Kind: captions
Language: en
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But form.
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Alhamdulillah.
Among the contemporary issues
regarding financial transactions
that are present today which were not
present in the past, credit cards.
And the definition of credit cards is a
plastic card or a document that entitles
issued by a bank but entitles the holder
to purchase on credit and to pay later.
And this concept is well known and
defined to all of us. I wouldn't say
most of us because unfortunately
the banking system
based on ribba has infiltrated
everywhere
and their services had made things so
easy yet so complicated
that most people are using it and if you
wish abusing it even when they don't
have a need to it. And this is what they
want because through them they can
enslave the population and they become
their actual slaves
paying them monthly year after year.
And I won't go into the moral aspect of
it because there's not enough time in
our classes to do so. But you guys know
where I'm coming from.
The most
famous,
reputable,
widely spread credit cards are Visa,
Mastercards,
American Express,
Card Blanch, and the likes.
Some go up, some go down, but some
remain in the market. And the scholars
say that these cards are one of two.
Either they're uploaded,
which they're referring to debit cards,
which is prepaid,
or they are
not uploaded or pre-loaded.
What's the difference?
those that are prepaid or debit cards,
you're actually charging that card with
money. So when you have the card itself,
it has zero balance. You can't use it.
So, you go actually and talk to your
bank and say, "Withdraw from my actual
account, from my actual money, €5,000
and preload
or uh uh uh prepay for my debit card."
So, now the card has 5,000 euros. I go
and buy and purchase and rent and use it
until it depletes and becomes zero. I go
to pay the hotel room. They said,
"Sorry, your card is declined.
You don't have money." So, I preload it
again.
If this is the case, then this is halal
because I'm actually
preloading it from my own money. I'm not
borrowing.
And whatever fee the bank takes for
preloading or for
uh uh uh uploading my card with credit
with money. Whatever fee they take is
halal. That's their fee for a service
I'm getting. So there's no problem in
that. Inshallah. Debit cards are the
best solution for those who travel a
lot, for those who need money.
And an ATM card
is almost the same,
but it's less dangerous because your ATM
card gives access to your whole bank
account, while a debit card gives access
only to what's in it. They can't exceed.
So if it has only 500 euros, they can
steal that if they hack it, but they
can't go beyond
unlike your ATM card. The second type of
cards are those that are preloaded or as
we've said prepaid.
And this type is a means of buying on
credit. Because when I go and buy my
Louis Vuitton shoes,
I don't have the cash in my bank
account. So, I use my credit card and I
pay proudly. Yes, I'll take this and
I'll take that
hoping that I'll be able to pay in the
future, but I don't have the money. The
bank facilitates
lending me a limit that this credit card
has but I have to pay it.
And the scholars say that
such cards are divided into three types.
One, the type that gives you a
no interest loan for the sake of Allah.
To my knowledge, there are no banks that
does this except maybe one or two and
those are in Saudi Arabia.
No bank would give you something for the
sake of Allah.
They're not a charity.
Okay? Why do these banks in Saudi Arabia
do that? Because they know that you're a
customer and you'll keep on paying it
back and they have your money with them.
So to them it's a form of an incentive
to make people come and deposit their
money with them. So they say this is a
Visa card, credit card, you can use it
and we will not take any interest even
if you don't pay on time.
That's fine. That's halal.
Number two,
credit cards that whether you pay on
time or you don't pay on time, the
moment you purchase something, they'll
charge you an interest
based fee.
Why? Because we've lent you, but I'm I'm
paying you tomorrow. It doesn't matter
whether you pay or not. It's immediately
registered that we're taking our
interest from you. And that is totally
haram. The third type of credit card is
the most notorious and famous which is
the normal transactions.
Go and buy whatever you want. You have
40 days grace period. We're not going to
charge you if you pay on time within the
40 days period. But if you don't pay, we
will start charging you ribba on the
41st day and it will be x amount of
percentage and this type is also haram.
So this is not permissible for us
Muslims to deal with unless it's a debit
card or it is an interest free
credit card.
Now one would say this is not possible.
I live abroad. I live in America. I
can't
rent a car. I can't get a hotel room. I
can't lease a house without a credit
card
and I need to build up my credit in
America
for any future transactions etc.
If this is the case then you can refer
to debit card. Some say we can't debit
cards don't work when we want to book a
room or rent a car.
If it is a necessity then you may get a
credit card but you have to charge it.
You have to preload it. You have to pay
it in advance before using it so that
you would not be borrowing.
The issue is a lot of the Muslims in the
west and in Muslim countries as well,
they buy without thinking and they
accumulate debts after debts on them and
they pay in ribba and they fall in one
of the seven major sins in Islam. Allah
curses them for such transactions
without them paying any attention. Some
people by
knowing that they will pay before the
grace periods is over. Sometimes they go
to a hospital. Sometimes they are
jailed. Sometimes they have problems
financially. And I've known practicing
brothers who come to me and say, "She
wallah, I don't know what to do.
Tomorrow is the last day and I don't
have money to pay. Why did you borrow
from your credit card?
I always buy groceries and do this and
do that. It's nothing extravagant, but I
don't know what to do. This is a major
sin. You can't play with fire hoping not
to be burnt. You're going to be burnt
and burnt in hellfire. What's the ruling
on the annual fee that I pay for a
credit card?
Scholars say that if the
annual fee
is realistic,
then this is the bank charges for it. So
I have a card, credit card, the bank
charges me 200 real for that. That's
fine. That's that's realistic.
However, if the bank says, "Okay, you
have normal credit card 200 real. You
have silver, 500 real. You have golden,
it's 800 real. You have platinum, whoa,
whoa, whoa. Why are you charging me
differently? It's the same process. It's
the same paperwork.
There are benefits coming with it. There
are access to uh airport lounges. There
are mileage that you get for your
frequent flyer um scheme or airlines.
And oh now this becomes also haram
because the
money you're paying is not for the
services rather for the amount of money
they're lending you. So they say in the
first one your max of expenditure is
10,000 real second one is 30. Third one
is 70. Last one is 100,000. So we charge
you differently. No this is reeba based
and it's not permissible.
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to
Allah.
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