Buying a house with mortgage whose interests will be paid back by the government
28-3-2007 | IslamWeb
Question:
As salaamalaykum, In the netherlands, the government gives back the interests that was paid on mortgatge. in such a case is it permissible to take mortgage and buy a house? I don't want to take loan and buy house because of riba and also because I hate loans. I am then always afraid of dying without paying the loan. My husband and my family are always after me to buy a house. I just want to live in rent house. They say you should make property for your children but I feel that my children will buy house for themselves why should I commit such a sin of riba for anyone. Here many muslims have taken mortgage to buy houses even the maulanas. here, we don't have any islamic institutes that provide interest free loans. please advice, jazalallah khair
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 
is His slave and Messenger.
It is forbidden to get a loan with Riba (interest or usury) in order to buy a house unless one is in necessity. Since the person can rent an accommodation without being harmed with regards to other necessities of his, then it is not permissible for him to enter a contract which involves Riba for this purpose [buying a house], and he should not pay attention to people who object to this. For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 84041 and 83536.
Since it is established that it is forbidden to get a loan with Riba, then the ruling does not change because the government will repay the interests to the debtor. It is forbidden for a Muslim to enter a contract which involves Riba without taking into consideration whether or not he will get back what he had paid. For more benefit, please refer to Fatwa 90131.