Going to Hajj without paying an overpriced bill

2-10-2012 | IslamWeb

Question:

Salam Alikoum, I'm going to hajj in two weeks inchAllah. I paid all my debt except one agency which provided a service to me 3 years ago. We did not agree about the price at the beginning of the deal and we did not sign any contract, however, after getting the service, the bill was extremely over priced. I told them that was not fair and they should reduce the price to match the market, but they did not want to, so I did not pay them at all. I know the service was over priced and the deal was not fair, however, am still thinking whether I should pay the price they requested even if it was a rip off or just ignore them. It's not between me and them anymore, because they can not do anything about it since there is no contract, but it is between me and Allah. Should I pay them or not. Please advise. Salam Alikoum

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

Both you and the agency should have determined the price of the service before the agency started the work as a way of avoiding ignorance in the contract which affects its validity.

However, since this is the case, you only owe this agency the fee which is equal to the fee charged by other agencies for the same service and you are not obliged to pay anything more. Hence, once you have paid them this amount, you will be acquitted from liability.

For more information, please refer to Fataawa 84034 and 92618.

Allaah Knows best.