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My father died fourteen years ago. He used to work as a teacher, and the organisation for which he worked put money for me in a bank account. When I reached the age of majority (twenty-one years), the court allowed me to take this money out of the bank. I went to the bank to take out this money, and I found that the money had almost doubled because it had been in the bank for fourteen years. Does this additional amount come under the heading of riba, and what should I do with such money?
Praise be to Allah.
I put this question to our shaykh, ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Barrak (may Allah preserve him), and he advised:
If the money that the organisation put in the riba-based bank was outstanding dues owed to your father, then it is the legacy of your father, so it is not permissible for you to take this extra amount. Rather you must get rid of it by donating it to various charitable causes, unless you are in need, in which case you may take of it as much as you need.
But if the money was a gift from this organisation, then you may take it in full, because it did not come into your possession before that, and you did not receive it, and you will not be asked about the interest that has been added to it. Rather the sin of that is on those who put the money in the riba-based bank.
And Allah knows best.