Purify Your Wealth: Getting Rid of Riba Money

Key Points

• Riba money is termed as 'wrongly-acquired money' and must be given away to the poor or for community-based projects. It is also known as purification funds or cleansing funds. 
• A person should carefully track his finances and make sure their wealth is free from all forms of impermissible earnings. If it is difficult to get an exact number, the person can estimate it to the best of their ability.
• This money is given to the poor and needy or public benefit programs without the intention of reward.
• The interest money cannot be used in any manner that directly or indirectly benefits the owner.
• Donations to this campaign will be considered as purification funds and will be channelled into programs that benefit the poor and needy that have been carefully vetted and verified by our Shariah team.

Campaign Story

The word riba means excess, increase, or addition. From a Shariah point of view, it can be interpreted as: an excess compensation or unjustified return in a lending, borrowing, or sale transaction. Allah says,

“Allah has permitted trading and forbidden Riba” [al-Baqarah 2:275]

“O you who believe! Be afraid of Allah and give up what remains (due to you) from Riba” [al-Baqarah 2:278]

If a person has dealt in riba (interest/usury), then repents and wants to get rid of the money he gained from riba, it is permissible for him to give it to the poor in order to get rid of it. This money is termed as 'wrongly-acquired money' and must be given away to the poor or for community-based projects. It is also known as purification funds or cleansing funds. 

A person should carefully track his finances and make sure their wealth is free from all forms of impermissible earnings. If it is difficult to get an exact number, the person can estimate it to the best of their ability. Imam Ibn Al-‘Arabi said, 'If he is confused about the exact amount of the unlawful money, he should make an estimate of the money that he believes to be unlawful, and he should estimate it to be more and be cautious in this regard to eliminating all doubt and be assured that he has cleared his liability from this unlawful money.” 

Donations to this campaign will be considered as purification funds and will be channelled into programs that benefit the poor and needy that have been carefully vetted and verified by our Shariah team. Updates will be shared periodically with donors.

It Is Not Counted As Charity

An important point to note is that giving this money away will not be counted as a charity on behalf of the person. Rather, it is an action that needs to be done immediately to purify the earnings. Likewise it is not permissible to continue engaging to earn this money with the “good intention” of giving it to the poor.

Why is it not counted as charity? Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: O people, Allah is Pure and He therefore, accepts only that which is pure. [Muslim]

This money is given to the poor and needy or public benefit programs with the intention of getting rid of this money. A person will not get rewarded for charity but will get rewarded for cleansing his wealth. It can be given to both Muslims and non-Muslims. The interest money cannot be used in any manner that directly or indirectly benefits the owner. 

Where Is This Money Used?

It is best that this money is not used for mosques, Quran and Islamic literature based projects. Scholars have allowed the usage of such funds to pay the educational fees for poor students. It can also be used to feed the poor, support orphanages and schools, build infrastructure that benefits the community, cater for public emergencies, pay off the debts of the needy and support those that one is not obliged to spend on in the first place among other usages. 

Do We Need To Highlight That It Is Haram Money?

The beneficiaries do not have to be informed about the origin of the money. The money itself that is being given away is not “haram money”. It is haram for the person to benefit from because they got it through the wrong means. An important principle here is that the status of the money changes when it changes hands. 

This means that the interest money is unlawful to the person who earned it but lawful to the eligible recipients from the poor and needy. Imam an-Nawawi said, “If he gives it (the unlawful money) to the poor, this money is not unlawful to them (the poor); rather, it is lawful and pure for them to avail themselves of it.” [al-Majmu']

Allah says, 
Allah obliterates all blessings from interest and increases generously the reward for charity.” [al-Baqarah, 276]