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Working in Payment Industry / Investment Banking

Answered as per Hanafi Fiqh by ShariahBoard.org

Assalamualaikum Warahmatullah 

I hope that you are in the best state of eeman and health when you receive this message. I have two questions as follows:

  1. My first question is regarding working in the Information Technology department as Software Engineer in the Investment Banking sector (e.g. for companies like Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley etc.). Will it be permissible to work there and will my earnings be considered halal according to the Islamic Shari‘ah? Just to clarify, conventional commercial or retail banking is different than investment banking in that investment banking deals with buying and selling stocks, investing money in other businesses for a profit return etc.
  2. My second question is regarding working in payment processing industry, for example companies like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, PayPal etc. as a Software Engineer. Would the income from this work be considered halal? These are payment processing networks and do not issue credit cards instead the bank or merchant issuing the credit card charges interest. These companies charge a fees for every transaction a customer performs using their payment network.

May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta‘ala enrich your knowledge and preserve you to serve the mankind with the knowledge of Holy Quran, help you in preaching this beautiful religion and in transferring the message from beloved and last prophet and massager Hazrat Mohammed Mustafa Sallallaho Alyhi Wasallam.

JazakAllahu Khaira

Walaikumassalam Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuhu

الجواب وباللہ التوفیق

1- The first situation described in your question is unclear. Please provide additional details regarding the actual details of the processes followed by such banks and the exact details of your day to day tasks. Only upon receiving such details, a definitive answer can be provided.

2- If the software you mentioned has options to document interest and the interest based transactions then designing and taking salary to design such software is not free of karahat (dislikeness). This is due to the fact that although this is not considered as directly documenting interest based transactions however it is still assisting that documentation at some level, thus the work which was getting done in hours is being performed in minutes and seconds due to such software. In the hadith of Rasulullah Sallallalho Alyhi Wasallam, in addition to being involved in giving and receiving of interest, documentation of interest based transactions has been described as a source of curse as well.

لعن رسول اللہ صلی اللہ علیہ وسلم: آکل الربا وموٴکلہ وکاتبہ وشاہدیہ وقال: ہم سواء (مشکاة: ۲۴۴)

Therefore, the assistance in documenting of interest based transactions will not be free from karahat. However, if the software does not even have an option to perform such interest calculations and documentation then it will be considered permissible, without any karahat.

قال المرغینانی: ویکرہ بیع السلاح في أیام الفتنة، معناہ: ممن یعرف أنہ من أہل الفتنة؛ لأنہ تسبیب إلی المعصیة وقدبیناہ في السیر، وإن کان لا یعرف أنہ من أہل الفتنے، لابأس بذلک؛ لأنہ یحتمل أن لا یستعملہ في الفتنة، فلا یکرہ بالشک (الہدایة: ۴/۳۷۸، کتاب الکراہیة، فصل في البیع، دار إحیاء التراث العربي، بیروت) وإن کان سببًا ناصرًا للمعصیة مع عدم العلم أنہ تتفعل بہ المعصیة ومع عدم قصر المعصیة أولا، فلا حرج فیہ وإن کان مع العلم أنہ تُفْعَلُ بہ المعصیة، فہو قسمان: إما تُفْعَلُ بہ المعصیة بغیر تغیر فیہ، فیکون مکروہًا تحریمیًا، وإن کان مع تغییر فیہ، فیکون مکروھا تنزیھیًا․ (جواہر الفقہ)

فقط واللہ تعالیٰ اعلم بالصواب

This answer was collected from Shariahboard.org. It was established under the supervision of the eminent faqih of our era, Hazrat Shah Mufti Mohammed Navalur Rahman damat barakatuhum.

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