Question

Assalamualikum. Is student finance allowed for muslim to do a degree from university? And sometimes students are eligible to get bursaries like full fee , disable allowance, child care allowance or parent allowance , Are these permissible to take or not??
And if these are not allowed and someone has taken it what should they do now if they are in the middle Or end of their degree??

Answer

Student finance provided by Student Finance England is not permissible as it is an interest based transaction. One is taking a loan and then paying that loan back with interest which is unlawful. Grants and bursaries are generally permissible as they are considered a gift and re-payments are not usually required hence they will not fall into interest based transactions. If you have a particular arrangement you would like us to look into you may submit another question with details of your arrangement.

If someone has already taken out a student finance for the previous years, then they should not take out finance for the coming years. Rather, they should find alternative ways of making the remaining payments such as borrowing from friends and family, working part time, taking a gap year to work and and save to be able to make payments etc. As for the loan already taken out one should try and pay this off as quickly as possible and repent to Allah the Almighty.

Answered by:
Ifta Research Fellow

Checked & Approved by:
Mufti Abdul Rahman Mangera
Mufti Zubair Patel