Bank interest and its financial prizes
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Fatwa No. ( 1532 )
Q: I deposited my money in a bank in Cairo and asked them not to give me interest. However, a few days later, after I had left Cairo for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , I received a letter from the bank management stating that a draw had been held on the numbers in the bank, which are serial numbers for those who deposit their money. My number was among a group of numbers that won financial prizes. They sent me a notice that I had won a sum of five pounds per month for one year, and they asked me whether I would like them to add the amount to my account or if I would prefer to receive it monthly. Is this also considered riba? And if I take it, what should I do with it? Should I give it to Allah? And if I deposit my money in
a bank while knowing that they trade with it along with the deposits of other depositors, but they specify the profit for us without any loss, is this also riba?
A: First: Depositing your money in the bank without interest is permissible if you are in dire necessity for it. However, taking the financial prize that your number won is not permissible, and it is riba; because that was not paid to you except on account of the money you deposited in the bank. Their naming of what they pay you as a prize or reward does not remove it from the meaning of riba; because the criterion is the realities, not the names. And if it were not for the presence of your money in their hands and their exploitation of it for their benefit, they would not have paid the amount they called a prize. Accordingly, it is not permissible for you to take these prizes. Second: The profit specified for you as a percentage of your capital, which the bank traded with along with the other funds, is pure riba; so it is not permissible for you to take it either.
Q: I deposited my money in a bank in Cairo and asked them not to give me interest. However, a few days later, after I had left Cairo for the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , I received a letter from the bank management stating that a draw had been held on the numbers in the bank, which are serial numbers for those who deposit their money. My number was among a group of numbers that won financial prizes. They sent me a notice that I had won a sum of five pounds per month for one year, and they asked me whether I would like them to add the amount to my account or if I would prefer to receive it monthly. Is this also considered riba? And if I take it, what should I do with it? Should I give it to Allah? And if I deposit my money in
a bank while knowing that they trade with it along with the deposits of other depositors, but they specify the profit for us without any loss, is this also riba?
A: First: Depositing your money in the bank without interest is permissible if you are in dire necessity for it. However, taking the financial prize that your number won is not permissible, and it is riba; because that was not paid to you except on account of the money you deposited in the bank. Their naming of what they pay you as a prize or reward does not remove it from the meaning of riba; because the criterion is the realities, not the names. And if it were not for the presence of your money in their hands and their exploitation of it for their benefit, they would not have paid the amount they called a prize. Accordingly, it is not permissible for you to take these prizes. Second: The profit specified for you as a percentage of your capital, which the bank traded with along with the other funds, is pure riba; so it is not permissible for you to take it either.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.