Interest money

Interest

Q: Interest is considered to be a strong haraam and a grave sin, but isn't interest needed as a fundamental basis for starting a bank and being able to
hand out loans?

Giving bribes

Q: Although bribes are prohibited in Islam the situation in my country is such that the government officials depend on bribes without which our work does not get done and we suffer the consciences of the work not getting done. In other words it is a ZULM on us from which we have no escape. Under these circumstances can one utilise interest money to overcome this situation. Please advice.

How to dispose of interest

Q: I have an amount in a savings account and I am getting interest for it. Is it Haraam? I never used it but whenever I receive interest, I used to give
it to poor people what ever I received. Is it accepted in Islam? Will there be any benefit? Is it haraam for the poor people whoever receives interest amount from us?

Offsetting interest from one bank with interest received from another bank

Q: I have an account with absa and one with Standardbank. I receive interest from one account because of excess funds and from time to time I am charged interest from the the other bank. For example, this past few months, I received interest of R500 from Absa but I was charged to pay interest to Standard bank to an amount of R600. My question is: Can I offset it from the interest that I was given by another bank?