Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.  (May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:

Assalamualaikum,

I pray that Allah s.w.t grants all of you with the highest level of Jannah for doing such an awesome job with this website. I have a very important question and I hope someone could help me out make the right decision.

My family has an office space in a building available for rent. A Bank (a bank that provides all kinds of finance needs from securitization to auto finance, banking, corporate and retail) has offered to rent our building –office space. I wanted to know whether it is Halal to rent out commercial property to Banks that deal with interest.

My family has to make a decision by next week and I would really appreciate if you could help us make the right decision in the light of the Quran and the Sunnah.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in confidentiality.)

Answer:

Rent space for bank

In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear witness that there is no one (no idol, no person, no grave, no prophet, no imam, no dai, nobody!) worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His Messengers.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 5 Surah Maidah verse 2:

Help ye (O believers) one another in righteousness and piety but help ye not one another in sin and rancor. Fear Allah!; for Allah is strict in punishment.

If one knows for sure that the people he rents his premises to would indulge in the haraam like alcohol, prostitution, riba, ‘fahisha’ (indecency), etc., it would be better and purer for him to fear Allah and abstain from associating or profiting in any way from such transactions.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 3.267 Narrated by An Numan bin Bashir

The Prophet (saws) said "Both halaal and haraam things are obvious, and in between them are (suspicious) doubtful matters. So whoever forsakes those doubtful things lest he may commit a sin, will definitely avoid what is clearly illegal; and whoever indulges in these (suspicious) doubtful things bravely, is likely to commit what is clearly illegal. Sins are Allah's Hima (i.e. private pasture) and whoever pastures (his sheep) near it, is likely to get in it at any moment."

If the person who owns or rents the property is not involved in participating in the haraam himself, one cannot declare with conviction that the rental earnings of the property would be haraam earnings; but if one does rent his property knowing that the haraam would be committed in his premises, he would definitely be responsible for being an accomplice in the performance of the haraam, and thus earn a part of the sin.

Even in the laws of this world, when a nation or government declares something as absolutely forbidden; be it drugs, or alcohol, or prostitution, or gambling, or ‘terrorism’, etc.; if one knowingly shelters, associates, or facilitates in any way with those who indulge in doing the crime, they will be charged and prosecuted by the state for being an accomplice to the crime.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,

Burhan