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 is His slave and Messenger. We ask Allaah to exalt his mention as well as that of his family and all his companions.

Giving a ruling about Halal banking by the banks in Britain requires knowledge of these dealings (transactions), their conditions, and their contracts, otherwise we cannot give a ruling about them.  One has to know the details of the issue before giving a judgment about it.

If the questioner wants to know the ruling about a particular transaction, he has to describe it for us, giving us its conditions, and then we will endeavour to arrive at a juristic ruling.

Our view is that it is known without any doubt that most of the banks today deal openly with Ribaa (interest or usury), especially the banks in the West like Britain.  If a Muslim is obliged to deal with these banks, he/she has to be cautious not to deal with Ribaa, as it is Islamicly very serious a matter.  The Prophet cursed the person who consumes Ribaa, the one who gives it to others, the one who writes it down, and those who witness it.  And he said: "They are all equal in sin". [Muslim]

Therefore, the questioner has to make sure not to deal with Ribaa, or get involved in transactions which are unclear and the like, as all this invalidates the contract.

Allaah knows best.