What is the ruling on trading in currency exchange? And what is the ruling on the Islamic bank?
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The questioner : The trading of currencies is permissible?
The Shaykh : What do you mean by trading in currencies?
The questioner : I mean currency exchange, exchanging money.
The Shaykh : Currency exchange is not permissible except within the limits of dire necessity.
The questioner : Abdullah is sending you his greetings, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Welcome, Abdullah. How are you? Praise be to Allah.
The questioner : I am well. Tell him how our Shaykh is doing. If Allah wills, he is well. Oh, Allah.
The questioner : Well, our Shaykh, I know Dr. Isa 'Abd al-'Abd, who established the first Islamic bank in Dubai.
The Shaykh : The one who passed away, and he was Egyptian.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah have mercy on him. We were speaking once, and I had heard him say that he established this bank and spent thirteen months working on the concept of the Islamic bank. He established it in Dubai, and the bank succeeded. However, he did not make connections with others, with other banks, whether international or otherwise. In fact, these banks succeeded and dealt with them on an Islamic basis, not on a non-Islamic basis. According to what I heard from him personally, the people there found that they had taken the whole picture, so they became independent of him. He came to Saudi Arabia later, of course, and told this story. Then, he had many opinions regarding the donations that were made to the bank and how the bank should operate. After he left them, many things changed. But he says, "I established the correct, proper method for the Islamic bank, and they, of course, changed it after me." He said, "I spent thirteen months, so what is your opinion of this situation?"
The Shaykh : I, by Allah, have no information about the type of Islamic bank that Isa established. And then, what concerns us is this painful reality today. As for what he presented and what the others changed, that is not the important thing. The important thing is that the reality today is that usurious transactions are proceeding under the guise of being an Islamic bank.
The Shaykh : What do you mean by trading in currencies?
The questioner : I mean currency exchange, exchanging money.
The Shaykh : Currency exchange is not permissible except within the limits of dire necessity.
The questioner : Abdullah is sending you his greetings, O Shaykh.
The Shaykh : Welcome, Abdullah. How are you? Praise be to Allah.
The questioner : I am well. Tell him how our Shaykh is doing. If Allah wills, he is well. Oh, Allah.
The questioner : Well, our Shaykh, I know Dr. Isa 'Abd al-'Abd, who established the first Islamic bank in Dubai.
The Shaykh : The one who passed away, and he was Egyptian.
The questioner : Yes, may Allah have mercy on him. We were speaking once, and I had heard him say that he established this bank and spent thirteen months working on the concept of the Islamic bank. He established it in Dubai, and the bank succeeded. However, he did not make connections with others, with other banks, whether international or otherwise. In fact, these banks succeeded and dealt with them on an Islamic basis, not on a non-Islamic basis. According to what I heard from him personally, the people there found that they had taken the whole picture, so they became independent of him. He came to Saudi Arabia later, of course, and told this story. Then, he had many opinions regarding the donations that were made to the bank and how the bank should operate. After he left them, many things changed. But he says, "I established the correct, proper method for the Islamic bank, and they, of course, changed it after me." He said, "I spent thirteen months, so what is your opinion of this situation?"
The Shaykh : I, by Allah, have no information about the type of Islamic bank that Isa established. And then, what concerns us is this painful reality today. As for what he presented and what the others changed, that is not the important thing. The important thing is that the reality today is that usurious transactions are proceeding under the guise of being an Islamic bank.
Source
www.al-albany.com
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.