Interest and Gambling

Road Accident Fund

Q: The road accident fund agrees to pay a person involved in a motor vehicle accident R100 000 for general damages. This agreement is taken to the high court so it can be made into a court order. The court order is made on 1 january 2017 that the road accident fund will pay the person R100 000. The court order further states: "In the event of the aforesaid amount not being paid timeously, the defendant shall be liable for interest on the amount at the rate of 10.25% per annum, calculated from the 15th calendar day after the date of this order to date of payment." The road accident fund pays the amount after 6 months of the court order and therefore interest is also received on top of the R100 000.

The question is: Is this extra amount received interest according to the shariah?

Woolworths credit card

Q: Woolworths offer a credit card for R69 per month. The benefits are that a person gets free delivery on all orders online.

Secondly, every purchase one makes with the card accumulates 3% cash back. Would it be permissible to use this card, not earn interest nor pay interest, but use the free delivery extensively as well as the quarterly cash back.

Using interest to offset bank charges and disposing of interest money

Q: I have both a current account as well as a savings account at the same bank. On both the accounts, the bank levies bank charges, but the savings account is interest-bearing.

In this situation, can the interest received on the savings account be used to pay the charges levied on both accounts by the bank?

If not, then to whom should the interest be given? Can it be given to non-Muslims and even to street beggars or beggars knocking on doors every week?

Bank dropping off service fees if a certain amount is kept in one's account

Q: I have opened an account in a bank and it offers a free ATM card. One of the features is that if you keep Rs. 25000 in your account then whenever the amount falls below 25k, a certain amount gets deducted on each transaction u make in that month in which the total balance was below 25k. Is it permissible to use such a bank account ?

It is not a saving account but free services like ATM, bankers cheque, sms banking are provided if a certain amount i.e. Rs. 25000.

Banks offering discounts when purchasing at certain outlets

Q: In Pakistan, different banks provide discount offers at different restaurants. E.g. Standard Chartered Bank provided 25% discount offer at Domino's Pizza in all outlets of Pakistan on 9th June, 2018. In some cases its up-to 50%, and sometime discount offered is for both debit and credit card. And few times the card category is restricted i.e. only Platinum and Gold Debit/Credit card holders can avail this offer. Is it halal or haram to avail the discount offer.