Taking Personal Loan from Islamic Banks in Qatar

15-3-2020 | IslamWeb

Question:

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu...
Is it permissible to take a personal loan from Islamic banks like Qatar Islamic Bank. Are these banks fully compliant with Shariah? Can we rely on them for our financial needs?
Thanks wa Jazakumullahu khaira

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Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

Generally speaking, there is nothing wrong in dealing with Islamic banks in Qatar or elsewhere, especially the banks that have a trustworthy Sharee‘ah supervisory board which governs (and decides) the bank’s financial transactions. What some people claim, that both the Islamic and interest-based banks are the same, is a misleading and a false generalization intended to drive people away from the Islamic alternative. Definitely, they can never be the same, although at times some of the Islamic banks’ transactions might be doubtful due to reliance on odd or weak scholarly opinions.

In any case, dealing with these Islamic banks, in general, is permissible. However, we cannot judge all of their transactions as lawful and free of prohibitions and Sharee‘ah violations on an absolute basis.

Whoever wishes to enter into a specific transaction with a bank may ask about it, in particular, after having learned about its nature and conditions.

Allah Knows best.