Question Summary:
Response to objection made regarding Fatwa 26551

Question Detail:

As sallaamu alykum
 
I read a QnA today Fatwa #26551 (South Africa).
 
It was posted in 2013 already, however I have a follow up question based on the response from the Aalim that gave the reply.
 
In the reply the aalim mentioned that interest can be used to pay interest provided in it given back to the original owner.
 
In the scenario given, the bank is not the original owner, it is the person who invested the money with the bank. The bank used that person,s money to lend it out to other persons.
 
It will not be permissible to give the interest back to the bank but to give interest to the original person who invested the money with the bank. Which would be almost impossible to trace.
 
Is my thinking correct in that the reply by the aalim is not 100 % accurate?
 

Answer :

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
As-salāmu ‘alaykum wa-rahmatullāhi wa-barakātuh.
The response of the Aalim in reference was correct.
The Aalim in reference stated: “the interest money must be returned to its original owner”. 
Contextually the original owner refers to the person from whom one has received the interest^[i]. In this case, it is the bank.
And Allah Ta’āla Knows Best
Muhammed Al-Ameen Bin Moulana Ismail Akoo
Student Darul Iftaa
Newcastle; KZN, South Africa
Checked and Approved by,
Mufti Ebrahim Desai.