Which is better for avoiding suspicions and usury: withdrawing a sum of money from an American bank via an ATM in Saudi Arabia for a fee of $5 and then manually converting it to Saudi Riyals, or electronically transferring it from the American bank to the Saudi bank for a fee of $40 with the possibility of unknown intermediary bank fees, and then manually converting it to Saudi Riyals?

Firstly: There is no objection to withdrawing money from a Saudi bank with an American bank card. This transaction is considered an authorization for the Saudi bank to withdraw your money from the American bank in exchange for a known fee, and this is the preferred view.

Secondly: There is no objection to transferring money from your foreign account to your local account, in exchange for a known commission taken by the foreign bank for this transfer. Unknown commissions, which are only known upon receiving the amount, are not common in banking operations. The resolutions of the Islamic Fiqh Academy have stipulated the permissibility of transfers, whether in the same currency or a different currency after exchange.

Thirdly: It is preferable to follow the second method (direct transfer) to avoid scholarly disagreement, even though both methods are permissible.