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Is it permissible to take out a housing loan with diminishing interest from a commercial bank, where the bank pays the agreed-upon price of the dwelling to the seller after the property becomes owned by the buyer and mortgaged to the bank?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

This transaction is Islamically prohibited due to its inclusion of an interest-bearing loan. The bank lends the customer the price of the house for them to repay it in installments with a pre-agreed interest increase. This is precisely the usury (riba) forbidden by the explicit texts of the Qur'an and Sunnah. It is obligatory to be wary of such a loan. "And whoever fears Allah – He will make for him a way out and will provide for him from where he does not expect."

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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