Is zakah given to one who borrowed from an interest-based bank and then went bankrupt?
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
The questioner : May Allah forgive you. The one who was bound by an interest-based debt, dealt with an interest-based bank, and then went bankrupt.
The Shaykh : Who went bankrupt?
The questioner : The borrower.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Is he given from the zakah?
The Shaykh : Yes, he is given from the zakah, because he is a debtor who falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted: As for the principal amount, there is no dispute about it. As for the interest-based increase, if we are in a country where, if the matter were raised to the authorities, they would cancel this increase, we say: do not assist him with it, because this debtor is able to get rid of it. But if we are in a country that rules with this interest-based increase, it means that this debtor must pay it, so he is given [from the zakah] to pay it.
And it is not said: this is assistance in sin and transgression, because the sin is originally upon whom? Upon the taker of the interest, not the giver of the interest? The original sin is upon the taker; he is the wrongdoer, while this one is the wronged party. So now we want to free him from this injustice.
But my opinion on the matter is: if two parties contract on an interest-based issue, whether in banks or elsewhere, with the consent of both, then we do not give the taker of the interest the interest-based increase, and we do not exempt the giver of the interest from taking it. We take it and place it in the public treasury, because each of these two has disobeyed Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), so we do not enable him to continue in his disobedience.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : So he is given if he is unable to get rid of this interest; he is given to break his bondage. Yes.
The Shaykh : Who went bankrupt?
The questioner : The borrower.
The Shaykh : Yes.
The questioner : Is he given from the zakah?
The Shaykh : Yes, he is given from the zakah, because he is a debtor who falls under the saying of Allah the Exalted:
and those in debt
وَالْغَارِمِينَAnd it is not said: this is assistance in sin and transgression, because the sin is originally upon whom? Upon the taker of the interest, not the giver of the interest? The original sin is upon the taker; he is the wrongdoer, while this one is the wronged party. So now we want to free him from this injustice.
But my opinion on the matter is: if two parties contract on an interest-based issue, whether in banks or elsewhere, with the consent of both, then we do not give the taker of the interest the interest-based increase, and we do not exempt the giver of the interest from taking it. We take it and place it in the public treasury, because each of these two has disobeyed Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), so we do not enable him to continue in his disobedience.
The questioner : ...
The Shaykh : So he is given if he is unable to get rid of this interest; he is given to break his bondage. Yes.