Question:

Assalamu Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.

How are you, my respected teacher? I ask Allah, the Mighty, the Lord of the Great Throne, that you may always be well, sound, and healthy.

We have a sister who asks about working in usurious banks, given that the nature of her job is monitoring commercial crimes and has no connection to usury or insurance.

May Allah the Almighty sustain and protect you.

Answer:

There is no doubt that, in principle, working in usurious banks or companies whose activities are forbidden (haram) is not permissible. However, we have some exceptional cases. For example:

If a person has gained expertise in a specific field, such as banking, bank management, and similar areas, and they have tried and searched for work and are in dire need of a job, and could not find any other work, then in this case, it is permissible for them to work in usurious banks until they gain some experience. With that, they must continuously try to find another institution or company to work for where the work is permissible and proper.

The second case is for someone who is searching for work and finds none, but finds a job in that institution that has no connection to loans and usury, such as monitoring electronic crimes or something else. In that case, it is permissible to work in usurious banks, because what matters is the job itself. As long as the basis of the job is permissible, which is monitoring and investigating electronic crime, then the work is also proper and permissible.

However, despite all of this, it is necessary for the person to try to work in Islamic banks and those companies and institutions where forbidden and haram activities are not performed; this is better than anything else.

And Allah the Almighty knows best.