Q: Am I responsible if my wife engages in interest-based activities?
I understand that riba is a very serious and major sin.
I have been Muslim for four years and am looking to marry a sister insha’Allah. But I just found out recently that she is paying for an interest-only mortgage for her family’s home where she currently lives with her family.
If I marry, then as a husband, will I be accountable on the day of judgement for my wife engaging in riba? In this instance where she pays for a mortgage for a family, what is my duty, responsibility and accountability? What action should and can I take?
To date, I have clearly advised her that it is haram, explained the severity of riba in Islam and that she should try to seek alternatives, but she says she cannot afford to transfer to an Islamic alternative because she cannot afford it. The mortgage as is isn’t even a repayment mortgage, it’s interest-only! So they are being exploited even further into a spiral of debt, may Allah protect the believers.
الجواب حامدًا و مصليًا و منه الصدق و الصواب
A: It is indeed a grave sin to make the interest payments as mentioned in the question. As a husband it would be your duty to insist in the strongest possible terms that she either convert to an ‘Islamic mortgage’ or else remove herself from the mortgage altogether. If she refuses to do so in spite of your insistence then she only will bear the sin and you will not be culpable.