Is it permissible to take riba (usury or interest) and spend it on the benefit of building a bridge or water channels, or the like?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
Question:
He asks: Is it permissible to take riba (usury or interest) and spend it on the benefit of building a bridge or water channels, or the like?
Answer:
Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:[Al-Baqarah 2:278] "Leave it." That means leave it. How can Allah tell you to leave it, and you take it? This is not permissible. But if you had taken it and then repented to Allah, and you have money that accumulated from riba, and you repented to Allah with a sincere repentance, what do you do with this money?
They said: You put it in projects that are beneficial to the people. This is if you have it and you repented to Allah. But if you take it from people and say, "I want to give it in charity, I want to put it [in a project]," this is not permissible. Yes, Allah has cursed the one who eats riba, the one who gives it, the two witnesses, and the one who writes it. Yes.
He asks: Is it permissible to take riba (usury or interest) and spend it on the benefit of building a bridge or water channels, or the like?
Answer:
Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) says:
O you who have believed, fear Allah and give up what remains [due to you] of interest
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَاThey said: You put it in projects that are beneficial to the people. This is if you have it and you repented to Allah. But if you take it from people and say, "I want to give it in charity, I want to put it [in a project]," this is not permissible. Yes, Allah has cursed the one who eats riba, the one who gives it, the two witnesses, and the one who writes it. Yes.
Source
قناة «العلامة الدكتور صالح الفوزان»، هل يجوز أخذ الفوائد الربوية وأن تُصرف في مصلحة بناء جسر أو قنوات مياه وغير ذلك؟ #فتاوى الفوزان — youtube.com
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.