Answer
Wa `alaykum as-Salamu wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
In the Name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.
In this fatwa:
If it is permissible for a Muslim to work for a bank if one doesn’t take part in interest-based dealings.
In his response to your question, Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf, Professor of Islamic Finance and Economics at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, states:
Working in a bank is permissible. This does not mean it is one of the best jobs a Muslim may have.
However, signing any interest-based transaction or writing it or reviewing its correctness for the purpose of signing it or approving it and the like are all haram and a Muslim should avoid doing it.
It is under the curse of Allah the Almighty and His Messenger (peace be upon him) as stated in a very authentic hadith. Jabir said that Allah’s Messenger cursed the accepter of interest and its payer, and one who records it, and the two witnesses, and he said: They are all equal. (Muslim)
Whenever what you do is haram, its income is not permissible too.
For more, see these fatwas:
Job Encoding Bank Checks: Allowed?
Can I Accept Marriage Proposal from Relation Manager in a Bank?
Can I Accept a Gift from a Bank Officer?
Can a Programmer Work for Bank Dealing with Credit Cards?
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.