Can One Take a Conventional Mortgage If Islamic Financing Is Not Available?

We have some money and we were thinking of buying a house on mortgage monthly payment of which will be relatively cheaper than paying rent and we will ourselves be living in that house. We went to our bank, HSBC and they said that Scottish law doesn't support Islamic Finance, also I called an Islamic housing finance company in England, who said they don't run their operations in Scotland. What should we do?

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful,

Being involved in Riba or purchasing a house on a conventional mortgage is decisively prohibited in Shariah, as many texts of the Qur’an and Sunnah clearly indicate. No sin has been given a more severe warning than that which is promised for the one who involves himself in Riba. Allah and His Messenger (Allah bless him & give him peace) have declared war on those who involve themselves in this evil sin.

The position of the Majority of the scholars, such as Shaykh Taqi Usmani, Shaykh al-Buti and many others, remains the same, in that it is not permitted for one to purchase a house on a conventional mortgage, unless there is a grave and dire necessity. Shaykh Muhammad Sa’id Ramadhan al-Buti of Damascus states:

“The necessity which allows usurious loans is the same necessity which allows eating the meat of a dead animal, pig and the like, in which case the one necessitated is exposed to perish from hunger, nakedness or losing lodging. Such is the necessity, which makes prohibitions lawful”.

Your situation does not seem to be one of extreme necessity; hence, it would not be permitted for you and your husband to purchase a house on a conventional mortgage. If you are not able to find interest-free loans from family and friends, you will have to reside in a house on rent. If the rent is too high, you have no alternative but to look for a property where the rent is relatively cheaper. The only way purchasing a house on a conventional mortgage would become permitted is that you have no accommodation in any way, shape or form, and you fear that you will have to live on the streets without a roof over your head. However, this is far-fetched, especially in the West, as there are many ways of getting temporary or permanent accommodation.

And Allah knows best

Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari
Darul Iftaa, Leicester, UK