Ruling on accepting gifts from banks due to depositing money with them
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Your Eminence! Some banks give gifts to those who deposit their accounts with them for safekeeping only, not for riba or anything else. Is it permissible for him to use them or not?
You know, may Allah bless you, that depositing money with banks is not a safekeeping deposit (wadi'ah) but rather a loan. People calling it a safekeeping deposit is a mistake; because if you give the bank money, does it keep it in its original form and preserve it with them until you come to collect it, or does it put it in a vault and use it? It puts it in a vault and uses it. So, it is a loan. And if it is a loan, it is not permissible for the lender to take anything from the borrower, whether a gift or otherwise, except if he has received back what he lent. In that case, there is no harm if he gives him a gift after he has collected his money. He has done nothing wrong if he gives it. Likewise, if banks give a general gift to those who deposited money with them, a gift they give to everyone, such as: some banks give calendars, there is no harm in accepting them; because these calendars are given to those who lent them money and to those who did not.
You know, may Allah bless you, that depositing money with banks is not a safekeeping deposit (wadi'ah) but rather a loan. People calling it a safekeeping deposit is a mistake; because if you give the bank money, does it keep it in its original form and preserve it with them until you come to collect it, or does it put it in a vault and use it? It puts it in a vault and uses it. So, it is a loan. And if it is a loan, it is not permissible for the lender to take anything from the borrower, whether a gift or otherwise, except if he has received back what he lent. In that case, there is no harm if he gives him a gift after he has collected his money. He has done nothing wrong if he gives it. Likewise, if banks give a general gift to those who deposited money with them, a gift they give to everyone, such as: some banks give calendars, there is no harm in accepting them; because these calendars are given to those who lent them money and to those who did not.