Justice Before Repayment

Zera Yacob positioned justice and reason as the highest principles governing human relationships. This transforms how we view debt: rather than assuming creditors have absolute rights, we ask whether lending practices themselves are just. Predatory lending, exploitative interest rates, and collection abuse violate justice principles. Yacob would argue that an unjust contract does not bind a conscience. Justice before repayment means assessing whether creditors have acted with integrity. Did they lend to vulnerable people without regard for ability to repay? Do they employ intimidation or deception? Justice flows both directions: if you borrowed dishonestly or refuse legitimate obligation, that violates justice too. But if systems exploit you, justice demands resistance, negotiation, or refusal. This framework prevents automatic compliance and instead centers human dignity and relational ethics as the measure of legitimate debt obligation.