Is it true that muslims don't have to pay bank interest because of a religious law?

Answer 1

That is true, it is called 'riba' and widely applied; it can be found in the Qu'ran 2:276. There is still debate going on over what Islamic banks may or may not take part in, I include a few links to explain the issue. Note that it only applies to loans between muslims.

Answer 2

The religious problem is that interest from money is illegal and unethical because it is not earned, What they have instead is a service fee because it is not against their religion to pay for a service or for goods received. The example would be I borrow £100 from a bank, normal bank would charge me interest on the balance of that amount over the full year, but the Islamic bank would Offer me the service of a £100 loan but will ask for a one off service fee for arranging connect between lender and Lonee, This service fee would cover the interest that would have been charged by the normal bank. Hope that has not simplified it to much

As for it supposedly being LAW that interest is charged that is not true, It is banks own policy what interest they offer and its the consumers right to use them or move to another account, nothing in law says interest is the same as tax

Answer 3

The Short answer: YES. The name of the law is called "Riba"

Needless today, persons practicing islam typically only bank at Islamic banks for this reason.

Islamic finance is broader than interest rate prohibition. The general perception of Islamic finance is that it prohibits the practice of paying and receiving interest. Actually the prohibition is that of engaging in transactions that have elements of "riba" and "gharar".[2] The former relates to a transaction based on the exchange of a commodity of the same nature but with an augmentation or decrease in amount. Money exchanged for more money or dates for more dates are given often as examples. The second is engaging in a transaction whose outcome is highly uncertain, as for instance gambling would be. These two prohibitions stem from concerns of justice and fairness. In fact it amounts to prohibiting extracting a surplus value in an unfair way.

Prohibition of "riba" and "gharar" may be translated into four basic principles: a) risk-sharing among parties to the contract; b) materiality - a financial transaction needs to have a "material finality", that is it is directly or indirectly linked to a real economic transaction; c) no exploitation - a financial transaction should not lead to the exploitation of any party to the transaction; and d) no financing of "haram" or sinful activities such as the production of alcoholic beverages. An interest-based debt contract may breach the first three principles. Indeed a borrower has to service his debt irrespective of the performance of the project he engages in, even if poor performance obtains through no fault of the borrower. Accordingly the lender and borrower do not share in the risk of the venture. Moreover their contract is purely financial as the debt contract is independent of the material transaction that may take place. Consequently a debt contract may entail exploitation of the condition of a party to the contract by the other one. Taken together these conditions feature elements of "riba" and "gharar" as a party gets more out of a transaction of money for money, and the activity outcome may be uncertain.

Answer 4

A muslim like others, if dealing with a bank he has to comply with the bank rules.
We must differentiate between Islam and practices of muslims,

Islam meant as a rule not to make the rich go richer on the account of the poor,

If only Islam were practiced in the right laws that had called for in Qura'an, there will be no poor as we see in our present life.

God through Islam do not and will not accept that you live to the fullest and your neighbor is hungry .

When Islam were practiced in the manner that God has accepted for Us, There was what is called Bait Al-Mal(The house of Money) were the rich have paid his share of wealth to the house and the poor has obtained what is reqiered for his well being, There was a time were the house were full and no one is there to ask for money,

Banks has been created in the latest world as a result of the greed of the richest.

Answer 5

Islamic influences are creeping into every aspect of British society and the financial sector is embracing Islam as it sees the growth of the Muslim population in the UK as a captive market.


Two years ago HSBC became the first High Street bank to offer Sharia-friendly mortgages. Under Islamic (Sharia) law the charging and earning of interest is forbidden and as a result many Muslims did not take out conventional mortgages with British lenders.



Under the mortgage scheme, the bank buys the property and leases it back to the customer over an agreed term, so the customer effectively pays rent to the bank for the duration of the agreed term.




Today the first High Street personal bank account compatible with the same sharia law is announced.


Interest free account



The Lloyds TSB account will offer no interest or overdraft facilities, to comply with sharia law. Lloyds TSB’s current accounts director Gordon Rankin said its new account would make Islamic banking "mainstream". "Our research shows that over three-quarters of British Muslims want banking services that fit with their faith.


"However, until now their banking needs have been largely uncatered for and many British Muslims have often had to bank in a way that is against their principles," Mr Rankin said.


The funds held by the bank on all sharia-compliant personal accounts will also be treated according to Islamic law. Under sharia, Muslims are not allowed to invest in companies related to certain types of industry, such as alcohol, tobacco, pornography, armaments and gambling.



The new account is to be piloted in a handful of branches in cities across the UK, including Birmingham and Luton.



Lloyds TSB which is due to post profits in excess of £3 billion later this month, is planning to launch further sharia-compliant financial services later this year.



“Huge market”


Ibrahim Mogra, the chairman of the Muslim Council of Britain's Mosque and Community Affairs committee believes other high street banks will now follow Lloyd's TSB's lead:


He said: "The high street banks want to hang on to their customers and now there is an Islamic bank available they may be anxious they might lose their customers.


He added a final note which is very appropriate
"I think all High Street banks will take this route sooner or later because there's a huge Muslim market in the UK."



One question for the directors of Lloyds TSB. According to the Koran (Kitaab At-Tawheed, Chapter: 58 ) it is forbidden to make images of living creatures. How long, we ask before the Muslims queuing up in their droves for the new accounts find the Black Horse symbol offensive and Lloyds TSB is forced to drop its historic identifier?

Answer 6

Muslims believe that it's unislamic to charge usurious interest on money lent or borrowed. They believe that money should be earned through hard work, not because you have plenty of money in the bank already. It's one of the nicer aspects of Islam which most people don't know about. If they take out a loan, the 'interest' can be offset, as 'charges'.

Answer 7

Some Muslims do not believe in the payment of 'interest' on cash loaned or saved. For that reason, some banks offer Muslim customers loans and mortgages which are interest free. However, they cannot receive interest on their savings either.

Answer 8

not it is not true ,muslims pay bank interest just like every1 else . In muslims countries they dont have interest on their savings but in non muslim countries the same rules apply to all

Answer 9

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Answer 10

It is religiously true,but they pay in some other way or under other title than interest such as bank wage etc.