If a person wants to take a loan from an Islamic bank to build a house, the bank purchases the materials on the condition that the person pays them back with an increased amount

The Shaykh : Please.

The questioner : What is the ruling on dealing with the Islamic bank in the way that you know?

The Shaykh : It is not permissible to ask such a general question and answer it, especially since you said, "like what you know." Do I know the inner workings of the Islamic bank in detail? No! So the correct approach is to specify the question: what is the transaction you are asking about, whether it is related to the bank called the Islamic bank, or the one called the British bank? The names are not important; what matters are the designations. So, what is the transaction you are asking about?

The questioner : I mean, if a person wants to take a loan from the Islamic bank to build a house, and the bank purchases the materials on the condition that the person pays them back with an increased amount, which they call profit. That is what I mean.

The Shaykh : Yes! Now that you have clarified your question, my answer will become clear to you. The answer is that this transaction is not unique to a bank called the Islamic bank; even banks that do not call themselves by this name, or that may even disavow it, may deal in this same transaction. So, whether it comes from the Islamic bank or another, it is a transaction involving riba (usury or interest), which is not permissible. Because, first: they call it by a name other than its true name: a good loan. This is not a good loan. A good loan is when someone buys goods for you for ten thousand dinars, for example, and takes them from you for ten thousand dinars. Here is a reality that I must remind you of, but it is a legal reality, and it is a wonderful and beautiful reality, although most people do not know it. The one who lends a Muslim ten thousand dinars as a true good loan, and receives this good loan back after the term has arrived, is in reality—and here is the point, so I hope you pay attention—receiving ten thousand plus five thousand; but these five thousand are guaranteed, guaranteed by the Lord of the Worlds, not in the bank. The clarification of this statement is that it came in the authentic hadiths: . So, if you lend a Muslim two hundred dinars, it is as if you have taken out of your pocket a charity of one hundred dinars for the sake of Allah. So, the one who lent you ten thousand for Allah, and you delivered it to him, five thousand is recorded for him with Allah as a true good loan; meaning the reward of this good loan. People are now completely heedless of this, and this is the true profit. Perhaps you know the story of that Companion who—I think—endowed his garden. He said to the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): .

The questioner : Bayruhaa.

The Shaykh : Bayruhaa; meaning: the garden. Why did he say to him: ? Because he endowed it for Allah without a single coin; this is the true profit. The Muslim merchant today, it is true, earns vast sums of money from the material side; but first: he loses by committing forbidden acts, and second: he loses by missing out on the rewards that would have been multiplied for him if he had lent to Muslims as a good loan. If a buyer comes wanting to buy a car—for example, ten thousand in cash; but on installments, ten thousand plus five hundred thousand, according to what they agree upon; if he sold it for ten thousand on installments; what did this man earn with Allah? Five thousand. In addition, he earned the lawful profit, he earned the cash, he did not lose, he earned; but he earned a very great profit, which is the true profit to which the hadith of Bayruhaa pointed; where he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to the one who gave it in charity: . So, it is not permissible to deal with the Islamic bank in this form.

The questioner : About the same topic.

The Shaykh : The same topic?

The questioner : Yes.

The Shaykh : Please.

The questioner : If the bank—meaning—received—meaning—the same situation mentioned—if it purchased these materials and they became its property, and then it started selling them for a profit, does this take it out of being forbidden? Meaning, it owned them, and they became its.

The Shaykh : In military terminology in some Arab countries: "Stay in your place!" And another phrase: "Dubdhi, dubdhi" or "A round and a turn"; because the clarifying question will come to you now. If this bank bought this merchandise, let us say—for example—for eight thousand, if a person came to it and said to it: sell me this merchandise in cash, will it sell it for less than ten thousand or not? It will sell it.

The questioner : For more, of course, if it owns it, it wants to sell it for more.

The Shaykh : You did not answer me! It bought it for eight thousand, and it wants to sell it for ten thousand in the way you mentioned.

The questioner : After it owned it.

The Shaykh : It owned it. Yes, this is the way you mentioned about it. It wants to sell it on credit, on installments.

The questioner : No, I do not mean installments, he pays normally, meaning.

The Shaykh : No, this is wrong, this question is not valid! Merchants work in this way, the bank does not have this transaction to itself.

The questioner : I meant this, meaning, if it had this transaction that I mentioned to you to itself.

The Shaykh : My brother! May Allah be pleased with you, this question is not necessary; meaning: any merchant who buys merchandise and sells it in cash at a certain price, he may sell it for whatever he wants; but the problem is that if a person comes who has no money and wants to buy it on installments, does he take an increase from him or not?

The questioner : He takes it!

The Shaykh : Okay, so the question you are asking about is not

The questioner : Other...

The Shaykh : not relevant, yes. Yes.

The Shaykh : Please, Professor!

The questioner : On the same topic.

The Shaykh : No, this is enough, so that we can see what the brothers have in questions.

The questioner : The issue of the savings of the agency employees, savings are set aside for them; meaning, against their will, and they take interest on it from foreign banks, so what is the ruling on this interest, taking it?

The Shaykh : Yes! Now! I hope you remember what I said—just now: do not use the word: "interest" use the word: riba (usury or interest), because your use of the word: "interest" overwhelms the prohibition that is supposed to be settled in the hearts of Muslims; this is called: "Bardaga!" It is called: "Dahan"; and therefore be: awake, and do not be asleep, use the legal terms, and leave the disbelieving terms. The word: interest is a translation of a foreign word, they do not have anything called: haram (forbidden)! And therefore Allah—Mighty and Majestic—said in the Noble Qur'an: . The point: His saying—Mighty and Majestic—about the People of the Book, let alone those who have no book; like the communists, the materialists and the like of them, the People of the Book, the Lord of the Worlds says about them: ; and therefore they do not have anything called: riba; but: interest! So the Muslims were influenced by the usage of the Westerners by their terms and meanings, and their transactions overwhelmed them; so they deviated from their religion, and what befell the Muslims—today—unfortunately—of humiliation embodied in Palestine by the Jews. So, do not use the term: interest in place of riba. And the answer: This money that they deducted from the employees against their will, and then they return this deducted money with the riba; so you have your capital, and this riba is not permissible for you or any other individual from the Muslims to benefit from it; rather it is spent in what the scholars and jurists call public utilities; meaning in something that the masses of people benefit from, no difference between rich and poor, between righteous and wicked, between Muslim and disbeliever, and the examples of that are very many. If it is a small amount of money—for example—it is drawing water in a place that needs water, or paving a rough road for some people, especially the elderly, and so on. This is the way of haram money, if the Muslim wants to get rid of it, it is not permissible for him to benefit from it, not even by one coin; rather he spends it in public utilities. Please.

The questioner : We know from the evidence that the imams are from Quraysh.

The Shaykh : Yes! Yes.

The questioner : Does this mean that it is obligatory for the imam to be a Qurayshi, or is it permissible for the imam to be a non-Arab in the case where a Qurayshi is not available, provided that he possesses the conditions of imamate?

The Shaykh : Yes, your initial question was a bit of a trap; then it became correct on the path after you qualified it. The answer: As stated in the question in full; but with some clarification or emphasis or repetition regarding this condition that was consistently reported from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his family), which is his saying: . It is obligatory for the Muslims that this condition remains constantly before their eyes, and it is not permissible for them to leave it behind their backs, as is the case with some schools of thought, and especially some Islamic sects that contradicted the Prophetic Sunnah in dozens of matters; such as the Khawarij, for example, and the Ibadis; where they deny that this condition must be fulfilled in the caliph who should be chosen to manage Islamic governance.
Also, there are some of the Islamic parties today who belong to the Sunnah—praise be to Allah—who have become entangled and denied—due to their ignorance of the Sunnah—that this is a fixed condition. If we know this, and are certain of the necessity of having this condition constantly before our eyes; then we say: Just as the rulings of the Shari'ah indicated in many other rulings; for example: the obligatory prayer is from standing; it is a pillar of the prayer, so if one prays the obligatory prayer sitting while able to stand, his prayer is invalid. But if he is unable, and if he cannot, it is not said to him: "Be able!" because he will say: "I am not able!" And our Lord says: . So we tell him: Do what you are able to; as he (peace and blessings be upon him) said in the authentic hadith: ; meaning: all of it. Regarding the commands, there is a limitation: . Regarding the prohibitions, there is no limitation. What is the secret? You must know the secret or the wisdom. So that you do not say: Is there a secret in Islam or secrets? The answer: No. But in many cases, the word "secret" is used to express wisdom. What is the wisdom in the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) saying regarding the commands: , and regarding the prohibitions he was general and said: ? The wisdom in that: The commands require action, and action relates to a person's ability and capacity, and his ability and capacity are limited; therefore he said: . As for the prohibitions, they are far from you, so if you want—may Allah forbid it—to commit any of them, you should do it; so Allah has spared you and told you: Do not do it, do not do it; so do not do any of the prohibitions at all; as for the commands, do what you are able to. If we know this rule first, and its example second; which is . We return to the conditions of the righteous Muslim caliph; they are very numerous and known in the books of jurisprudence: The first is: that he be a Muslim; so it is not permissible for him to be a non-Muslim. Second: that he be of age; so it is not permissible for him to have inherited the authority from his father by inheritance, while he is still— you say: "in the cradle" or what do you say?—in the bed, meaning.

The questioner : Ah

The Shaykh: Huh?

The questioner : In the cradle.

The Shaykh : How?

The questioner : In the cradle.

The Shaykh : In the cradle. No, rather it is required that he be of age. Likewise, count as many conditions as you wish. It comes last: the knowledgeable, brave, willing person; if he resolves, he relies on Allah and does not care. The example is in the first caliph: Abu Bakr al-Siddiq; when he resolved to fight the people of apostasy. Among these conditions is: being a Qurayshi. So if you find these conditions that we mentioned earlier, plus being a Qurayshi; it is not permissible for us to choose another person who has all the conditions except being a Qurayshi. No, this Qurayshi is more deserving than that one. However, we may find two men—for example—each of whom has the conditions of the caliphate except for one condition; one of them lacks being a Qurayshi, and the other lacks knowledge; and when we mention knowledge, we mean knowledge of the Book and the Sunnah, and we do not mean the traditional knowledge that they call today: "fiqh", and this person studies fiqh according to the Hanafi, or Shafi'i, Maliki, or Hanbali school. No, the scholar is not just the first ruler, i.e., the caliph, i.e., any Muslim scholar who wants to issue fatwas for the people, it is not permissible for him to issue fatwas except with what Allah said, and what the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, and if he is not so, if he is asked, he will be a reciter. What does "reciter" mean? It means: a recording device! The reciter in the old days, there was a box called: "photograph", or "phonograph". Do you know this? It has a plate like this.

The questioner : The magic box.

The Shaykh : Yes.

The questioner : The magic box.

The Shaykh : The box—laughs—what did you catch? Like: the recorder, meaning, like the computer, whatever it catches, it catches and returns it to you. Right or wrong, beautiful or ugly; it doesn't matter. Also, this one who is not knowledgeable of the Book and the Sunnah, it is not permissible for him to issue fatwas for the people if he is asked: Is this permissible or not permissible? Forbidden or lawful? Was the prayer valid or invalid? Was the marriage valid or invalid? No, it is not permissible for him to say anything; except to say:The Shaykh : So-and-so, the so-and-so school says such and such. So he is a storyteller who only recites and nothing else. And therefore, if the position of the first ruler is to manage the affairs of the entire state, a person comes and asks and he issues a fatwa for him, he might issue a fatwa that ruins his house; but this one will ruin the entire state if he is ignorant of the Book and the Sunnah. So if we assume—then—that two men have the conditions of the caliphate in each of them, lacking one. One lacks being a Qurayshi, and the other lacks jurisprudence in the Book and the Sunnah. We prefer this one over that one; because this one is more beneficial for managing the affairs of the state than that Qurayshi who is ignorant of the Book and the Sunnah. And especially, I say this for the sake of knowledge and clarification, and not to adopt it: That some of the misguided sects, and the parties influenced by some of their views, justify the saying of the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) in the previous hadith: that the tribe of Quraysh had a special status among the Arabs, in all the Arab tribes, meaning as we say: that this is a caliph over this ummah; so Quraysh is the caliph over the Arab tribes, so they had power and authority, so they do not submit to any ruler who wants to rule them unless he is a Qurayshi. This justification is said by some people; such as Ibn Khaldun—for example—in the history, in the introduction of his history, and others; but this justification is rejected, why? Because there is first: his saying (peace and blessings be upon him) as in Sahih al-Bukhari: , ; and therefore the previous justification, although it has plausibility in logic; but it contradicts the logic of the Shari'ah.