(1) What is the Shariah ruling on working in a conventional (interest-based) bank? (2) How is it to keep a credit card, and to use the cashback and points obtained through it?

Allah Most High declared interest explicitly forbidden, and announced war from Allah and His Messenger for those who do not desist from it (Surah al-Baqarah: 275, 278–279). It is narrated from Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ cursed the one who consumes interest, the one who feeds it to another, the one who writes it down and its two witnesses, and said: "They are all equal (in sin)" (Sahih Muslim: 1598).

The fatwa of the Permanent Committee for Scholarly Research and Ifta (al-Lajnah al-Da'imah lil-Buhuth al-'Ilmiyyah wa'l-Ifta) is that employment in an interest-based bank is not permissible, even if the employee's work is not directly related to interest, because the bank's entire system is built upon interest and every worker assists that same system at some level or other, while Allah Most High says: ﴿وَلَا تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ﴾ (and do not cooperate in sin and transgression) (Surah al-Ma'idah: 2) (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah: 15/41). And the posts that are directly related to interest-based transactions — approving loans, calculating interest and recording it — their prohibition is even more evident, because the hadith has included the "one who writes it down" in the curse as well. Some contemporary institutions have also given a view of leniency regarding posts in the bank that are completely unrelated, but the preponderant and safest view is that employment in an interest-based bank should be avoided. In contrast, employment in an Islamic bank or a financial institution that runs on Shariah principles is permissible.

Regarding the person who kept working in an interest-based bank while unaware of the ruling, the fatwa of al-Lajnah al-Da'imah is that there is hope of Allah's forgiveness for the sin of the past period, and the wealth acquired during that time is not a problem for him, provided that he leaves the employment as soon as the ruling becomes known to him (Fatawa al-Lajnah al-Da'imah: 15/46). But continuing in that same employment after learning the ruling is not permissible.

The contract of an ordinary credit card includes a condition of interest or a penalty upon delay in payment. According to the decision of the International Islamic Fiqh Academy (Majma' al-Fiqh al-Islami al-Duwali), it is not permissible to take and use a card in which an interest-based condition is found, even if the cardholder holds a firm intention of complete payment on time; because entering into a contract while accepting the interest-based condition is itself objectionable. In contrast, debit cards and prepaid cards are permissible, because in them the user pays from his own wealth and the situation of an interest-based loan does not arise.

When the basic card itself is based on a contract that is not valid in the Shariah, the use of the cashback and points obtained through using that card is also not permissible; the benefits that have already been received should be spent on the poor and the needy without the intention of reward, and the use of the card should be abandoned. It should be clear that some contemporary scholars have deemed cashback a gift (hibah) from the company's side and — provided that interest was never actually paid — have given scope for it; but the preponderant and safest view is the first one, particularly when an interest-based condition is present in the card's contract. However, a general commercial discount given by a shopkeeper or an institution on a debit or prepaid card does not contain this cause.

The objective of protecting wealth (hifz al-mal) is not only the protection of wealth, it is also its purity; assisting the interest-based system becomes a means of financial corruption and exploitation in society, whereas it is in lawful and pure (halal and tayyib) provision alone that there is blessing and tranquillity. Observing the limits of the Shariah in the search for provision is itself worship.

Translated from the original Urdu fatwa.