Fatwa ID: 04613

Answered by: Mufti Muhammad Adnan

Question

My husband bought a house with a mortgage, a loan with riba, against my will. I had some saved money before marriage and he pressed me to add it to the money that he had to buy the house. He took 40 pro cent of the apartment price in loan and the rest we had it, partly me and partly him. We had a big fight because of this and I give the money that I had for the house to save our relationship because we arrived in a critical situation and we also have a baby. He does not think that this is haram and he justifies it with the fact that it’s allowed for us to buy a house with a mortgage because the rents her in Sweden are high and he justifies his decision also with the fatwas given from the highest Muslim council of America and Europe which allow mortgage in certain conditions. The thing that worries me is that according to the law I had to sign some documents which make me part-owner of the apartment. In the beginning, I wanted to be owner just 13 percent that corresponds to the sum of money that I paid for the house but in the end, I decided to be owner 50 percent because I thought that the money that he earns and pays to the bank belongs to both of us since he does his job outside and I do mine inside. The documents that I signed have nothing to do with the bank. I did not even see those. What I signed has to do exclusively with the ownership of the house and I signed them also to not lose the sum of money that I paid in case something happens. My husband has good intentions, he did it because he thinks that is the most correct thing to do in Islam to not put us Muslims in a disadvantageous situation.  My question is if I have done something wrong by signing those documents, which have nothing to do with the bank? Am I in any way involved in the riba?

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Answer

If you never yourself paid any usury or witnessed the transactions or recorded them or anything else to do with it, you are not liable for the usury transaction.

Jabir said that Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) cursed the accepter of interest and its payer, and one who records it, and the two witnesses, and he said: They are all equal. (Muslim 1598)

Only Allah knows best

Written by Mufti Muhammad Adnan

Checked and approved by Mufti Mohammed Tosir Miah

Darul Ifta Birmingham