The Ruling on Taking Bank Interest and Giving It in Charity

The Shaykh : Yes. He is sleeping.

The presenter : If Allah wills, that is fine. Allah is sufficient for me.

The questioner : This questioner says: A person has a large sum in one of the banks, and the riba (usury or interest) on it has reached approximately ten thousand riyals. Should he take it and give it in charity, or spend it on general public good works, or should he leave it in the bank so they trade with it and profit from it, while he feels the sin pursuing him? We ask for clarification on this issue. May Allah grant you success in the truth.

The Shaykh : I say: There is no doubt that keeping this thing, which the questioner calls interest, in the bank increases his wealth and adds to it. But if this man does not want to increase the bank's wealth, why does he give the bank his money?
If he is sincere in wanting to stay away from banks and their riba (usury or interest), why does he put his money in the bank? In fact, if people boycotted banks and did not put their money in them, the banks would go bankrupt, because the banks' money and profits come from the people's money, which returns to them and they benefit from it. And this profit they give you is never the profit of your money, so you cannot say, "I left the profit of my money for them." The proof is that this profit increases continuously with the increase of minutes, not just days. There is no profit that works in this manner. Also, your money, which is yours, might be traded by the bank and lost, or it might be destroyed. Perhaps a fire would hit the bank and destroy a great amount of money, including a portion of your money, and yet they give you the interest.
So this interest is not the profit of your money, but it is clear riba (usury or interest) that the bank gives to the one who deposited his money, or to the one who kept his money with them. To put it more accurately, the bank gives it to the one who lent them his money, because when you give the bank money, you have lent it to them, as the bank puts it in a vault and benefits from it. It is not a deposit. Even if they call it a deposit, that is a lie. It is not a deposit. A deposit is when your money remains exactly as it is, preserved in its bag, and the depositor never disposes of it. That is a deposit. But something you give to someone, and he puts it in his vault and disposes of it, the jurists call this a loan. It is not a deposit. Meanings do not change by changing names, ever. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us that in the last of time, some people will drink khamr (intoxicants) and call it by a name other than its name. Does it cease to be khamr (intoxicants) because of the new name?
No, it is khamr (intoxicants). Similarly, what we call deposits in banks is never a deposit, but it is a loan that the bank benefits from. So we say to this questioner: First, why do you put your money in the bank?
And you feel that it is an increase for their wealth and an addition to it. If you say, "I am compelled to do so," we say: Fine, dire necessity does not permit you to take riba (usury or interest). Dire necessity does not permit you to take riba (usury or interest) at all. Between us and you is the Book of Allah: This means: Leave the riba (usury or interest) that you contracted before, even the riba (usury or interest) of the pre-Islamic age of ignorance that was contracted before Islam. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said regarding it:
And the Shari'ah does not change by the approval of minds. Some people say, "Why should I leave this large amount of money in the bank for them to profit from?" We say: It is not the profit of your money. We do not know if it profited or lost, and we do not know if it profited many times more than what they gave you, or less. We do not know. This is not profit, and it is not permissible to call it profit. This is clear riba (usury or interest). Therefore, as I said, it increases with the increase of hours, minutes, and days if it is delayed.
An addition is made to it every time it is delayed; it is calculated by the minute. How can it be called interest? Where is the interest? If your Lord says to you: Leave the remainder, how can you take it?
Does not Allah the Exalted know that if you took it and gave it in charity, or spent it on a general benefit, that this would happen? The answer is: Yes, He knows. Why did He not say to the servants, "Take it and give it in charity, or spend it on public benefits"? Allah the Exalted cannot forbid His servants what is in their good, and command them what is in their evil. He does not command except what is good or better. And if the good or better was not in leaving it, He would not have said: Then, in leaving it, there are great benefits contrary to what appears to some people on the surface of the issue and its outward appearance. One of the greatest benefits is that if people know, or if they feel, that what they call interest is large, reaching millions, not just ten thousand as the questioner said, this will compel them to find transactions as an alternative to this.
As for if they continue with this and continue saying, "I take it and spend it on public benefits," and perhaps they are stingy with it, or perhaps they restrain themselves and take it with this intention, but with its abundance, if they turn it over, and it becomes one million, two million, ten million, they will not spend it on anything before they die, or perhaps stinginess will prevail and it will remain.
Then, even if we assume the man took it and spent it immediately on something useful, others do not know if he took it and spent it or not, so they will imitate him, and this will result in great evil. So the important thing is that leaving it in obedience to the command of Allah the Exalted, and anticipating the great benefits that will result from leaving it, is undoubtedly the required course.
And what some people consider good, which is to take it and spend it on public benefits, is juristic preference in opposition to the text.
And by Allah, I know, no one has an excuse if he stands before Allah on the Day of Resurrection, and He has said: I do not know of an excuse for him to say, "O Lord, I took it because I saw that there was a benefit in it." All benefit is in the obedience of Allah and His Messenger, not in anything else. Obedience to Allah and His Messenger is above everything. And be assured that if you leave this in obedience to Allah and His Messenger, the outcome will be good for you, and you will find the pleasure of the taste of this leaving until you die, especially if the money left is much. In any case, we say: Do not take it, and do not spend it on benefits, because if you spend it on benefits or give it in charity to draw near to Allah, it will not be accepted from you, and you will be burdened with sin. You will have earned sin, and it will not be accepted from you. And if you spend it on benefits or give it in charity to get rid of it, you become like one who is contaminated with impurity and then tries to wash it. What is the benefit?
If you know that this is not lawful for you, what is the benefit of you taking it and spending it? He says, "The benefit is that it will forbid them from it, because they might take it and put it in churches, or put it in weapons to fight us with." We say: If this possibility is present in your mind, then the original depositing of the money is forbidden, because they will use it to aid in that.