If one has invested in an interest scheme, can the money earned as interest be given away as charity?
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa
Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
If one
has invested in an interest scheme, can the money earned as interest be given
away as charity? I do not mean giving it away as ZAKAT. Just give it away as
charity to anyone who needs it, with no expectation of sawaab or thanks.
Someone told me that what is haraam for u is haraam for the person u give it to
and u can only give this to a non-muslim. Is this true? Doesn`t it matter that
u r giving it to someone needy?
Thanx
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Give interest in
charity
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask
for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever
He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that
there is no one (no idol, no person, no
grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai,
nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that
Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.
Allah
and His Messenger (saws) have indeed declared the receiving and paying of
‘riba’ as absolutely Haraam and prohibited for the believers in very strong
terms, and it is the prescribed duty of
every believer, who sincerely believes in Allah and the Last Day, to abstain from dealing in ‘riba’.
Allah says further in
the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 278:
O Believers!, fear Allah and give up that ‘riba’ which is
still due to you, if you are true
believers. But if you do not do
so, then you are warned of the declaration of war against you
by Allah and His Messenger!
Allah says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 4 Surah Nisa verse 161:
That they took
‘riba’, although they were
forbidden. And that they devoured men’s
substance wrongfully. We have prepared
for those among them who reject faith a grievous punishment (of Hell Fire)!
My beloved brother in Islam, first and foremost one who
believes in Allah and the Last Day, must immediately abstain and stop taking
any interest.
It is not as if it is deemed permissible in Islam for one
to continue taking interest as long as he spends it on charity; for Allah does
not accept anything in His Cause unless and until it is pure and lawful.
Sahih Muslim Hadith 2214 Narrated by Abu Hurayrah
Allah's Messenger (saws) said: ‘O people,
Allah is Good and He, therefore, accepts only that which is good!’
Now the question arises what should one do with the
interest money one has already accumulated in the past in ignorance of the Laws
of Allah?
For the unlawful ‘interest’
money that one has accumulated in one’s past in ignorance of Allah’s Laws, the
person has two choices:
- One may leave it in the bank.
- Or, one may take it and dispose it.
Some scholars are of the opinion
that it does not help the cause of the believers to leave the interest in
conventional banks for at best it helps them to generate more interest, and at
worst, they may dispose it to an institution which might work against the
Cause. In cases where one has already
accumulated interest money in ignorance of Islamic Law, and Allah Subhanah has
guided them, and they now wish to dispose off that illegal money, the scholars
are of the opinion that one may take this interest with the intention that he
wants to rid himself of this evil thing, and give it away to some charity without
seeking any reward from Allah Subhanah for this spending. His only intention should to be get rid of
this unwanted and illegal money, and thus purify himself from the evil of
‘riba’. The believer who does this only because
he fears the accounting of Allah on an Inevitable Day, will, if Allah Wills, be
rewarded for keeping himself pure from the evils of ‘riba’.
The spending of illegally and unlawfully earned wealth
does not have any worth in the Sight of Allah; for Allah is Good and Pure, and
He accepts only what is good and pure.
The issue with the illegally and unlawfully accumulated
money is not how best to spend it, but how soon can one rid himself of this
illegal and unlawful wealth. His only
intention in giving this money away should be to purify oneself and get rid of
the evil that is with him. This illegal
and unlawful money earned from interest can be compared to a burning coal in
one’s hand! When one unintentionally and
accidentally holds a burning coal, his only intention is to get rid of the
burning coal from his hand; not where best to place it so that it can be of
some benefit to others!
Your Question: Someone
told me that what is haraam for u is haraam for the person u give it to and u
can only give this to a non-muslim. Is this true? Doesn`t it matter that u r
giving it to someone needy?
The above statement
that what is unlawful is also unlawful for the person it is given to, is
absolutely incorrect and inaccurate. For
example, if a father takes a bribe or steals some money and spends of that unlawfully
earned money on his wife or children….it is the father alone who will be
accountable in the Court of Allah Subhanah for earning his wealth in an unlawful
manner; his wife and his children who used that money will be absolutely
blameless, for it is the father’s duty to earn lawfully and spend on his
family.
First and foremost, the believers who sincerely fear Allah
and the Last Day must absolutely abstain from indulging or earning their
sustenance in an unlawful manner. But if
the situation arises whereby one in the past has accumulated some unlawful
wealth in ignorance of the Laws of Allah, and subsequently Allah Subhanah has
guided him aright….his only intention must be to dispose off that filth as soon
as possible. If one does so only because
of the fear of Allah Subhanah, it is expected that their Lord will reward them
for their obedience and their piety.
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to
Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only
Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister