Uni Loans as a Muslim

I'm a Muslim and I would just like to ask if any fellow Muslims move into uni halls, how did you pay for your accommodation and tuition fees without a loan? If you did take out a loan, what made you do so?

I'm just interested as I would like to move into uni halls when I go to University but on top of moving there, I would have to pay accommodation as well as tuition fees. I'd like to pay them without a loan if possible.

Reply 1

Damask-

16

Not a muslim but surely it's pretty obvious. If they had the money, they paid. If they didn't, they either took out the loan, or didn't go.

Reply 2

Alfissti

20

Original post by Damask-

Not a muslim but surely it's pretty obvious. If they had the money, they paid. If they didn't, they either took out the loan, or didn't go.

He is asking most likely because of the issue of interest, interest is "haram" in Islam.

Reply 3

kumon

16

This is ridiculous. If interest is such an issue then just pay back the interest to charity later on.

Reply 4

Al-Mudaari

Someone paid for it/travelled from home.

Original post by Damask-

Not a muslim but surely it's pretty obvious. If they had the money, they paid. If they didn't, they either took out the loan, or didn't go.

Unfortunately, loans in the UK are interest based.

Original post by kumon

This is ridiculous. If interest is such an issue then just pay back the interest to charity later on.

Dumbest thing I've read. You can't commit sin in order to achieve good.

"Let's gamble all our money and give everything to charity"

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 5

kumon

16

Original post by Al-Mudaari

Someone paid for it/travelled from home.

Unfortunately, loans in the UK are interest based.

Dumbest thing I've read. You can't commit sin in order to achieve good.

"Let's gamble all our money and give everything to charity"

Heard of doing things for the great good? You have to be in the system and progress in it, before you can change it, unless you have a huge protest and riot and even then, you'll be destroyed as seen through recent and former history.

Reply 6

CC2010

8

I'm a Muslim. I lived in halls for 3 years. I took out a loan with student finance. At the end of the day, it wasn't realistic for me to travel 3 hours each way for university, so it made sense for me to relocate.
I respect what you're saying about interest but surely as it's for your education (in a roundabout way), it should be fine?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 7

gr8wizard10

21

I'm going to a University 3 hours away from home so I'm taking out Maintenance Loan otherwise I can't afford it.

Reply 8

Cll_ws

19

Who made that rule? Who was giving out interest loans in the times Islam was founded?

Reply 9

Origami Bullets

19

My understanding is that the (entirely reasonable) reason why interest is banned in Islam (well, theoretically - there seem to be a lot of work-arounds) is to stop people getting sucked into the sort of debt offered by Wonga and loan sharks. Entirely reasonable - they're never good for anyone.

However, given the extremely soft loan repayment terms - so soft that most people will never pay them off in full, and some will never even start paying them off, it's not possible to get pulled into the sort of debt cycle that these rules are designed to avoid. Exploitation it is not.

Reply 10

tonberry

14

Original post by Alfissti

He is asking most likely because of the issue of interest, interest is "haram" in Islam.

Is it? LOL. I learn more random facts about that religion every day. Quality.

Ah seriously? Post edited by a mod. **** this fascist POS website.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 11

Psyk

16

Are there not any companies which do Islamic student financing? I know there are Islamic mortgages that aren't technically loans. The bank owns the house and you pay rent + payment towards buying the house from them. Is there something similar for paying tuition fees? Not sure how that would work though. And I suppose if there is a company that does that, it probably wouldn't be a good deal compared to a normal student loan.

Reply 12

Strangey

15

Original post by Psyk

. And I suppose if there is a company that does that, it probably wouldn't be a good deal compared to a normal student loan.

Unforntuatly, you're right. As far as I'm aware the only company to offer student loans is the main student finance groups that people apply to normally. There may be an Islamic loan, but it wouldn't be as good value as the student loans company.

The general question has got to be whether you personally find student loans incompatible with Islam. If you do, and you can't pay upfront, then you can't go to uni, it's as simple as that. That being said, there are at lot of Muslims who go to university every year!

Reply 13

Cll_ws

19

Original post by Psyk

Are there not any companies which do Islamic student financing? I know there are Islamic mortgages that aren't technically loans. The bank owns the house and you pay rent + payment towards buying the house from them.

Original post by Strangey

The general question has got to be whether you personally find student loans incompatible with Islam. If you do, and you can't pay upfront, then you can't go to uni, it's as simple as that. That being said, there are at lot of Muslims who go to university every year!

The idea of finding loopholes in your own religious laws so that you can get things that are otherwise off limits seems so pointless.

That Islamic mortgage sounds just like a normal mortgage but with a different repayment system. I'm fairly sure that's not what they had in mind when writing the laws.

Reply 14

Psyk

16

Original post by Cll_ws

The idea of finding loopholes in your own religious laws so that you can get things that are otherwise off limits seems so pointless.

That Islamic mortgage sounds just like a normal mortgage but with a different repayment system. I'm fairly sure that's not what they had in mind when writing the laws.

I think it is a bit different because the bank is taking more of the risk compared to a normal mortgage. But of course the consumer ends up paying more because of that.

Reply 15

Old_Simon

12

The Muslim prohibition on interest distinguished them from the Jews who controlled their society by debt. This is also why Jews were banned from the UK and much of Europe for hundreds of years.

Reply 16

Helloworld_95

19

I was under the impression that loans from the SLC don't accrue interest, so this would be a non-issue.

Reply 17

Iqbal007

19

Original post by Psyk

I think it is a bit different because the bank is taking more of the risk compared to a normal mortgage. But of course the consumer ends up paying more because of that.

Yep......plus not just anyone gets accepted. They are more stringent and you need a pretty large deposit to secure one.

Reply 18

muslimchick95

4

Its a major sin to take out a loan that has riba and the punishment is servers so for me in going for the courses with no tuition fees its deen over dunya id rather suffer here then there....but Allah knows best