Wanting to buy house with interest
13-12-2001 | IslamWeb
Question:
I have a question about buying a house. Situation:
I live in Holland, two of my daughters study dental medicine in a city two hours away from our house. They spend daily four hours traveling. It's very difficult to find a rent house and to pay it. The girls refused to borrow money from the university, because of interest, following your Fatwa before.
I think it's necessary that my children finish their study, and because of the dangerous situation nowadays for them as they wear Hijaab; it is a necessity to buy a small house for them in that city, especially because my third child will also study there the coming year, Insha Allah.
As I said above, we couldn't till now find a rent house for them. Question
Can I buy this house? I have a job and I can buy a house via bank, of course with Riba. I've bought before a house in the same way for my family, near my workplace, following the Fatwa of Sheik Qaradhawi. This will be a second house, that's why I want to ask your Fatwa about regarding my question a necessity.
Answer:
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
You are not permitted to purchase a house through usury-taking bank since the situation you mentioned is not a dire necessity for which committing what is forbidden could be permitted.
As you know, the dire necessity for dealing with usury is only when one does not have anything to feed himself and if he does not consume what is forbidden, he may face death or one does not have any cloth to cover himself other than using Riba or he could not find any accommodation to live in. In these critical and dangerous situations one may deal with Riba, otherwise it is not permissible to commit what is what is forbidden in the Sharee’ah.
Allah Says (what means): {…while He has explained to you in detail what is forbidden to you, except under compulsion of necessity? …} [Quran 6:119]
Allah also Says (what means): {… But whoever is forced [by necessity], neither desiring [it] nor transgressing [its limit], there is no sin upon him. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. …} [Quran 2:173]
The Muslim scholars define the necessity that one is in a so serious condition that if he does not consume what is forbidden he may die, or he may face an unbearable hardship or he could not even live as a poor person lives.
When the necessity comes to an end, one has to immediately stop using what is forbidden or dealing in it.
Allah knows best.