paying someones drug debt?

[muggings?]

salaam aleikum,
ive got a bit of a dilemma and would really appreciate some quick replies

ive got a neighbour who has run up a drug debt, hes a 17 year old kaafir and hes just out of prison and owes someone £200, and theyve been around and banged at his door the other night and a neighbour phoned the police and their even more unhappy now, and this kids really scared about what their going to do to him.
should i pay it for him? he hasnt asked me to, or am i being an idiot, i know were not supposed to give money to fools but i know were supposed to look out for our neighbours too, but maybe a bit of a beating is what he needs?
he might be able to come to some agreement with him and sort it out, but it might end in him getting a beating and hes literally shaking.
i cant really afford this right now because i dont know how hes going to pay it back to me, hes not working and hes just got booted off his college course.
i havent really had good relations with this kid, he plays his music loud but since i asked him nicely to keep it down weve been on better terms.
will i get any reward for paying it for him?,i feel like im being a bit of a mug paying someones drug debt when i could give it to my parents or do better things with it, i really dont know what to do.
quick responses appreciated.

[Eemaan]

hmm he sounds like a moron with no sense of responsibility and decency. i can understand where your coming from in wanting to help him, but what if yes you pay his debt but how to you deal with his habit? what about next time he owes money? he has no job and no prospects so starts as you mean to go along- dont do it.

Yes support him because he needs an emotional crutch but he really needs to face up to his responsibilites, and if it means him getting his head kicked in, its not your fault.

[muggins?]

hmm he sounds like a moron with no sense of responsibility and decency. i can understand where your coming from in wanting to help him, but what if yes you pay his debt but how to you deal with his habit? what about next time he owes money? he has no job and no prospects so starts as you mean to go along- dont do it.

Yes support him because he needs an emotional crutch but he really needs to face up to his responsibilites, and if it means him getting his head kicked in, its not your fault.

BarakAllahu feeki sis, i was more leaning this way too,JazakAllahu khayr.

[muhammed_1428]

I understand you feel sorrow for this person, and there's definitely a part of you that doesn't want to see him get hurt or his kids get hurt at the sight of their father's pain...

Doesn't this guy have anyone else to turn to? Family? Better friends rather than just neighbours?

I hate to be blunt and harsh, I really do, but I wouldn't recommend getting involved with someone like this... They may come to you again and again and turn against you if one day you won't be able to pay up.

Consider whether you actually can afford this regarding you're own family, and if you can't then you have a decent reason for not doing so...

In fact - ask yourself: 200 pounds to pay off a drug user/ex drugs user's debt? or that same money to pay for... I dunno, school books for children in Sudan, Sierra Leone, Iraq or West Bank/Gaza, or to pay for "stifel" lip operations for kids (I think 200 can get around 2 operations done for them - stifel lip is where people are born with the tip of their lip sort of stuck under their nose, its pretty unpleasant and causes infection of the gums...)

If its really getting to you, then I'd say perform Istikhara regarding this, Allahu Aalim right?

Salaamu Alaykum

[Te'oma]

I would say, make him deal with it himself so that he will learn from it. You can be a support but don't let him pass his problems onto you

[muggings?]

I understand you feel sorrow for this person, and there's definitely a part of you that doesn't want to see him get hurt or his kids get hurt at the sight of their father's pain...

Doesn't this guy have anyone else to turn to? Family? Better friends rather than just neighbours?

I hate to be blunt and harsh, I really do, but I wouldn't recommend getting involved with someone like this... They may come to you again and again and turn against you if one day you won't be able to pay up.

Consider whether you actually can afford this regarding you're own family, and if you can't then you have a decent reason for not doing so...

In fact - ask yourself: 200 pounds to pay off a drug user/ex drugs user's debt? or that same money to pay for... I dunno, school books for children in Sudan, Sierra Leone, Iraq or West Bank/Gaza, or to pay for "stifel" lip operations for kids (I think 200 can get around 2 operations done for them - stifel lip is where people are born with the tip of their lip sort of stuck under their nose, its pretty unpleasant and causes infection of the gums...)

If its really getting to you, then I'd say perform Istikhara regarding this, Allahu Aalim right?

Salaamu Alaykum

barakAllahu feek bro, his friends havent been around the last few days, inshaAllah he'll take some lessons from this.
what u said about Sudan etc.is my thoughts exactly, ive never given £200 to a muslim, so it feels wrong to give it to him, i feel for him, there but for the Grace of Allah goes u and me, but theres a lot to be said for learning things the hard way sometimes.
JazakAllahu khayr.

[help him]

salam.
hey i think u shud help da kid out. But at the same time have a talk with him about it. This can be a good preacing opportunity for Islam. Tell him you will only help him if he promises to fix his life.
Think of him as your kid bro. What would you have done. You would have paid off and then sorted matters with your brother.
If you dont have the money then thats a whole different story. If you have some spare you should help him as much as you can.

Things you need to know:

1-What type of drug dealers are they? what do they sell? Some drugs will make drug dealers go more extreme than others.

2-If he is going to get beaten up, are they going to repeatedly do it until he pays?

3-Will weapons be involved. if knives or deadly weps i would think paying off is only option.

4-What does his family say? do they know?

5- Does he have family outside the country where he can move to?

[jazz8000]

I would try to think of otherways of helping him rather than paying the debt. Rather give it to charity or if his got no money for food, then take some food round etc rather then help him pay this drug debt. If it was a genuine debt due to foced circumstances i borrowed money to put food on table, kids medicine sort of thing than its different issue

[dhakiyya]

I think the best thing you can do for this kid inshaAllah is to try to persuade him to quit drugs. Otherwise he'll just run up more debts. If he's already going to you for help or advice, gently and without being at all preachy, try to help him see that he's better off without drugs altogether. If he's really addicted maybe help him get into rehab (which is not easy for some :wacko: reason) - but also, don't trust him too much, esp if he is addicted to hard drugs, its very easy for someone like that to be tempted to lie and steal to get drugs, until they get themselves off drugs inshaAllah. Also don't ever lend him money - if he's hooked on drugs and you do, he'll be constantly begging you for money. I don';t mean to be judgemental about this, but if he's proper into hard drugs you need to watch out for these things, but that does not mean that you can't give all the emotional support, mentoring, advice, help and that kind of thing to help him change his ways, or that you can't help him and support him in giving up drugs in fact mashaAllah if you have the time and the patience and good heart to do these things may Allah reward you greatly. Just don't give him any of your money or in any way tempt him to steal or anything like that.

If its just soft drugs he's into and he's not hooked, its less of a bad situation BUT the support and advice of someone they respect can make a real difference and stop them going down that path further and ending up proper hooked and big time messing up their life inshaAllah. If you can do this for this kid - or even just try to - mashaAllah may Allah reward you.

And don't forget some gentle subtle dawa - dawa by example is best inshaAllah if you think he'll be put off by talk of religion - although you would be surprised how many wayward kids do like to talk about God, life, the universe, stuff like that. Just let them ask the questions and lead the discussion, tell them about what you believe, listen to what they have to say and don't be preachy inshaAllah, just open and honest inshaAllah.

[muggings?]

BarakAllahu feekum for all the replies

im definitely not giving him any money, he knows if he needs anything to give me a knock.
without going into the details for obvious reasons (in fact i cant definitely say it was for drugs)its an old debt that goes back to before he was inside, but the fact that he thought he'd get away with not paying it pretty much sums up his problem, he needs to take some responsibility.
alhamdulillah,hes not hooked on hard drugs but hes a walking anti drugs advert.
i got off to a bad start with him, because i was wound up because he kept turning the music back up again and i lost my temper with him and he had to front it because his friends were there and then i found spit on my car which he denied but ive got no doubt it was either him or one of his friends but i told him anything happens to my car were going to have a big row and inshaAllah i think he got the message, anyway a few days later and still im banging the ceiling every time i come in and every couple of hours i realised that im going to have to get on his level a bit so i went and spoke nicely to him and told him i want to get on with him and explained the situation, he lives in the flat above me and his next door neighbour are muslims, a couple with a baby,and sometimes i can hear it crying and this couple are really quiet and placid, plus they dont have access to our entrance so they cant knock him to speak to him but ive heard them banging the walls now and again and i feel a responsibility to them and up till then he'd shown neither of us any consideration at all.
anyway now since we had a little chat and this has happened i see his other side and he seems really vulnerable and pitiful, hes got no mum or dad, just out of prison, due in court again next week, booted out of college, things are looking bleak for him to say the least.
inshaAllah ill give him some dawah, and if these people come round for him ill try and mediate inshaAllah, hes been really quiet the last couple of days, so i might go give him a knock in a minute inshaAllah.

[Babbage]

Apart from other matters, if you take on responsibility for this debt both he and other criminals will assume that you will take on responsibility for future debts. A definite reason not to do so.

[Mullah_Din]

I fully understand that Muslims are soft-hearted people who always help, but, if you really want to help this 17 year old lad, then take him to a drug re-hab centre; this will, hopefully, enable to him get off drugs, work and earn a living!

Wassalaam Ma'al Ikraam

[muggings?]

alhamdulillah, his mum is around and shes helped him out