Title

Can I pay off the interest received from the bank to pay the interest on the car?

Question

1.      A community call themselves ‘Quddusi Sunni Muslim’, who are these people? Are they Sheikh or Siddiqi, kindly tell me in detail.

2.      I know very well that interest is Haram in Islam. If we go for a new car with the bank financing it, can we pay the interest of the car from the interest we receive from our savings account?

Answer

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh. 

1.       We do not know the Quddusi Sunni Muslim community.

2.       We understand that you have a savings account that gives you interest and that you have bought, or wish to buy a car financed through an interest bearing mechanism. With the interest receivable you wish to pay and offset the interest payable. At the outset, it is not permissible for you to purchase a car on interest. The interest that you receive should be disposed of by donating it to charity without the intention of attaining reward; instead you will be merely ridding yourself from wrongly-acquired money. 

Allah Ta῾ālā in the Holy Quran declares war upon those who deal with interest:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

 . فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا فَأْذَنُوا بِحَرْبٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ

(2:278/ 279)

“Oh you who believe, fear Allah and leave what is owed to you from usurious

transactions if you are true believers.

If you do not leave these usurious transactions’ then prepare for a war against Allah and His messenger.”

And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best

Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.
www.daruliftaa.net