Money notes from usurious banks not unlawful

19-7-2016 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalaamu alaykum. I live in Bangladesh. There are many Islamic Banks nowadays. Let us assume that all of them are Islamic. Nevertheless, they have to deal with the money notes of the Central Bank of Bangladesh which is a 100% interest-based bank. Some of my friends say that Islamic Banks cannot be halal because the money notes that they use come from the Central Bank, which is an interest-based bank. They also say that inflation of money is an interest-based phenomenon and because of that money itself is impermissible. What is your response to that?

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger. 

The prohibition of usurious interest is not related to the money notes themselves (rather, it is related to the person or entity who deals in interest); therefore, the fact that the Islamic banks receive the money notes from the Central Bank or any other interest-based bank does not make it unlawful to deal with them.

We have previously underlined the permissibility of dealing with Islamic banks in fataawa 87647 and 85114.

Allaah knows best.