A gift from a bank’s income to a masjid.
Q. My friend works as a Manager in a commercial bank. According to the banks reports, more than 50% of their profit is from interest. My friend wishes to donate a rug for the masjid floor. Can we accept it from him? If not, how do we inform him of such?
A. All the great and sound Scholars of the past and present time have clearly stated that working in a bank is haram. This is due to the fact that the major portion of the bank’s income is from interest. Besides this, most of the transactions of the bank are based on interest. In view of this, it would not be permissible for you to accept the rug as a donation to the masjid. This is due to the fact that the source of the income is either totally haram or at least in doubtful. In both cases, such funds cannot be used to be spent for the masjid. You should inform him as to what the Islamic ruling is and hope that he would understand.
And Allah knows best.
Mufti Waseem Khan