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Should money taken from an interest-based bank be returned, knowing that returning it would expose something Allah has concealed?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

What I rule is the obligation to return rights to their owners, and that the wealth of all people is inviolable and is not permissible except with their consent and through legitimate contracts, whether they are Muslims, disbelievers, or disobedient, because of the Almighty's saying: "And do not transgress" and "Indeed, Allah commands you to render trusts to whom they are due" and "And do not consume one another's property unlawfully," and because of the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "Every Muslim's blood, property, and honor are sacred to another Muslim." The unlawful money in banks is the usurious interest, not the principal amount. Allah has permitted the principal amount and forbidden the usurious increase. Therefore, these funds must be returned to the employee if he bore them, or to the bank, and an intermediary can be used or the money transferred without revealing the sender's identity.

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

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