A woman renting a locker in a ladies – only commercial bank

26-9-2007 | IslamWeb

Question:

asalam alaykom my mother had only a Locker in one bank that is not islamic and riba based but has all ladies and no men to deal with every time she go alone to operate her locker , whereas other bank which is islamic and riba-free based has men all over the place, hence she will have to deal with men which is not convieneient to her. she only had a locker and had no other account in bank.please advice what is the correct opinion acc to Quran and sunnah that she should choose b/w the two now and prefer? please reply asap.

Answer:

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) is His slave and Messenger.

 

Renting a locker in a commercial bank to keep precious things or the like is allowed since the bank does not benefit from the deposited items. Therefore, this deal is not considered as cooperation in Ribaa. The Prophet  sallallaahu  `alayhi  wa  sallam ( may  Allaah exalt his mention ) dealt with Jews in lawful matters even though they were the most involved in Ribaa as Allaah mentioned about them (what means): {And [for] their taking of Ribaa while they had been forbidden from it}[Quran 4:161].

However, it is better to deal with an Islamic bank even if there are male staff, since your mother can avoid all the prohibitions by wearing Hijab (the Islamic dress) whenever she goes there. If anyone tries to harass her, she can easily raise a complaint against him to the responsible person.

Allaah Knows best.

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