If a believer resides in Dar-ul Harb, meaning a land ruled by infidels (non-Muslims) that might, through the war become the state of war, has a withhold from his wage or has to deposit some money into a bank account can get interest out of that money. For, not getting the interest would mean to strengthen his enemy.
Since, getting interest in Dar-ul Harb is jaiz (religiously permissible), and the wisdom of it is strengthening the enemy, should not we think as:
If I keep my money in a bank in this land of blasphemy without being compelled, so I would support them financially. Therefore, drawing insignificant amount of interest would not change the consequence.
The Muslim capital in Western banks, which could not have been transformed to investment, has a great share in the desolate situation of Islamic world today.
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According to Hanbali madhhab, hajj performed by haram money is not valid but according to the other three madhhabs, hajj is valid but that person becomes a sinner; that is, he is freed from the responsibility of hajj.
Hajj is not performed with haram money; if one goes to hajj with haram money, his hajj is valid but its thawab is not like the thawab of hajj performed with halal money.
As it is known, an accepted hajj is enough for the elimination of all sins of a person except for the violation of others’ rights. A person is virtually regarded as having just been born in terms of sins. However, it is necessary to pay attention to the following five conditions at least:
1. To go to hajj with a sincere intention, that is, only for the sake of Allah. To forget about everything except Allah as if visiting Him.
2. To go to hajj with clean (halal) money.
3. To pay his debts related to other peoples’ rights or to ask forgiveness from them, to perform his missed (qada) prayers and fasting or to decide to perform them and start.
4. To keep away from nonsensical and bad words, intentions and deeds (rafath and fusuq) during hajj.
5. To complete hajj based on its other external and internal conditions.
Only Allah knows the amount of the thawabs such a hajj will gain man after eliminating all sins. The thawabs of the hajj will decrease as the fulfilment of those conditions decreases. Some people will only be freed of the responsibility of hajj but will not gain any thawabs. Hajj might also cause a person to commit sins. Therefore, rich people whose wealth contains haram or doubtful money are advised to go to hajj by borrowing money and pay their debts from their own wealth when they return.
In addition, Imam Gazali gives the following advice:
"A person who goes to hajj with haram or doubtful money should try to make sure that his food is clean and halal. If he cannot do it throughout hajj, he should try to do it between the time when he enters ihram and exits ihram. If he cannot do it, he should try to do it on the day of Arafah. If he cannot do it either, he should feel sorry and regret all the time because he has to make hajj with such money; it is hoped that he will be shown mercy in Arafat." (Husayn al-Makki, Irsshadus-Sari, 3)
A hadith regarding the issue is as follows:
أَتَيْتُ لَيْلَةَ أُسْرِيَ بِي عَلَى قَوْمٍ بُطُونُهُمْ كَالْبُيُوتِ، فِيهَا الْحَيَّاتُ تُرَى مِنْ خَارِجِ بُطُونِهِمْ، فَقُلْتُ: مَنْ هَؤُلَاءِ يَا جِبْرِيلُ؟ قَالَ: هَؤُلَاءِ أَكَلَةُ الرِّبَا
On the night in which I was taken on the Night Journey (al-Isra), I came to people whose stomachs were like houses, in which there were snakes that could be seen from outside their stomachs. I said: 'Who are these, O Jibril?’ He said: 'They are the ones who consumed usury (interest). (Ibn Majah, Tijarat 58; Musnad, 2/353, 363)
This hadith is an exemplary lesson for those who consume riba (usury/interest).
Hereby, we will address the believing brothers who continue consuming interest without repenting by advising them to call themselves to account:
O brother who consumes interest! Is it worth?
Is it reasonable to show consent to such a big penalty in the hereafter for a small and ephemeral interest in the world?
If you do not give up consuming interest, you will be resurrected like that on the Day of Judgment. You will have a stomach as big as a house. Snakes will move in it. Will you be able to put up with it? Definitely not.
Then, come and repent of this sin since there is still time for it.
Forex is also referred to as international spot foreign exchange market transactions. The statements of those who are engaged in this system are as follows:
“In the Forex market, you have a limit of up to 200 times the amount of collateral you will invest. In other words, you are given the opportunity to trade $ 200 for $ 1 you have invested. Therefore, investors have the opportunity to make a profit at the leverage ratio used according to the physical transactions they make.”
“Your risk is limited to the collateral you invest. In other investment instruments, investors cannot sell a commodity they do not have. There must be a purchase transaction beforehand for a sale transaction to occur. However, in the forex market, you can sell a parity directly without buying it if you think it will fall. Therefore, you can make gains even in falling market conditions.”
When this form of forex is taken into consideration, the organizations and individuals who carry out this transaction (i.e., buying and selling foreign currency) on behalf of their clients - even if there is no explicit contract of agency - do so as the client’s agent. In the meantime, they lend them up to two hundred times the amount of money that the customer has given/invested in them, and they buy and sell foreign currency with this money.
- Why do they lend this amount of money? To do the customer a favor (qard al-hasan) or to make a guaranteed profit for themselves and to enlarge it?
Absolutely the latter because the customer has deposited collateral; and if there is a loss, the loss will be covered from this collateral. If there is a profit, it will be transferred to the customer’s account, but the trader will also earn a commission. In other words, there is an act of “lending for profit” here, which is not regarded as permissible in fiqh.
When the transaction made on behalf of the client incurs a loss, the agent should bear the entire loss, but the fact that it is “limited only to his collateral” does not comply with the criteria of fiqh.
The sale of money that is not in hand and that has not been purchased is also not permissible in fiqh because there is no actual delivery or the condition of delivery.
The answer to the question, “Does this transaction benefit the society and the economy of the country?” is “No!”
Normal foreign currency buying and selling in accordance with the rules of consumption in fiqh is legitimate. People can definitely buy and sell foreign currencies when they need. The most important condition for this is that the purchase and sale must be in cash.
In our religion, interest in all its forms is forbidden; both receiving and charging it are haram (al-Baqara, 2/275-279; Bukhari, Libas, 96; Muslim, Musaqat 105, 106).
Therefore, it is not permissible to deposit money in institutions that engage in interest-bearing transactions, regardless of their location, and to use the interest earned on such deposits for any purpose.
Regarding the difference between inflation and interest rates:
If a Muslim enters into a contract or agreement without stipulating or including interest in the income and expenses, and if the payment of the debt is delayed or not made on time, the inflation difference -arising during the period of delay- is included in the payment. Otherwise, the debtor will have paid less than the full amount. However, if the debt arises from lending money for the sake of Allah, the payment is made with the inflation difference, regardless of whether the payment time has passed or the due date has arrived or passed.
If the contract is made with a bank, that is, if a deposit is made with the bank or a loan is taken out, this is also a contract, but interest is included in the contract, stipulating that a certain amount of interest will be received or paid at the end of a specified period; this transaction is part of the contract’s legal validity. It is not permissible for a Muslim to enter into such a contract. Even if the interest received or given is below the inflation rate when the payment time arrives, this does not erase the sin of having entered into an interest-based contract in the first place.
Furthermore, since money deposited in the bank is lent out as loans to those who want it at high, real interest rates, even if the depositor is not paid the real interest on his money, real interest has accrued on that money, the bank has received this interest, and the depositor has consented to it. Such a depositor is more wretched and foolish than someone who receives real interest because the latter has at least saved his worldly life -by committing a haram deed- while the former committed a haram deed but failed to gain any worldly benefit.
Interest accrued on money deposited in a bank, in whatever form, should be given to the poor or charitable organizations without expecting any thawab in return, and one should repent for having engaged in this interest-bearing transaction.
The first condition of repentance is to resolve never to commit that sin again.
Using interest income for charitable purposes does not atone for the sin of usury.
We should believe that the relationship between the servant and the Creator is similar to the relationship between a patient and a doctor. Therefore, what is beneficial is not what the servant deems beneficial for himself, but what the Creator deems beneficial for the servant. It is not the medication the patient wants that is beneficial, but the medication the doctor deems appropriate for the patient.
O Allah! Enable us to see the truth as truth and follow it, and to see falsehood as falsehood and avoid it. Amin.
