Getting rid of interest

[interest1]

Obviously interest is haram. I have a bank account and as far as i am aware you can give this interest to charity (will someone verify this) as obviously bank account are the only real safe way of storing sums on money. Now i just have some questions regarding this.

1) Do i have to take the interest out of the bank to give away, or can i just take it out of my money i've got at home like in my purse and then give that away?
2) Does it have to be given to a muslim charity/person? I once gave some to a muslim woman selling big issue, is that okay? But ive given it to non-muslims selling big issue before, im not sure about that, because i dont know if theyre gonna use it for drugs or something! But the only people i come into contact with who i can give away my interest to is these big issue sellers. (Oh btw i dont take the big issue off them, i just give them the money.)
3) I'm 17, so i don't have credit cards etc, so i can't give it to muslim charities online as they require card details etc.
4) I only get small amounts of interest cos i dont have much in my bank lol, literally pennies interest every month or so, so what i do is i wait til it adds up to above a pound, then i give it away. Is that okay?

I have 1.75 pounds of interest i need to get rid of & it's been with me for months, i know its not much but i don't like having it.

[Supernova Nebula]

I hear interest you get from the bank can be used for something that is not of personal use for you. for instance, it can be used for the public like building a bridge, road mantainence, if i'm not wrong my fiqh teacher told me this. My countrymate told me (he's has both conventional and islamic economic background and we both are studying at the same uni here in England) it maybe used for something that wont be taken home like furnitures etc allahu'alam.

[dhakiyya]

InshaAllah you can get an Islamic bank account:

http://www.islamic-bank.com/islamicbanklive/GuestHome/1/Home/1/Home.jsp

As to giving away interest you've already recieved, yes you must do this inshaAllah. Its the same if someone has stolen money but for some reason cannot return it to the person they stole from - they must give it as charity inshaAllah.

Yes in cases like these you must give the whole amount inshaAllah.

Charity is not limited to Muslims. You can give charity to non Muslims. In the case of charity for repentence I'm not sure if its the same as for zakat (which is just for specific things) so inshaAllah best check with a scholar, or give it to a Muslim charity inshaAllah. You can send them a cheque in the post, if you don't have a cheque book, buy a postal order from the post office and send them that (they do them in tiny little amounts mashaAllah)

As for people asking for money then spending it on drugs - obviously use common sense! but if they ask you for charity for a good purpose (e.g. they say they're hungry and need to buy food) and then they spend it on something else, they have sinned by decieving you, and sinned again if they spend the money on haram stuff. YOu still get the reward of the charity inshaAllah and are not responsible for their deception.

Also, don't generalise - not every homeless non Muslim is a druggie! some people have just had a run of bad events, bad decisions and are selling the BI to try to get back on their feet. Also just because someone is a Muslim (or says they are) doesn't mean they won't spend the money on drugs.

Thats not to say that you should be gullible! On the whole its better to give to homeless charities rather than beggars. The Big Issue is good cause it helps get people off the streets but personally I prefer to give a donation to the vendor than buy the magazine. Also, if you're really not sure if someone is going to spend the money on drugs, buy them a sandwich instead. If they're genuine they'll be extremely grateful. If they're druggies, they still need to eat and you probably did them a favour because hardcore druggies often forget to eat proper meals.

[Tranquillity]

Yes, just to echo advice already given- get rid of it by giving it to charity (but not expecting reward for it, rather the charity is doing YOU a favour by taking the haraam money away from you). And then open an account with no interest, much better peace of mind.

But maash'Allah that we still have people on this earth who know the difference between halaal and haraam money! May Allah reward such people in this life and the next. Ameen!

[feroz@aconite.c]

Give it in charity and find a bank account that is not interest bearing, there are such accounts available, when i was there ANZ had one otherwise go with the islamic banks.

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