What is the ruling on one who works in banks on the pretext that some scholars have issued a fatwa permitting it?

The Shaykh : The question just now was that some scholars say that it is permissible to be employed in riba-based banks. Do you think these scholars to whom he refers...The questioner : First, did they say, "Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said"? Leave us the third condition that is necessary. Did they say, "Allah said, the Messenger of Allah said"? The answer is no. Because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), who was tasked with explaining the Qur'an, said the opposite of what these people say, who are mentioned in the question as being scholars. What did Allah say? He, the Exalted, said: So I do not say that one who doubts is from the scholars, nor do I say that one who doubts is from the students of knowledge. Rather, is there any Muslim of sound mind who doubts that the one who works as an employee in a bank is assisting the bank in consuming the wealth of people unjustly and in consuming what Allah has forbidden? I do not think anyone doubts this fact. Otherwise, he would not be able to understand the meaning of cooperation in sin. This is not merely committing sin directly; it is a scientific fact known not only to scholars but to beginner students of knowledge. Now, here is the explanation from the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) regarding such a verse: There is no doubt among any Muslim whatsoever that consuming riba is one of the major sins, and that drinking khamr or becoming addicted to it is among the forbidden things, if not also among the major sins. So the one who consumes riba has fallen into a major sin, and the one who drinks khamr is the same. Do you see? If there were no cooperation in evil, could you find a riba-taker who consumes people's wealth through riba? No. Would you find a drinker of khamr if there were no cooperators in evil? The answer is no. And the evidence from the Sunnah, which explains the Qur'an, is: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: So the first thing he (peace be upon him) mentioned was the drinker of it, the drinker of it, and then he added the rest of the ten: the one who serves it, the one who fetches it, the one who presses it, the one who squeezes it, the one who sells it, the one who buys it, the one who carries it, and the one to whom it is carried. None of these people drank the khamr, but they are the cause of the existence of the drinker of khamr. If, for example, there were no seller of grapes to the one who presses them into khamr, there would be no khamr in the world. So it is religiously prescribed to curse the one who does not drink khamr as long as he assists the drinker of khamr, meaning he prepares the means for him to be able to drink khamr. This hadith is agreed upon by the scholars of Muslims regarding its authenticity, and it has come from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) through many authentic paths. The second hadith, which is at the heart of the subject, is: So can one imagine a scholar saying, "There is no harm in a Muslim being an employee in a riba-based bank while he writes down riba," and the Messenger of Allah says: This is not a scholar. He may be a scholar in the sense of I cannot imagine a man who truly believes in Allah and truly knows the Book and the Sunnah, and yet he says and issues that unjust fatwa that it is permissible for a Muslim to be an employee in a bank. Now we have posed the following question repeatedly, and the answer was unanimous. I do not say now about these employees, but I say about these rich people who are not employees in the bank but have deposited their money in the bank. If they all agreed to withdraw their capital from the largest of the riba-based banks, what would happen to the bank? Unanimously, you would say bankruptcy. So who created the bank? Those who feed on riba. They may say, "We deposit and place our money in the bank to preserve it, and we do not consume riba." They think that by doing so they are doing a good deed. No, no, no! The evidence is that if they withdrew this money, the banks would go bankrupt. So these people who deposit their money in banks are the cause of the existence of those who consume riba. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) spoke the truth when he said: So if it is religiously prescribed to curse the one who is outside the bank because he is the cause of the existence of this bank, now we move to the image that has a direct relation to the question. These people who deal with banks still deposit their money in banks. If we assume that these employees in the bank repented and turned to Allah, the Exalted and Majestic, what do I say when they heard a fatwa...The Shaykh : ...contrary to the fatwa of that scholar, but rather I say when they heard the hadiths of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). First, the hadith concerning them: Then the hadith: They heard these two hadiths, so they turned to Allah and repented and withdrew. What would happen to the bank? It would certainly cease to function. So cooperation in evil is a text in the Noble Qur'an and a great Islamic principle. It is not permissible for a Muslim to assist a Muslim in an evil, let alone to assist a disbeliever in an evil. And among the problems of the banks that are called today, unfortunately, by a name other than their true name, are the "Islamic banks." If there were Islamic banks, their capital is deposited in the disbelievers' banks in Europe, in Switzerland, in [place], and so on. So from whichever side you look at dealing with these banks, even if they bear the name "Islamic bank," you will find it forbidden; it is not permissible to deal with them, even if one only deposits his money to preserve it. And this is, in fact, a long and very long discussion, but it is sufficient for me now that I have mentioned...The questioner : directly, and to those present, that the one who issues a fatwa stating that it is permissible for a Muslim to be an employee in a bank, and that the bank deals in riba (usury or interest), is either ignorant of or disregarding the Qur'anic verse , and then some Prophetic hadiths that clarify that cooperating in evil is itself evil. I wanted to conclude the answer with this, but then a hadith came to mind. I would have preferred not to lengthen the speech by mentioning it, were it not that I know that most Muslims are also heedless. They are heedless of the connection between this hadith and the previous verse . This is from one aspect. Then, they contradict it in themselves or in their relatives in their family. I mean by this his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): . As for the women who pluck their eyebrows, let us say it in the Syrian expression: the women who have their eyebrows plucked. That is, a woman plucks, for example, her eyebrows, but she cannot pluck her own eyebrows. It is the plucker, it is the plucker, who plucks her eyebrows. What is she doing? If it were not for her, she would not be the one with plucked eyebrows. So look, how this example completes, or is part of the many examples that explain . . That is, the beauticians. Let us say this word: the women who pluck their eyebrows and the women who have their eyebrows plucked, meaning the customer, and the tattooers and the women who get tattooed. Tattooing is well known, especially in some rural areas. You find not only women, but also men. You find this creature, who is in the form of a human, drawing on his veins and on his skin, which Allah has created in the best form, making him a sound human being, a picture of a lion holding a sword. With what? With a tattoo. Well, this is from what the tattooer has drawn, so he is the one who gets tattooed, meaning the one who seeks a tattoo from another. If there were no tattooer, there would be no one getting tattooed. So look how the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) wants to make the Islamic society a society that cooperates in what is right and abstains from what is wrong. . We have not seen them, and we hope we will not see them, but we are seeing what is worse than them. It appears that in the past, Satan made it attractive to some women to change the good, beautiful creation of Allah. As you know, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created in the mouth of every person teeth like well-arranged pearls. But they are not pleased with the creation of Allah, so they go to the tooth-filer. The tooth-filer means a beautician or barber who takes a fine file and widens the space between the teeth. It pleases her that one of her teeth appears far from the adjacent teeth on either side. She is pleased that her canine tooth appears like the canine tooth of a dog, for example. This is better for her than having her teeth as Allah (Mighty and Majestic) created them. This is the tooth-filing, and those are the tooth-filers and the women who have their teeth filed. Why did he condemn these two groups, the one in the state of committing the evil and the one who commits the evil upon the other? Because they cooperated in the evil, specifically in these characteristics mentioned here. He said (peace and blessings be upon him) at the end of the hadith: . The truth is, my brothers, if the Islamic society were to walk with this verse alone, , we would be as our first fathers were, living in honor and glory, with enemies fearing them for a month's journey. But, unfortunately, they have now become cooperators in evil. What do we say today? The barber, how does he live by shaving the beards of men? This is cooperation in evil, and they do not realize at all that they are committing a sin. The one who sells tight clothing for women, what do they call it?

The questioner: The trousers, the trousers.

The Shaykh: No, the ones you were wearing in your job.
Abu Layla: The novelties.

The Shaykh: The novelties. These people, most of their wealth is forbidden because they assist in evil. And therefore, Allah guided this brother of ours, and he repented from selling the novelties. This is all an explanation of . And from cooperating in sin and aggression is being an employee, not only in the bank, but even if it is a barber, or a seller of novelties, or so on and so forth. And therefore, beware, for what is with Allah is not attained by the forbidden. What else is there?