Eating at the home of a relative who deals in riba (usury or interest)
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
The other topic, or the third one, is working in banks and what concerns those who work in banks or those who deal in riba (usury or interest). We will list this in points. The first point is that we know that dealing in riba is forbidden, and that working in riba banks is forbidden. But if I have a brother or a relative who deals in riba or works in a riba bank, what is the ruling on visiting him, eating at his house, and if there is a feast, going to him and eating from his food, and the like?
Answer:
If you know that all his wealth is from riba and all his wealth is forbidden, then do not eat from his food. But if you do not know, or if he has some forbidden wealth and some lawful wealth, meaning his wealth is mixed from lawful and forbidden, then there is no harm in eating from his food and his table if he invites you. But this is with advising him and asking him to leave this matter and repent to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He).
The result is that if one knows that all his wealth is forbidden, it is not permissible to eat from his wealth or from his food. As for the one whose wealth is mixed from lawful and forbidden, there is no harm in eating his food, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to eat from the food of the Jews, even though the Jews dealt in riba, but not all of their wealth was forbidden; they had lawful and forbidden. Yes.
The other topic, or the third one, is working in banks and what concerns those who work in banks or those who deal in riba (usury or interest). We will list this in points. The first point is that we know that dealing in riba is forbidden, and that working in riba banks is forbidden. But if I have a brother or a relative who deals in riba or works in a riba bank, what is the ruling on visiting him, eating at his house, and if there is a feast, going to him and eating from his food, and the like?
Answer:
If you know that all his wealth is from riba and all his wealth is forbidden, then do not eat from his food. But if you do not know, or if he has some forbidden wealth and some lawful wealth, meaning his wealth is mixed from lawful and forbidden, then there is no harm in eating from his food and his table if he invites you. But this is with advising him and asking him to leave this matter and repent to Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He).
The result is that if one knows that all his wealth is forbidden, it is not permissible to eat from his wealth or from his food. As for the one whose wealth is mixed from lawful and forbidden, there is no harm in eating his food, because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to eat from the food of the Jews, even though the Jews dealt in riba, but not all of their wealth was forbidden; they had lawful and forbidden. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، محاضرات في العقيدة والدعوة-026-الربا وخطره|صالح الفوزان|كبار العلماء — youtube.com (1:11:09)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.
