Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullah wa barakatuh

 

In the Name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Mercy-Giving

 

All praise is due to Allah, peace and blessings be upon His Messenger Muhammad.

 

Traditional bank are riba-based institutions. According to an authentic narration, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the one who consumes usury, the one who pays it, the one who writes down such a usurious contract, and those who witness it. This hadith clearly declares the prohibition of assuming any job that has a relation with such usurious activities whether in banks or any other institutions.

 

A large number of scholar, therefore, maintain that it is prohibited to have any job in traditional banks (not even as a car driver or an office boy), because they are usury-based institutions and their main income is based on usury.

 

A group of scholars, however, maintains that if one avoids direct contact with usurious contracts and his job has no relevance to usurious transactions of the bank, he may have this job, because he will then get his salary for a permissible job.

 

But, in response to this argument, the first group of scholars can say that without the help of such persons, the bank will not be able to run its activities smoothly.

 

In other words, these jobs, though permissible in principle, have become integral part of the bank and facilitate its flourishing and development.

 

Allah Almighty says, “And you shall help one another to virtuousness, and to the fear of God. But you shall not help one another to sin and to aggression.” (Al-Ma’idah 5:2)

 

Basically a woman should remain at home as indicated by the Quranic injection “And abide reverently in your homes. Nor shall you flaunt your beauty and adornment, like the flaunting of [women in] the former times of ignorance. Rather, [duly] establish the Prayer. And give the Zakât-Charity. And obey [the commandments of] Allah and His Messenger. Allah intends [by this] only to remove all [traces of] defilement from you, O People of the [Prophet’s] Household, and to purify you [in spirit] with [a virtuous] purification.” (Al-Ahzab 33:33)

Though this injunction is directed to the wives of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), all Muslim women are included a fortiori, since Prophet’s wives are role examples for them. Besides, of course, Allah intends to remove traces of defilement from all Muslims and to purify their spirits. However, a Muslim woman may go out to work under the following regulations:

 

1- She has to be in need for the job in order to earn her livelihood. Or, if she is not need, there should be a need in the society for her profession and thus she may work for the public interest.

 

2- The job should be suitable for her physical and psychological nature.

 

3- She has to observe the Islamic code of conduct and dress for a Muslim woman.

 

4- There should be no intermingling with men as far as possible. But, if necessary, it has to be within a very limited scope; and the Islamic code of conduct and dress for a Muslim woman must be observed.

 

5- The job should not require her to travel without a mahram (non-marriageable relative).

 

6- The job should not distract a woman from taking care of her household or fulfilling her family duties.

 

Allah Almighty knows best.