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What is the ruling on using covered bank cards that grant a 1% gift from the value of each purchase? Is it permissible to use them for charitable donations to benefit from this gift? Is it permissible to transfer funds from a covered card to a prepaid card to benefit from the gift? What is the ruling on cards that grant airline points instead of cash? Is it permissible to benefit from marketing offers between the bank and companies that grant cashback or airline points?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

It is not permissible to open an account in a usurious bank except out of necessity or a closely related need, provided that there is no Islamic alternative. For the use of covered cards to be permissible, sharia-compliant regulations must be met. The gifts offered by the bank in exchange for deposited money are gifts given for a loan, and the preponderant opinion is that they are forbidden unless they follow a previous custom between the lender and the borrower. Accordingly, it is not permissible to acquire these gifts or benefit from them.

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

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