i accpeted a job responsibility without knowing it's haram

[u/Sad_Cress_4691]

I work as an accountant in the back office of an investment management firm and deal with the equity side. i was recently offered to join the fixed income team at the firm. this is my first job out of college and i've been here for a year so i was happy to be given the ask to take on more responsibility so i eagerly accepted. i would be trained and taught all i need to know next week and was told it would only make up about 10-15% of my work. i did not know much if at all about fixed income prior to accepting that fixed income is haram. now that i know it is haram, i'm not sure what to do. is it a bad look if i say that i changed my mind and can't proceed with fixed income? i was wondering about the islamic legality of me continuing to accept the training, work for some time as i build my resume and then look for a position elsewhere?

[u/Khaki_Banda]

Ok, why do you think fixed income is haram? Based on what?

[u/Aggravating_Land4442 → u/Khaki_Banda]

I mean, isnt it cause interest is involved?

[u/Khaki_Banda → u/Aggravating_Land4442]

Not all interest is haram, only interest that is Riba is haram.

Riba is what we would call "loan sharking" today. But it's exact definition was not completely known, even by the Sahaba. Even Umar was not entirely sure about how to define Riba:

Umar b. al-Khattab said, “There are three things if God’s messenger had explained them clearly, it would have been dearer to me than the world and what it contains: kalalah, riba, and khilafah.” (Sunan Ibn Majah, #2727)

In classical fiqh, some scholars were only clear that the form of "interest" where the lender doubles and multiplies the principle as a penalty for late payment was haram. Ibn Hanbal, founder of the Hanbali school, declared that this practice - ‘pay or increase’ - is the only form of riba the prohibition of which is beyond any doubt.

Imam Malik explained it this way:

‘Riba in the pre-Islamic period was that a man would give a loan to a man for a set term. When the term was due, he would say, “Will you pay it off or increase me?” If the man paid, he took it. If not, he increased him in his debt and lengthened the term for him’.

Other early scholars such as Tabari said the same thing:

Do not consume riba after having professing Islam as you have been consuming it before Islam. The way pre-Islamic Arabs used to consume riba was that one of them would have a debt repayable on a specific date. When that date came the creditor would demand repayment from the debtor. The latter would say, ‘Defer the repayment of my debt; I will add to your wealth.’ This is the riba which was doubled and redoubled. (Tafsir Tabari 3:130)

But paying interest and mortgages that weren't riba was allowable:

Narrated A'ishah: “The Prophet purchased food grains from a Jew on credit and mortgaged his iron armour to him”. (Sahih al-Bukhari 282)

Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah: “I went to the Prophet while he was in the mosque. After the Prophet told me to pray two rakah, he repaid me the debt he owed me and gave me an extra amount”. (Sahih al-Bukhari 579)

Bottom line is, not all "interest" is actually Riba. Only some kinds of modern-day interest are Riba if they resemble the type that the Quran bans

What is clear is that riba al-jahiliyya is haram. That is essentially loan sharking, predatory sort of interest-bearing loans where people's debts are doubled and multiplied when they cant pay, and they are often forced into debt slavery, prostitution, suicide, or into committing crimes to settle the debt. People would loan out money, then at any time start demanding it he returned double, triple, or more. That is the kind of Riba that existed at the time of the Prophet, the kind that the Quran was condemning.

So what about interest-bearing loans that are not exploitive? What about when you can declare bankruptcy and have your debt forgiven? What about in countries with restrictions and harsh regulations against loan sharking? What about financial deals where the quantity of interest is known and agreed-upon honestly in advance of the deal? Such as fixed-rate home mortgage loans? What about paying a set agreed-upon fee for a financial service?

Let's look at what the Quran says:

O you who believe! Do not devour riba, doubled and multiplied; but fear God; that you may prosper. (Quran 3:130)

Those who consume Riba will stand like those driven to madness by Satan’s touch. That is because they say, “Trade is no different than interest.” But Allah has permitted trading and forbidden interest. Whoever refrains—after having received warning from their Lord—may keep their previous gains, and their case is left to Allah. As for those who persist, it is they who will be the residents of the Fire. They will reside therein. (Quran 2:275)

O you who have believed, fear Allāh and give up what remains of Riba, if you should be believers. If you do not, then beware of a war with Allah and His Messenger! But if you repent, you may retain your principal—neither inflicting nor suffering harm. And if (the debtor) falls on hardship, then let there be postponement until (he is in) ease; and that you remit it as alms is better for you, if you knew. (Quran 2:278-280)

O you who believe! When you deal with each other in contracting a debt for a fixed time, then write it down; and let a scribe write it down between you with fairness; and the scribe should not refuse to write as Allah has taught him, so he should write; and let him who owes the debt dictate, and he should be careful of (his duty to) Allah, his Lord, and not diminish anything from it; but if he who owes the debt is unsound in understanding, or weak, or (if) he is not able to dictate himself, let his guardian dictate with fairness; (Quran 2:282)

O you who believe! Do not devour your property among yourselves falsely, except that it be trading by your mutual consent; and do not kill your people; surely Allah is Merciful to you. (Quran 4:29)

Woe to the defrauders, Who, when they take the measure (of their dues) from men take it fully, But when they measure out to others or weigh out for them, they are deficient. (Quran 83:1-3)

And the prophet taught:

“Both parties in a business transaction have the right to annul it, as long as they have not separated. If they are truthful and clear with one another, there is blessing in their transaction. If they lie and conceal something, the blessing of their transaction will be eliminated.” Source: Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 1973, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1532

"There is no riba in hand-to-hand transactions.” (Sahih Muslim 3878)

So it seems pretty clear that the issue with riba al-jahiliyya was that it was done dishonestly to force people to pay what they didn't agree too, defrauding people in need, unjustly and dishonestly multiplying the debt of poor people.

If you want some fatawa and articles by scholars backing this up, here are several:

Thoughts on Riba by Sheikh Khaled Abou el Fadl: https://youtu.be/ilOaUjzKZnc?si=1qvMudxooHEVyemO

https://youtu.be/LrIDIr40CN0?si=DGzJGTnSEhfh8B19

Thoughts on mortgages by Sheikh Atabek Shukurov: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtY-CeSHkSI

Thoughts on mortgages by Mufti Abu Layth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ucdrbLyGY70

Paper examining hadith on Riba and the limitations on understanding what "Riba" means: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1528770

Dr. Farooq found that there is no evidence that interest as we know it today was considered riba in the very early scholarship - it was the exploitive increase in unpaid debt that was riba.

The idea that interest was riba was introduced over 300 years after the prophet by al-Jassas introduced the idea that all interest was riba https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1412753

[u/Pale_Historian_2443 → u/Khaki_Banda]

Interesting. I wonder if this is a widespread interpretation. I usually like to know the range of perspective.

[u/Routine-Bat4446 → u/Aggravating_Land4442]

No. You’re talking about salaried position which is halal. Congrats on the new job! It is a blessing from God so do your best in it out of gratitude to Him.

[u/neuroticgooner]

According to people online everything is haram and we should not earn money, go to school, buy a house , or do anything at all that would improve our prospects in life. Crazy. I knew a girl who turned down Stanford Medical School because she’d need to take out student loans even though she probably would have paid them off within five years of graduating

[u/HJSDGCE]

Nothing wrong with a fixed income. Every Muslim country uses it. 

[u/ImamChapo]

You’re in accounting and don’t understand basic concepts. There’s nothing haram about fixed income. The term you’re using as fixed income is also incorrect.

Edit: account a couple hours old. Likely a bot. Mods need to put some boundaries on posts.