Quora Answer: Is It Halal for Me to Pay the Bank Interest Charges?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “My bank charged me interest and fee, but I do not want to pay the interest because of my religion Islam.  In this case, is it halal to pay?” 

It is haram for you not to pay, since you used the services of the bank.  By using those services, you have agreed to the terms of use, and part of those terms includes fees and interest.  If you do not want to pay that interest, you should not have used those facilities.  The secular world does not care about your interpretation of the jurisprudence of a personal faith.  That is not the bank’s problem. 

In any case, it is not a definitive position that absolutely all forms of interest is haram.  Personally, I think that is illogical.  There is an inherent infrastructure and upkeep cost for the bank.  For interest to be considered riba’, usury, there has to be an element of zhulm, oppression.  A tiny interest rate does not qualify.