Shaykh Abdul-Muhsin Al-Abbaad was asked:
Question:
Is it permissible to work in an organization which deals with usurious banks, knowing that the employee is the one who processes usurious loans?
Answer:
“It is well known that an organization that deals with usurious banks is not [the same] as working at the bank [itself] for working at the bank, in most cases, is built on usury. As for the one who deals with them, whether in an organization or otherwise, then if his work is not associated with usury, there is no harm in him working in it”
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Translated by
Faisal Ibn Abdul Qaadir Ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan
Question:
Are jobs in the technology (i.e. IT) field also included in the ruling? For example, working in security for the bank wherein one makes sure no robberies take place.
Answer:
It would not apply because a person who works in security at the bank works in the bank and not in an organization which deals with the bank. Working in banks even if one avoids working with usury is still prohibited.
Also, the Lajnah (Permanent Committee For Scholarly Research And Ifta’) were asked:
Q: I work in the National Bank and as everybody knows this bank deals in usurious interest. I had searched for another job for eight months but I did not find work elsewhere. I work in a department that has nothing to do with usurious loans. I heard from some ordinary people that salaries and work in this bank are unlawful. I also heard from a juristic scholar, who usually appears on TV, that the salary is lawful as the employee earns it through hard work just like any other employee. He said that the sin of dealing in Riba (usury) falls upon the owner of the bank and not on the employee who is like other employees. I hope you will advise me concerning this.
A: Working in usurious banks is unlawful because it involves cooperation in committing Riba; Allah (Exalted be He) says,
…but do not help one another in sin and transgression.
This applies to any form of cooperation whether by writing the usurious loans, witnessing or recording them in accounts, transferring them to other departments, preparing or facilitating usurious transactions and the like.
Mentioned by
Faisal Ibn Abdul Qaadir Ibn Hassan
Abu Sulaymaan
