for well-being: “But if you repent, then you may have your principal; you will neither wrong nor be wronged” (2:279).

Meaning: if you give up consuming usury, you are entitled to nothing beyond your original capital. You loaned 120, yet if your repentance is genuine you may only reclaim 100, for Allah has said, “you may have your principal; you will neither wrong nor be wronged.”

Some people, however, have fallen into a corrupt analogy that clashes with the clear text. They say, “Deposit your money in foreign banks—in America, in Britain, in France, wherever—and take the interest, then give it away in charity.” Glory be to Allah! A man smears his hands with blood and filth, then goes off to wash them—why not avoid the impurity from the outset? This so-called analogy is invalid both in the face of revelation and in its own reasoning. If they hand you interest, simply say, “Our Sacred Law forbids usury.”

Others object, “If you refuse to take it, they will spend it on churches and on fighting Muslims.” Who told you that? The bank owner might pocket it himself, hand it to his relatives, or use it for his own ventures—who can guarantee it will fund churches? And even if, for the sake of argument, it were spent on churches, did that money ever enter your lawful ownership so that you could be blamed for assisting them? It never became yours at all.

Indeed, the bank does not share with you the actual profit—or loss—of your capital; it simply pays a fixed, explicit usury from the outset. That is not a return generated by your money, so you cannot claim, “I gave them part of my wealth to help them in sin.” Never.

Even supposing it truly were the profit of your capital, or that your investment earned far more and you refused to accept it because it is usury, and they then spent it on churches or on war against Muslims—did you instruct them to do so? Of course not.