Help and debt are not the same thing. If you borrow money from someone, you must return it. If you're delayed in returning it, you must inform them. Don't leave their messages on read. At least answer their call and tell them when you'll return the money. If you can't return it, ask for forgiveness. If they don't forgive you, you won't find forgiveness from God either. God Himself does not forgive the sin of usurping another's rightful claim. If you have neither the will nor the means to repay, don't take the money as a loan—take it as help. If you take it as a loan and later don't return it, or delay and prevaricate, you disrespect their trust. They lent you the money trusting you, when you needed it most, didn't they? On what grounds, by what logic, did you degrade the relationship between you? Aren't you ashamed? You ruined a relationship for money—is your worth so little? How can you still walk around with your head held up? Shameful! Shameful! In this world, no one wants to see themselves deceived. When given as help, there remains no claim or expectation over that money. Even if you perform countless good deeds, you surely cannot enter paradise because you've usurped another's rightful claim, for usurping what belongs to another is the greatest barrier to acceptance of repentance. If you fear God, if you truly are righteous, if you believe in the afterlife, then repay borrowed money within the promised time. If you can't repay now, ask for an extension—don't remain silent or flee. If you possess even the minimum self-respect, don't keep changing the dates. When the creditor asks for their money back, don't treat them badly or show them contempt. You have no right to ignore them! They stood by you in your time of need—they committed no sin, did they? If you never want to or can't repay, then ask the creditor for forgiveness. If they don't forgive you, God won't either. Begging for bread is more honorable than eating stolen money. Postscript: You might wonder—I've written all this; don't I have creditors myself? The answer is: No. Not a single one. First, I avoid borrowing whenever possible. If someone gets money from me for any reason, I actually harass them with repeated calls to return it. Even if I have to force them, I return every last taka and only then breathe easy. On this matter, I am transparently meticulous. I throw down an open challenge: If anyone can prove you've taken money from me, I will return to you a hundred times what you took. To speak this way requires tremendous courage in the chest. Those who borrowed from me and haven't repaid me yet lack this courage, even though many of them are quite wealthy. (A couple of them go on hajj regularly, travel around the country and abroad.) I can't fathom how people sleep peacefully, how they live comfortably with others' money in their pockets. If you can't or won't repay a debt, you should shrivel up in shame—your food should taste like ash, your sleep should abandon you! Are they truly human? How can people be this shameless?! If I were to die today, no one in my family would have to bow their head before anyone to settle accounts.
It’s a great relief to me, this.
Have you forgotten to return the money? Weren’t you ashamed to say it? Are you playing the fool? A truly forgetful person is one who forgets to ask for money owed to them—not one who forgets to pay their debts.