Full Lecture Transcript (Cleaned)
The Recurring Question — 35:23
Out of the 115 questions, another 15 were about mortgages and riba, as usual. Brothers and sisters, I need to pause here. In every community around this country, one of the main issues that every shaykh gets asked about is the issue of mortgages. I want you to understand this is a reality that all of us are facing.
There is a reason why every time I hold an open Q&A — and I'm in your community now for seven years, and still, the seventh year, still 10% of the questions are about mortgages every single time.
Don't Dismiss Qualified Scholarship — 36:30
All too often, a small group of people who are very religious have made up their minds that something might be haram, and they are not willing to even listen to any opinion. Any other opinion is immediately dismissed: "Oh, this guy's destroying the religion. This guy is watering the deen down. This guy's making the haram halal."
If that is your attitude, then okay, good for you. May Allah bless you. But then understand — you've already made up your mind. You're not willing to listen.
Can you imagine if we had an open free-for-all when it comes to medical procedures? Can you imagine if all of you had to ask 10 different doctors about your problem and then you have to decide based upon your own knowledge? Do you see how much chaos would be caused?
I keep on telling you: you have one decision to make, and that's it. Ask Allah to guide you to the authority you trust the most, and that's it. Do not believe that you are qualified to get involved debating between doctors if you're not a doctor. Well, then why do you think you can debate between scholars when you're not a scholar?
Why There Are Many Opinions — 38:52
Wallahu a'lam, it is not clear-cut haram. And that's why there are so many opinions about it. That's why for the last 50 years you have six or seven opinions about mortgages. You want clear-cut haram? Go get a fatwa about drinking alcohol for no reason — clear-cut haram, yes, haram. Why do you think there are seven or eight opinions about mortgages? Because it's not clear-cut haram. And if you think it is, with utmost respect, it shows you haven't studied.
There are people who say it's haram. I respect qualified people. I respect that. Go to those qualified people and they will tell you: "I think it is haram, but I understand why the other scholar says makruh. I understand why the other scholar says it is mubah with those conditions." Real scholars who say it is haram will actually concede: "I think it is haram, but I understand why they say what they say."
The Quranic Riba vs. Modern Mortgages — 39:46
When Allah revealed the Quran and said, "Whoever takes riba, he has declared war against Me" — go look up the tafsir of that verse. Go look up what the mufassirun say. Go look up what Ibn Abbas said.
This explicitly says: the riba upon which the Quran came down was that a person gave a loan, and when the time came to repay the loan, the man would say, "I'm sorry, I cannot pay it back." So the lender would say, "Double the amount and you must pay the penalty because you couldn't pay back."
That is the Quranic riba. Do you understand this point? And that's why in Surah al-Baqarah, every time Allah mentions riba, the context is about lending or forgiving. Allah is saying: if somebody cannot pay back, be generous, give them time.
The Quranic riba is not what we call the mortgage. It is: I give you a loan of $10,000, pay me in 6 months. The agreement is 6 months, $10,000. Then 6 months go by — "My business didn't work, the crops were bad." — "I don't care. $15,000-$20,000, pay it back next year." This is the Quranic riba. Allah says whoever does so, you are going to wage war against Allah and His Messenger.
And that's why Allah says very clearly that what is allowed is any transaction done by mutual agreement — which clearly indicates the Quranic riba was not by mutual agreement.
The Modern Mortgage Is Different — 42:36
The concept of pre-arranged loans and institutions — a for-profit company known as a bank — all of this is modernity, relatively a few hundred years old. So many issues come into play.
Bottom line: when some fuqaha say that the type of riba that exists in a mortgage — yes, it's good to avoid, wallahi it's not a good thing to do — but it's not the Quranic riba. And given all of these parameters, it becomes permissible with conditions. This is a very reasonable and realistic fatwa that lots of councils have given.
The Fiqh Council of North America is one of them. The European Council is another one. Al-Qaradawi is another one. On and on.
The Type of Riba in Mortgages — 43:50
Even the mortgage — nobody's giving you cash. It's not even cash. The house is a collateral in the middle. It's even more complicated.
The modern contract known as a mortgage is a complicated contract that without a doubt has elements that are prohibited by a hadith, not the Quran. The Quranic riba is what we explained. The Prophet wanted to shut the door to the Quranic riba, so he even said, for example, do not sell one bag of good-quality dates for two bags of cheap-quality dates — rather, sell for money, then use the money to buy. You cannot barter dates directly of different quantities.
This is one type of minor riba. No scholar ever said if you transfer one bag for two bags, Allah's curse is on you. No scholar said you're waging war if you substitute one bag of barley with two bags of barley of different quality. The Prophet wanted to avoid that. Similarly, the types of riba present in the modern-day system are these secondary types of riba, not the actual Quranic riba.
As a default, we should avoid them without a doubt. But what if life is very difficult? What if you need to get a degree and you cannot get an education except through a loan? Should you remain uneducated and work a manual job rather than go to medical school? Does the Sharia say that?
The Fatwa He Follows — 47:01
The fatwa that I follow — which is the fatwa of a number of councils — is that the type of transaction that the bank does is a riba prohibited by the hadith. It should not be done, but if circumstances are not life and death, but life becomes unreasonably awkward — not life and death, but it's like you're not going to go to medical school and you're going to just work a manual job instead, you're literally giving up a lifetime opportunity because you think that Allah is going to wage war against you because you went to medical school — no, I'm sorry, this is wrong.
Taking a loan for education — this is not waging war against Allah and His Messenger. It's not. I'm sorry. I'm very blunt. This is my opinion, the opinion of many. If you disagree, fine. But please don't make the religion unreasonably difficult.
What Allah has forbidden is you take advantage of a poor person's unfortunate circumstance. That is waging war against Allah and His Messenger. A for-profit corporation telling you, "We'll give you a 5% loan and you willingly enter in and you know what you're getting into and nobody is taking advantage of anybody" — yes, it should not be done because there's still that element. But the alternative is you live your whole life in low-class poverty. Does Allah want you to do that?
On Mortgages for Homes — 48:47
The same goes for the house. You can make the argument that a mortgage is not good for the economy or for your personal wealth — that's fine, no problem. But don't bring in Allah and His Messenger. A mortgage is not the riba of the Quran.
If you feel you want to make generational wealth and leave something for your kids and invest in a house for 20-30 years so that when you pass away your kids have something — if that's the way you feel, it is permissible.
Islamic Finance Companies — 49:27
And no doubt, if you follow the Islamic finance companies, it is slightly better. But if you ask me personally, the mortgages of the bank are essentially the same — a little bit better the Islamic ones, but there's not that much difference, to be honest. In case you cannot find one of them, if you get the regular one, it is not the riba of the Quran, and that's why I say it is permissible if you feel so. Wallahu a'lam.