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Are America and Europe Dar al-Harb, and is it permissible for a resident of an Islamic country to deposit his money in a usurious bank therein for benefit, and is there a detailed study on this matter?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Usury (Riba) is absolutely forbidden in a Muslim land and elsewhere, according to the majority of scholars. It is not permissible to deposit money in interest-based banks except out of necessity, and when no Islamic banks are available. Depositing money in interest-based banks is not permissible even if no interest is taken on it, because it involves cooperating in sin and aggression. However, if a Muslim fears their money will be lost and finds no way to preserve it except by depositing it in an interest-based bank, then it is permitted for them to do so without taking interest. The usurious interest obtained from depositing money in an interest-based bank must be disposed of.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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