The Charity Fund Opening an Account at the Bank
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Fatwa No. ( 15020 )
Q: It is consideredthe Islamic Charity Fundat King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals is one of the oldest and most active charitable organizations in the Eastern Region, and since its establishment in 1397 AH, the Fund has been engaged in various activities, including—by way of example, not limitation—collecting donations for the poor among the university’s staff and students, the mujahideen and orphans ofAfghanistan, and the Muslims of Africa. Due to the lack of fixed resources for the Fund, its management often finds itself unable to meet the numerous requests it receives from various parties, including some Muslims from outsidethe Kingdom,and the Fund had an arrangement
with the university's accounting department whereby specific amounts were deducted from the salaries of the contributing brothers among the university's staff, according to their request, and transferred to the benefit of the Islamic Charity Box. This arrangement was well-received by many people of good will at the university, and it also constituted an important source of revenue for the Box. However, the university's accounting department has excused itself from continuing to provide this service. Given that several years have passed without the Box being able to find a suitable alternative, some colleagues have proposed that the Box open an account at the Bank of Riyadh branch at the university, which serves a large number of the university's staff and where the university deposits employee salaries. The bank would then perform the same task that the university's accounting department used to do, out of a desire not to miss the opportunity to do good for many of those who love jihad and are concerned for the poor Muslims. We wish to clarify here that the Box does not deposit any amounts with the bank through this account; rather, it is a channel for withdrawing those funds day by day for charitable works as much as possible. It is expected that the bank will benefit from opening the Box's account with them in two ways: first, by benefiting from the Box's good reputation among Muslims in the Eastern Region, and second, by the riba (usury or interest) profits that may result from the Box's funds remaining with the bank due to unavoidable circumstances during vacations and the like. Also, opening such an account by the Box on the grounds of opening accounts at
with the university’s accounting department, whereby specific amounts were deducted from the salaries of the brother donors among the university’s staff, at their request, and transferred to the Islamic Charity Fund. This arrangement was well-received by many people of good will at the university and constituted an important source of revenue for the Fund. However, the university’s accounting department has excused itself from continuing to provide this service. Given that several years have passed without the Fund’s ability to find a suitable alternative, some colleagues have suggested that the Fund open an account at the Bank al-Rijal branch at the university, which serves a large number of the university’s staff and where the university deposits employee salaries. The bank would then perform the same task that the university’s accounting department used to do, in order to avoid missing the opportunity to do good for many who love jihad and are concerned for the poor Muslims. We wish to clarify here that the Fund does not deposit any amounts with the bank through this account; rather, it is a channel for withdrawing those funds immediately for charitable works as much as possible. It is expected that the bank would benefit from opening the Fund’s account with them in two ways: first, by benefiting from the Fund’s good reputation among Muslims in the Eastern Region, and second, by the riba profits that may result from the Fund’s funds remaining with the bank due to unavoidable circumstances during vacations and the like. Also, opening such an account by the Fund is justified by the opening of accounts at riba banks by similar charitable organizations. We ask Your Eminence to clarify the Shari’ah ruling on the Fund opening an account at Bank al-Rijal for this purpose, and we wish to confirm once again that there are no other alternatives available to us for conducting this type of transaction.
A : If the matter is as described in the question, then it is permissible, and Allah knows best.
Q: It is consideredthe Islamic Charity Fundat King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals is one of the oldest and most active charitable organizations in the Eastern Region, and since its establishment in 1397 AH, the Fund has been engaged in various activities, including—by way of example, not limitation—collecting donations for the poor among the university’s staff and students, the mujahideen and orphans ofAfghanistan, and the Muslims of Africa. Due to the lack of fixed resources for the Fund, its management often finds itself unable to meet the numerous requests it receives from various parties, including some Muslims from outsidethe Kingdom,and the Fund had an arrangement
with the university's accounting department whereby specific amounts were deducted from the salaries of the contributing brothers among the university's staff, according to their request, and transferred to the benefit of the Islamic Charity Box. This arrangement was well-received by many people of good will at the university, and it also constituted an important source of revenue for the Box. However, the university's accounting department has excused itself from continuing to provide this service. Given that several years have passed without the Box being able to find a suitable alternative, some colleagues have proposed that the Box open an account at the Bank of Riyadh branch at the university, which serves a large number of the university's staff and where the university deposits employee salaries. The bank would then perform the same task that the university's accounting department used to do, out of a desire not to miss the opportunity to do good for many of those who love jihad and are concerned for the poor Muslims. We wish to clarify here that the Box does not deposit any amounts with the bank through this account; rather, it is a channel for withdrawing those funds day by day for charitable works as much as possible. It is expected that the bank will benefit from opening the Box's account with them in two ways: first, by benefiting from the Box's good reputation among Muslims in the Eastern Region, and second, by the riba (usury or interest) profits that may result from the Box's funds remaining with the bank due to unavoidable circumstances during vacations and the like. Also, opening such an account by the Box on the grounds of opening accounts at
with the university’s accounting department, whereby specific amounts were deducted from the salaries of the brother donors among the university’s staff, at their request, and transferred to the Islamic Charity Fund. This arrangement was well-received by many people of good will at the university and constituted an important source of revenue for the Fund. However, the university’s accounting department has excused itself from continuing to provide this service. Given that several years have passed without the Fund’s ability to find a suitable alternative, some colleagues have suggested that the Fund open an account at the Bank al-Rijal branch at the university, which serves a large number of the university’s staff and where the university deposits employee salaries. The bank would then perform the same task that the university’s accounting department used to do, in order to avoid missing the opportunity to do good for many who love jihad and are concerned for the poor Muslims. We wish to clarify here that the Fund does not deposit any amounts with the bank through this account; rather, it is a channel for withdrawing those funds immediately for charitable works as much as possible. It is expected that the bank would benefit from opening the Fund’s account with them in two ways: first, by benefiting from the Fund’s good reputation among Muslims in the Eastern Region, and second, by the riba profits that may result from the Fund’s funds remaining with the bank due to unavoidable circumstances during vacations and the like. Also, opening such an account by the Fund is justified by the opening of accounts at riba banks by similar charitable organizations. We ask Your Eminence to clarify the Shari’ah ruling on the Fund opening an account at Bank al-Rijal for this purpose, and we wish to confirm once again that there are no other alternatives available to us for conducting this type of transaction.
A : If the matter is as described in the question, then it is permissible, and Allah knows best.
Source
www.alifta.gov.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.