Muslim (1885) relates, on the authority of Abū Qatādah, that a man asked the Prophet ﷺ, “Tell me: if I am killed in the path of Allah, will my sins be absolved?” He replied, “Yes—except for debt, for Gabriel has told me so.”

2 – The liability (dhimmah) of the deceased remains bound by his debts and the rights he owes until they are discharged on his behalf; therefore one must hasten to settle them. Imām Aḥmad (9302) and al-Tirmidhī, who declared the report sound, transmit from Abū Hurayrah that the Prophet ﷺ said, “The soul of the believer is held in suspense by his debt until it is paid for him.”
Shaykh al-Islām said: “This ruling applies equally to debts owed to Allah—such as zakāh, ḥajj, a vow of obedience, or an expiation—and to debts owed to human beings, such as a trust, something usurped, a loan, and the like. It is the same whether the deceased made a bequest concerning them or not, because these are obligations that must in every case be fulfilled.”

3 – The ḥadith constitutes a fundamental proof for the permissibility of suretyship: a legally competent person may assume upon his own liability the financial obligations that rest on another, while those obligations continue to remain in the original debtor’s liability.

4 – It is recommended to hasten in settling the debt of the deceased, as shown by the Prophet’s ﷺ delaying the funeral prayer when he learned that the man was indebted.

5 – It is permissible to act as surety for financial obligations even on behalf of a deceased person, whether or not he left sufficient assets, for when Abū Qatādah undertook the dead man’s debt, the Prophet ﷺ went on to perform the funeral prayer.

6 – Such assumption of debt does not fully absolve the deceased. The Prophet ﷺ said, “The soul of the believer remains suspended by his debt until it is paid for him” (Aḥmad 9302). And when Abū Qatādah later informed him that he had settled the man’s debt, he said, “Now you have cooled his skin” (Aḥmad 14009), meaning that the burden has been lightened, though not completely removed.

7 – Consequently, the preferable course is to settle the deceased’s debt immediately; if that is not possible, someone should undertake it on his behalf and promptly repay it, so that the deceased may attain full relief from its consequences.

8 – Among the indications of the gravity of debt and the rights owed to people—and perhaps this falls under the heading of taʿzīr—is the Prophet’s ﷺ