Purifying interest received
Add up the interest from your accounts: that is the amount to give away, without seeking reward.
Amount to give
0
My purification log
Kept in this browser, on this device. Note what you owe and what you have given, year by year.
Nothing noted yet.
| Year | Dividends | Interest | Given | Left to give |
|---|
Why give away interest?
Interest on an account is a surplus stipulated on a loan: by depositing, you lend to the bank. The International Islamic Fiqh Academy classes these interest-bearing deposits as prohibited usurious loans (resolution 86 (3/9), 1995).
The Qur’an leaves those who give up usury their capital (al-Baqara 2:279): you keep the capital and give away the surplus.
What the institutions say
- Diyanet: interest received is not to be used for oneself or one’s family; it is given to the needy, without seeking reward. Whether it is below or above inflation makes no difference.
- Many contemporary scholars advise withdrawing the interest rather than leaving it with the bank, then spending it on good causes, without seeking reward.
- Dar al-Ifta of Egypt considers returns on bank deposits a permissible investment: a minority view internationally.
- For a personal case (old interest, joint account, inheritance), ask a scholar you trust.
Who should receive this amount?
- The poor and needy, or public-benefit causes, according to most scholars and institutions.
- Without seeking any reward: you are getting rid of something that is not yours.
- Not for yourself or your dependants (Diyanet).
- Diyanet specifies that unlawful income must not be used for mosques.
To stop receiving it
A non-interest account, an account with an Islamic bank where one exists, or a compliant investment avoids having to purify every year. Diyanet considers it better not to keep one’s money in an interest-based bank when a lawful option exists.
Zakat on your shares and savings is a separate obligation, calculated on its own. See zakat on investments