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:
- Muslims are ordained to adhere to the Quran and the Sunnah everywhere and at all times.
- As for having a house, if Islamic finance is not available, it is permissible to have conventional finance with some conditions for families who need housing and could not afford to buy it.
In his response to your question, Prof. Dr. Monzer Kahf, Professor of Islamic Finance and Economics at Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies, states:
Muslims, wherever they live, are called by the Quran to follow the guidance given by Allah. One of these commandments is the prohibition of riba (interest).
Therefore, riba should be avoided all the time and anywhere including being in Canada or the USA.
Muslim families in the West have rights to own their own homes if they need them. When Islamic finance is not available, conventional finance is permissible for families who need housing.
If Islamic finance is much more costly than non-Islamic finance, I consider the overcharging Islamic finance as non-existing.
Allah Almighty knows best.
Editor’s note: This fatwa is from Ask the Scholar’s archive and was originally published at an earlier date.