Question

My question is regarding mortgage. I have been working in the UK for the past 7 years. I was living and paying rent for 5 years till the time I got married and my responsibilities changed from a Bachelor to a Married person. Even then I tried to avoid buying my own place however a stage reached when I thought that to avoid inconvenience posed due to renting i.e. parents coming and living with me and also due to the increase of cost of living, I decided to buy a place of my own and there was no product available in the market by which I could avoid paying interest. I still am confused whether I did the right thing. Can you please enlighten me on my position now and whether I should get out of the investment. Your thoughts on this will be very much appreciated. Jazak Allāh.

Answer

What the Sharī’ah has made Haram is to take interest. Paying interest cannot be considered forbidden HARAM simply because we do not have any reliable directives from Sharī’ah to say so. Paying interest is however contributing to a Haram transaction and as such should be avoided where there are other reasonable options. In the interest based society that we are living today it seems like these options are very limited (if available at all) and circumstances like the one you explained are quite common. In such circumstances we cannot say that paying interest should still be avoided because securing a financially healthy and appropriate life is the right of every human being and is recognised and respected in Islam.

Answered by: Farhad Shafti

Date: 2015-03-29