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Is working in a bank permissible

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by DarulIftaBirmingham

Answered by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Question:

Is working in a bank permissible

Answer:

Bismillah

We as Muslims have to make sure our jobs and salary are 100% lawful.

Saiduna Abu Hurayah raḥimahullāh (may Allāh have mercy upon him) narrates that the Prophet of Allah ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said: “Allah is pure and accepts only that which is pure. Allah has commanded the faithful to do that which he commanded the messengers.” And Allah ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) has said: “O you who believe! Eat of the pure things and do right.” Allah ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) has said: “oh you who believe! Eat of the pure things we have provided you.” Then the Prophet of Allah ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) mentioned a man who journeyed far and dishelved and dusty and spends out oh his hand to the Heavens: “O lord! O Lord! While his food is unlawful, and he is nourished unlawfully, so how can his dua be answered!” (Sahih Muslim)

From this Hadith we can understand that unlawful income does have an effect on ones worship and acceptance of ones duas.

Saaiduna Abu Bakr raḍyAllāhu 'anhu (may Allāh be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet of Allah ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said “That body will not enter Paradise which has been nourished with Haram” (Sunan Baihaqi)

Saaiduna Ka`b Bin Ujrah narrates that the Prophet of Allah ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said, “A body nourished with Haram will not enter Jannah”. (Sunan Tirmizi)

Saaiduna Jabir Bin Abdullah raḍyAllāhu 'anhu (may Allāh be pleased with him) narrates that the Prophet of Allah ṣallallāhu 'alayhi wa sallam (peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him) said, “That flesh will not enter Paradise which has grown from Haram, and all that flesh which has grown from Haram, the fire (of hell) is more worthy of it.” (Musnad Ahmad, Sunan Darimi & Sunan Baihaqi)

Two conditions needs to be found for a job to be lawful.


  1. The nature of the job has to be compatible with the guidelines laid down by the Shariah.

  2. The wages at least the majority of it has to be from lawful sources.

Keeping this in mind the following bank related jobs would be:

Cashier: Impermissible

Selling Interest based loans or mortgages: Impermissible.

Cleaner: Permissible.

Security: Permissible.

Only Allah Knows Best

Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham.

This answer was collected from DarulIftaBirmingham.co.uk, which is run under the supervision of Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah from the United Kingdom.

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