Working in a mobile money transaction company
Fatwa No: 319606

Question

Assalaamu alaykum. I work in a mobile money transaction company that deals with banks (both Islamic and non-Islamic). They ask users to open an account in their mobile, which may or may not contain interest as per banks' regulations. Their main job is to transfer money from one account to another via mobile for transactions like paying school fees, cash in to account, cash out from account via mobile, paying salary to teachers via mobile account, paying utility bills from a user's mobile account to the utility company's account. These transactions don't deal with interest as far I know; all transactions are current (from the user's debit account). Still, I need to know if it is allowable to work in such companies and if it is allowable for the user to accept the term that his account may or may not contain interest as per his bank's regulation (i.e. if he is a live customer of an islamic bank, his account may not contain interest). May Allaah reward you.

Answer

All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ʻalayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger. 

It is permissible to transfer the money from one account to another via mobile or any other means. It is a lawful service and it is allowable to offer this service in return for a compensation. This has nothing to do with interest as long as the money is being transferred from the client's balance.

Hence, there is no harm in working in this company as long as its specialization is electronic money transfer, as stated in the question.

As for the user, you have stated that all the transactions are deducted from his debit account and accordingly there is no meaning for this condition in this regard because the transfer has nothing to do with the user's dealing with the bank; the money is transferred from the balance already available in his bank account.

In any case, if there is any prohibited condition in a contract, it is impermissible to accept or engage in such a contract. Shaykh Ibn ʻUthaymeen wrote, “It is impermissible to partake in defective contracts or those containing defective conditions...

Allaah knows best.

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