What is the ruling on working in an electricity company, and what is the ruling on dealing in bank stocks?

The Shaykh : Please go ahead.

Another questioner : So what is the ruling on working in an electricity company? That is the first question. The second question is: what is the ruling on dealing in stocks and their profits? May Allah reward you with good.

The Shaykh : As for working in an electricity company, it depends on the nature of the work. If the nature of the work does not involve any violation of the Shari'ah, it is permissible; otherwise, it is not permissible. For example, one of our brothers applied for a job in this company. As is usual, the process dragged on and on. He was told to come back today, then tomorrow, then the day after. Eventually, the matter reached its conclusion. They told him, "You must take off this thobe, this dishdasha, and you must put on trousers." Our brother refused and said, "First, practically speaking, this has nothing to do with the work I am going to do. Second, why do you impose on us something that violates the Shari'ah, when you have daughters and married women in the most beautiful of adornments? Is this what the work requires? The work requires that I wear trousers, and these women who display their adornment—does their work require this display of adornment?" He declined, and Allah the Exalted provided him with something better than that. So this work—any employee who is willing to violate the Shari'ah, even by wearing trousers that cover the 'awrah (part of the body that must be covered)—this is not permissible. If the work in this company is free from any violation of the Shari'ah, it is permissible; otherwise, it is not. As for the issue of stocks, this is among the operations of riba (usury or interest) for which we cannot find a solution, except at the very beginning when the funds are gathered and converted into, for example, a steel factory or something similar. Then these stocks are issued, and they exist only in the ledgers and in people's minds. These things are sold and bought, and they have no physical substance. Then the funds that are gathered are placed in banks, and the banks operate with them and give them what is called "interest." This name alone is sufficient to show the violation of the Shari'ah, because calling riba "interest" is a change of the ruling of Allah the Exalted. Therefore, it is also not permissible to deal with companies in terms of these stocks, unless one finds—and I do not know of any such company—that keeps its funds in special safes or deposits its funds in safes in some banks called "trust safes," where the funds are placed there and the hand of riba does not reach them. Such that this safe has two keys: one key with the bank employee and one key with the company employee, the treasurer. If the company wants money, it comes, and the bank employee comes, they open the safe, and they take what they wish. But practically, among merchants, especially company owners, this does not work because it restricts their operations. The Shari'ah, without a doubt, restricts a person's actions, whereas the one who has no religion does whatever he wishes. As Allah the Exalted said regarding the People of the Book: to the end of the verse. These people do not prohibit or permit, and therefore they came up with these banks. Then the Muslims imitated them out of their ignorance of their religion, and they engaged in the same transactions that the disbelievers who have no religion engage in. And we seek help from Allah.
Please go ahead.