Is the money that a person earns by working in a bank haram? Can his children spend the earning of that person?
A Brief Description of the Question:
Is the money that a person earns by working in a bank haram? Can his children spend the earning of that person?
The Answer:
Those who are engaged in haram through interest (riba) are described as follows in a hadith:
«A person who eats and make others eat interest, who becomes a witness for interest and who writes the transactions of interest becomes far away from the mercy of Allah.» (Muslim, Musaqat, 105)
In the verse, those who eat interest are mentioned but in the hadith the person who eats and make others eat interest, who becomes a witness for interests and who writes the transactions of interest are mentioned one after another and they are expressed to be far away from the mercy of Allah all together.
Accordingly, those who work in the institutions that are engaged with interest do not eat or make others eat interest directly but they carry out the transactions, make calculations, and carry out the correspondence and the administrative works of interest. Whether they are clerks or administrators, they are included in the content of the concept “katib” (scribe) mentioned in the hadith.
It is not something recommendable for a person who knows these issues to work in institutions like that intentionally. It is not possible to regard excuses like “I could not find any other jobs”, “I am obliged to work there” as justifiable. Permissible and legitimate areas are large enough for a person to meet his needs. The salary of a job in a legitimate area may be less than one in a bank but it is not shady. Besides, it is very difficult to regard working in an institution based on interest as an obligation.
Those who have started to work in an institution based on interest but later have learnt about its prohibition in Islam are not recommended to stay there and to continue working there if they find other jobs to earn their livings. They need to try to find legitimate jobs.
Meanwhile, they should try to carry out their spiritual and Islamic services better and earn more thawabs (rewards) because good deeds eliminate sins.
It is necessary to state that if the institutions that are engaged in haram business also have branches that are engaged in halal business and earn money from both, it cannot be decided that all of the income of that institution is haram; the situation is relieved a bit in that case. It is not regarded to be engaged in haram business for a person if he works for the companies of that institution that are engaged in useful areas like constructing roads, bringing water, electricity, etc.
Children are not responsible for the haram earnings of their parents. What they need to do is to repent, not to be engaged in haram business any more and to give money to charity.
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