Message #15477

[Zainab_M]

True, I've observed exactly the same.

Secondly another thing I want to say.  Bank taking interest from you and bank giving "interest" to your account are two different things.  If you have an a/c with a bank and it gives you for example 2% interest on your savings a/c, it makes a profit worth 4% or more.  Banks are not individuals in straightened circumstances.  Banks are multi-billion dollar financial establishment.  Giving you that 2% interest (or whatever you call it) doesn't hurt the bank.  It does that for its own benefit.  It can put a stop to it and tell you to get lost any time it likes.  This is not what is meant by riba.  The Quran condemns interest taken from an individual by an individual or from an individual by an organization.  If a financial institution or bank gives you something, that's like being given a share or partial income or stipend by a syndicate .. at the goodwill of the syndicate in lieu of keeping your money with them as trust or investment.  Even if they use that money, you can get back that principle whenever you like.  In case your principle is locked for a certain period, it will be unlocked as soon as those months or years are over.  This is not the sort of loan that hurts a debtor.  In this case, "debtor" is a multi billion dollar bank.  How can a common individual hurt that huge entrepreneur by investing a few thousand dollars with them in return for a small monthly or annual payment ?

Btw, in colloquial English "syndicate" often refers to an organization involved in illegal activities.  This misconception must also be cleared.  According to its real definition, a syndicate is a private group of individuals, companies, corporations, organizations or entities formed for the transaction of shared business and profits for themselves.  This is precisely what a bank does.  In French, syndicate means trade union.  In Latin syndicate means caretaker of an issue. These interpretations are also correct.