Evening Reminder. Thursday. Question: I work in a bank in a particular country, in a department that does not deal with riba-based transactions, but the central bank does deal with interest and it is a government foundation. What is the ruling on working in this bank? I hope you can advise me I want to be total obedience to Allah as such if haraam I promise to resign straight forward. Allah is sufficient for His creatures. RESPONSE: May Allah reward you and anyone who adheres to Allah command with better job. Aameen. Basically your working in this bank is haraam, even if you are in a department which does not deal with riba-based transactions. It is sufficient to note that the “central bank” is the head bank and working in the other departments complements the work of the sections that do deal with riba; the bank is formed from all the departments and all the institutions connected to it are engaged in riba. The scholars base on their studies of the Quran and sunnah have stated that it is not permissible to work even as a security guard(watchman) or driver for such institutions, so how about working as a teller or clerk? Shaykh Ibn Uthaymeen (may Allaah have mercy on him) said in one of his fatwas: It is not permissible to work in a riba-based institution even if a person is working as a driver or guard, because that means that he is working for the riba-based institution, which implies that he approves of it. For whoever disapproves of a thing would not work to support it, so if he is working for it that implies that he approves of it, and the one who approves of something that is haraam is also guilty of sin. But if he is directly involved in recording transactions, writing, sending and depositing etc, then he is undoubtedly dealing directly with something haraam. It was proven in the hadeeth of Jaabir (may Allaah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) cursed the one who consumes riba, the one who pays it, the two who witness it and the one who writes it down. He said: “They are all the same.” Fataawa Islamiyyah. 2/401. The Standing Committee for issuing fatwas was asked about a man who worked as a night guard for one of the banks, and he had nothing to do with the bank’s transactions – should he continue with this job or leave? They replied: It is not permissible for a Muslim to work as a guard for banks that deal with riba, because this is a kind of cooperating in sin and transgression, and Allaah has forbidden that as He says: “but do not help one another in sin and transgression” 5:2. Fataawa Islamiyyah, 2/401, 402. From this fatwas we must fear Allah and put our trust in Him and find ourselves halaal job bcs death doesnt have a time table for us and we cant afford to die in disobedience as the Prophet said whoever dies in a particular sin will be raised in that category of people so you wouldnt want to be raised with bank managers and owners please. Lets engaged in little buying and selling and help each other with soft loans without interest and Allah will bless us and increase us in sustenance. Lets stop making execuses and fear the punishment of Allah instead for disobeying HIM. For Allah sake these are Allahs rulings not from my basic Islamic knowledge as such I will appreciate if we can accept it for Allah sake and avoid any accusations as if Im enforcing anyone to stop doing something good. May Allah have mercy on us all. Aameen.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Dec 2014 22:17:08 +0000