If a man is from outside Algeria and wants to buy Algerian currency with another currency, is it permissible for this to be done through a bank?

The questioner : Another question, Shaykh.

The Shaykh: Yes.

The questioner : It is known that the scholars who held the permissibility of fixing or exchanging currency, such as selling Algerian currency for Jordanian currency, for example, stipulated in the agreement that the meeting place must be the same. Sometimes, Shaykh, there are people who cannot, for example, take the currency here in Algeria. So he agrees with the one who will buy this currency from him that he will take it from him, especially if the amount is large, from outside... for example, in France. Of course, they cannot transport the currency from Algeria to outside Algeria because they would be subject to legal pursuit and harassment. So they resort to the following method: The one who wants to buy from us here in Algeria sends a bank check, meaning for the amount of the... exchange. So when he cashes it for the other seller, he gives him the... meaning the goods or the amount... and the Algerian buyer gives him the check, the bank check. Do we say here... that the meeting place is the same?

The Shaykh : What is the issue, may Allah reward you? As long as it is related to dealing with a bank, it is an abominable matter that is not permissible, whether one looks at it as the meeting place being the same or not. The problem is not solved by this method because it is related to dealing with the forbidden bank.