Money transfers are of various types:
1. The client ({^ The term client in this article denotes an individual who holds an account at the bank or an individual who refers to the bank for a service.^}) who has deposited money with the bank, requests the bank to issue a banker’s cheque or a money order written out to a participating bank, which may be located within or outside the country. He may also request the bank to transfer an amount to another branch of the bank in a different city or country, and the client would acquire that amount in that location. In this case, the bank has the right to collect a fee for performing these tasks.
The act of collecting a fee can be legalized by noting that since the bank is not obligated by the shari’a to pay the deposited amount to the client in a different city or country, and reserves the right to abstain from paying the client in a place other than the place where the money was deposited, it may collect a fee from the client for relinquishing this right and paying the amount to him in another city or country.
1. The client has not deposited any money with the bank. However, the bank issues a cheque or a money order so that a participating bank may give a loan to its client within the country or outside the country. The bank may also want the manager of another branch (of the same bank) to give this client a loan. This act is an act wherein the issuing bank deputizes its counterpart or the manager of another branch to give a loan to its client, or deputizes the client to acquire the money and possesses it as a loan. The bank may therefore collect a fee from the client for the act of deputizing.
In the event that the aforementioned sum is paid in a foreign country in a foreign currency, and the client loans the amount from the bank in the manner that was mentioned above, the bank reserves the right to demand the debt in the foreign currency. It may choose to relinquish its right in return for a specific fee. It may also choose to exchange the foreign currency for the local currency for a specific return.
3. A client deposits a sum of money with the bank so that he may acquire an equivalent amount within the country or in a foreign country. For example, he deposits an amount with the bank in Najaf, so that he may withdraw it in Baghdad, Syria, Lebanon or any other foreign country. In turn the bank charges a fee for rendering this service. This service offered by the bank, and acquiring a fee for it is permissible. The reason for the permissibility of this act is that the forbidden interest in a loan is the extra amount that the creditor takes from the debtor. However, if the debtor takes an extra amount from the creditor, it is entirely permissible. In the event that the two sums are of two different currencies, such as the Canadian dollar and the British pound, the bank may sell the foreign currency for a higher amount of the local currency.
4. A client acquires some money from the bank in one location, and thereafter without any compulsion or request from the bank, the client requests to pay that amount to the bank at another location. The bank in turn charges a fee for accepting this request. In this case, it will be permissible to acquire this fee in one of two ways:
I. If the two sums are of two different currencies, such as a person who acquires Canadian dollars from the bank, and in return the bank accepts the amount in another currency, then in effect the bank is exchanging the non-Canadian currency along with the fee, for the sum that it gave to the client.
II. Since the bank is not obligated by the shari’a to accept the given amount at another location, and has the right to reject the request of the client, it may choose to charge the client a fee for relinquishing its right.
2860. The various forms of money transfers by the bank, and the corresponding jurisprudential designations that were applied to it, are also applicable in the case of individuals. An example of this is a case wherein an individual loans an amount of money in a particular location to another individual, so that he may acquire the sum or its equivalent at another location, along with an additional amount. Another example is if he takes an amount at a location from an individual, and returns its equivalent along with a little extra in another city or another country.
2861. In the case of money transfers, it makes no difference if the one transferring the money has a sum deposited with the individual or the bank which will transfer the money for him, or not. In both cases, the transfer of money is valid.
