Debt and Loan: Validity of a Loan Conditional on Covering the Lender’s Travel Expenses

Practical Laws of Islam as per the teachings of Imam Khamenei

Debt and Loan: Validity of a Loan Conditional on Covering the Lender’s Travel Expenses

English:

Question #1764:

Someone borrowed a sum of money for a year on the condition that he meets the expenses arising from the lender’s travel, e.g., for performing hajj. Is this transaction valid?

Answer #1764:

To stipulate a condition in the contract to bear the expenses arising from the travel of the lender or the like is the very stipulation of ribā in the loan deed. Therefore, it is both ḥarām and invalid. However, the loan deed is correct in principle.

-Imam Khamenei, Practical Laws of Islam, Importance and Conditions of Debt and Loan