QUESTION:
What do the scholars of the Din and muftis of the Sacred Law state regarding the following issue, that what am I meant to do the interest the bank gives me. The banks in England end up giving some amount of interest.
Questioner: Nadeem from Bolton, UK
ANSWER:
بسم اللہ الرحمن الرحیم
الجواب بعون الملک الوھاب اللھم ھدایۃ الحق والصواب
The ruling regarding the interest which is given by banks is that whosoever has given it you, it should be returned to them or this money should be donated as charity to faqeers (poor people) meaning to give it into their ownership.
Just as my master A’lā Hazrat Imām of the Ahl al-Sunnah Imām Ahmad Ridā Khān, may Allāh shower mercy upon him, states that the wealth which is given as a bribe, singing songs or obtained by stealing, it is Fard (obligatory) upon the one who acquired this to return it to whom it was taken from, if they are no longer alive then it should be given to their inheritors. If they are untraceable, then it should be given as charity to faqeers.
To use this wealth in buying and selling anything is harām qat’ī (explicitly prohibited). Excluding the aforementioned situation, there is no other way of being relieved from sin and this is the same ruling for interest, etc becoming invalid contracts.
The only difference here [i.e. regarding interest, etc] is that whosoever the wealth was taken from, it is not Fard to return it to them specifically, rather one has the choice to return it (to whom one took it from) or whether one wishes to primarily donate it as charity.
[Fatāwā Ridawiyyah, vol. 23, pg. 551]
If one has agreed to interest or opened such an account in which one receives interest, so repentance is also mandatory for such a person as well as promising not to take any interest from now onwards.
واللہ تعالی اعلم ورسولہ اعلم صلی اللہ علیہ وآلہ وسلم
کتبہ ابو الحسن محمد قاسم ضیاء قادری
Answered by Mufti Qasim Zia al-Qadri
Translated by Bilal Shabir and Haider Ali
Read the original Urdu answer here: [Q-ID0532] What should be done with the interest given to me by the Bank?
