the interdiction of an insolvent debtor: someone against whom an immediate debt is outstanding that exceeds his available assets. He is prevented from disposing of his property so that he does not harm the creditors.

By contrast, a debtor who is altogether unable to pay any portion of what he owes is not compelled to do so; rather, he must be granted a respite, in accordance with the Almighty’s words, “And if someone is in hardship, then [grant him] a reprieve until ease” (Q 2:280).