to them that they should file a petition with the authorities asking for the debt to be waived, and then they say, “We will wait until the reply comes.” The answer may be a refusal or it may grant a pardon—no one knows. This course of action is not lawful for them; they are duty-bound to settle the deceased’s debt without delay.

If, however, the deceased had already paid all the instalments that fell due in his lifetime and the house remains merely mortgaged to the Development Fund, then he is absolved and nothing further attaches to him. Some scrupulous individuals suppose that when a person dies after having borrowed from the Fund—despite having met every payment required while he was alive—his soul is still entangled in the debt. That is not so: as long as the property stands as collateral, the deceased is free of liability. Evidence for this is that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, passed away while owing a debt to a Jewish man, having pledged his coat of mail as security. Would anyone claim that the Prophet’s soul was suspended because of that debt? Certainly not, for he had offered an item from which the creditor could recover his due.

The author, may Allah have mercy on him, then cites the hadith of Abu Hurayrah in which the Prophet said, “The believer’s soul is held back by his debt until it is paid on his behalf.” In other words, while he lies in his grave his soul is restrained by the debt—as though, Allah knows best, it suffers from the delay in repayment and cannot fully delight in the bliss or feel at ease so long as the debt remains. Hence we have said that the heirs must move quickly to discharge what is owed.

As for the second hadith, its discussion has already been presented; it states that