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We are accountants working in the public sector. We have some forms from companies which sell to people who pay in installments. Some of the employees want to buy things by installments from some riba-based banks, and the banks have set the condition that the purchaser discloses his basic salary. Will we be included among those who are mentioned in the hadeeth as being cursed by Allaah for recording ribaa? We have refused to write it, but the head of the division and the directors have put us in a very difficult position. What is the correct Islamic viewpoint on our situation?
Praise be to Allah.
We put your question to Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen, may Allaah preserve him, who answered as follows:
If you fill out the papers for them, then you are helping them to do something which is haraam, and Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): “but do not help one another in sin and transgression” [al-Maa’idah 5:2].
Question:
What if they are faced with a threat to fire them from their jobs?
Answer:
We still advise them to refuse to do this. “And whosoever fears Allâh and keeps his duty to Him, He will make a way for him to get out (from every difficulty)” [al-Talaaq 65:2 – interpretation of the meaning].