Buying a house or apartment through mortgage

9-9-2001 | IslamWeb

Question:

Living in Canada, is it halal to buy a house or apartment through mortgage?Jazakum Allah.

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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 ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His slave and Messenger.

A person who borrows an amount of money from any financial institution in order to buy a house, an apartment or for any other purpose and who pays this money back in installments, giving more than what he had taken, has thereby committed a great sin, as this is prohibited by Islam. In fact, this is pure Ribaa (interest or usury). Allaah Says (what means): {O you who believe, be afraid of Allaah and give up what remains (due to you) from Ribaa (from now onward), if you are (really) believers”.}[Quran 2:278] We advise this Muslim to ask the organization to buy the house and sell it on to him at an appropriate  price - either in cash or by installments. In this manner, he may avoid taking loans with interest.

Allaah Knows best.