I am living in USA and have got a Checking as well as a Savings (with Interrest) account in Bank. I use my Savings account to keep my savings separate from the main account. To avoid interest I have got two options: 1) Keep receiving interest in Savings Account, and after the year-end give away money to poor equivalent to Interest received for the year. The advantage is that the Interest money will go to poor (even though without incurring any reward) instead of going to the non-Muslim world. But disadvantage is that Interest is still added in the account hence making rest of the money ‘impure’. 2) Open another Checking Account (in a different bank) and keep my savings over there. In this case niether account will get interest. So can you please suggest me which option is closer to Islam? Jazakallah.
In principle, it is not permissible to deliberately accrue interest,
therefore, the checking account is closer to Islam.
and Allah Ta’ala Knows Best
Mufti Ebrahim Desai