If we are paid interest by our banks, should we give it to the mosque?
This links with the theme around using haram money for good cause. I would like to think one should use the money in charity to cleanse their wealth
With this logic, I’m not sure why it wouldn’t be legitimate to use haram money to build a mosque (if one knows they’ll not receive reward for it)
Hmm I’m not sure if I agree. Haram money is inherently tainted and imo shouldn’t be used for good causes like a mosque
Ummah welfare trust has an option to donate interest that is only contributed to a specific set of use cases deemed lawful by scholars to use Haram money for in cases like this
I think making it general sets a dangerous precedent. Does it mean we can just start generating loads of interest and use it to build masaajid and solve a lot of poverty? It would facilitate interest and Haram increasing
Would you say giving to those who are financially poor is a good cause? In this case would you say haram money should not be used to give money to those who are financially needy?
I am not saying we advocate it. I am trying to understand how we distinguish where to use haram money
Yes and yes. As per the fatawa
I don’t think one should feel comfortable donating haram money to a mosque - we all know interest is haram
At the same time you’re advised to give haram money to charity to cleanse your wealth… so I guess we need to distinguish where can you donate this money to? But one can argue a donation is a donation whatever the charity cause is
“O you who believe! Fear Allah and give up what remains [due to you] of interest, if you should be true believers.”** (Qur’an 2:278)
An interesting read on Orphans in Need below. They’ve even stated that you cannot spend the money on building a mosque…
What Can Interest Money be Spent on?
In the instance you do incur interest money inadvertently, there is only one way you can spend it. For those wondering can you give interest money to charity in Islam, the answer is yes, but only as a general donation. Whilst Zakat is a type of charity, it is not permissible to use interest money for Zakat. This is because when a person gives Zakat, they are rewarded for their generosity, but when interest money is spent, no rewards are to be expected because it is haram in its nature and should only be spent to cleanse one’s wealth.
In summary, if you have accrued interest money, you may make a general donation with it. If you do not want to make a general donation with it, you may buy essential supplies such as water, food, medical aid kits or clothes for a person in need instead.
You cannot spend interest money on building a mosque or buying a Qur’an.
BarakAllahu Feekum for sending this. It’s good that one is not rewarded for this as it eliminates Inshaa Allah that aforementioned sentiment of facilitating interest above
So what I remember, sheikh saalim al azhari said that you can donate these haram earnings (the interest banks give you) to non muslim charities, I think there is also a conversation on giving it to like muslim organisations that do food banks and stuff.
This is a very good point, jazakum allahu khairan for the insight, I didn’t think of it like that. I guess you are right, if this becomes halal, then people will purposefully do this to make mosques and the foundation of that source is haram. So how can we? Right? But what about the argument of the change of hands, the Muslim builders who are seeking money for building masjids, it doesn’t really matter to them where the money comes from right? It will just be between you and Allah at this point.
If you have a credit card and you cannot opt out of the banking system, this is unintentional and so you have to give that away right? So where can we put that? Why not benefit the society with masjids and other muslim organisations… This is a question I have in mind for a counter. I can see the arguments against this too, but I am hoping for some debate on this. How bad is it really? If it was unintentional.
That’s exactly what I was thinking
The last point is an interesting way to look at it!
Would you be able give me the link to where Sh Saalim stated this?
I think credit cards are a whole different thing. I believe the majority say they’re not even allowed so we can’t really reason with them as a basis here