Getting Interest from Bank for Charity (Follow Up)
Question:
I have been receiving a small amount of interest from my savings from my bank account BUT have been paying all that to a charity. I have been quite comfortable in doing that, although there has been one half of me always wondering if I shouldn't have been receiving even to pay to charity. Is this a matter of piety to not even receive it for charity or would you say we shouldn't receive it even to pay to charity full stop. Thanks.
Answer:
Since according to my revised view, the ordinary regulated bank interest is not that riba that the Qur'an has disallowed, therefore benefiting form this interest or benefiting others from it is not a problem. If you are giving this interest to charity then insha'Allah it will be very rewarding for you in the hereafter.
Allow me to also answer you based on the view of the majority Muslim scholars who hold that bank interest is the same as riba in the Qur'an and is therefore prohibited:
We are living in an interest based economy. In such economy it is literally impossible to avoid some how getting involved with interest. What is important is to make sure that we do not put money some where to gain interest and that when we receive an interest due to the way that the system works we would get rid of it.
If there was a way that your bank could be instructed to stop paying you interest then that would have been ideal. I do not think that this is a possibility.
Accordingly you are not doing anything wrong. You need to use bank services like most of the other people. Legally the bank has to pay you some interest. You have not put your money in the bank to earn that interest and you have not asked for it. The money is now in your account and religiously it does not belong to you, in fact its owner is not known (Majhul al-Huwiyah). You however legally have authority over that money. You use this authority to pay the money to the charity. This is one of the best ways to get rid of this money.
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Related Topics:
- Paying Interest for a Loan
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Farhad Shafti
May 2013
Revised: July 2016
I have been receiving a small amount of interest from my savings from my bank account BUT have been paying all that to a charity. I have been quite comfortable in doing that, although there has been one half of me always wondering if I shouldn't have been receiving even to pay to charity. Is this a matter of piety to not even receive it for charity or would you say we shouldn't receive it even to pay to charity full stop. Thanks.
Answer:
Since according to my revised view, the ordinary regulated bank interest is not that riba that the Qur'an has disallowed, therefore benefiting form this interest or benefiting others from it is not a problem. If you are giving this interest to charity then insha'Allah it will be very rewarding for you in the hereafter.
Allow me to also answer you based on the view of the majority Muslim scholars who hold that bank interest is the same as riba in the Qur'an and is therefore prohibited:
We are living in an interest based economy. In such economy it is literally impossible to avoid some how getting involved with interest. What is important is to make sure that we do not put money some where to gain interest and that when we receive an interest due to the way that the system works we would get rid of it.
If there was a way that your bank could be instructed to stop paying you interest then that would have been ideal. I do not think that this is a possibility.
Accordingly you are not doing anything wrong. You need to use bank services like most of the other people. Legally the bank has to pay you some interest. You have not put your money in the bank to earn that interest and you have not asked for it. The money is now in your account and religiously it does not belong to you, in fact its owner is not known (Majhul al-Huwiyah). You however legally have authority over that money. You use this authority to pay the money to the charity. This is one of the best ways to get rid of this money.
---------
Related Topics:
- Paying Interest for a Loan
----------
Farhad Shafti
May 2013
Revised: July 2016
