What is meant by riba? Now, in Islam, if even a speck of interest/riba (interest is not only monetary in Islam) is mixed with your money, the whole money is affected. Now consider it in the case of a country, money is money, mixed together, interest or interest-free. So, this question will only be valid if the state denounces interest. If existing currencies, operations, treasury, process, risk mitigation tools, fractional reserve banking system, administrative discrepancies and other violation of Islamic Teachings e.t.c remains in these so-called “Islamic” Banks, then it’s the religious obligation of every Muslim to proclaim loud And clear: Islamic Banking Is HARAM. Make Pakistan a Riba Free State. Until then, nothing is interest-free.
Conclusive Remarks
This is a big discussion and in the end, it’s your mental settlement. Now if we talk about comparison, Islamic banking is a better option than conventional banking until we find its truer version. My belief is that current Islamic banking is a nicely engineered facade over conventional banking. Don’t go for it. Especially investments like mutual f***s and life insurance policies. Mufti Taqi Usmani who granted Fatwa against hoarding Dollars endorsed Islamic Banking. So if you trust him then trust Islamic banking as described in “Islamic Bankari” Book by Mufti Taqi Usmani. If anyone thinks he has more knowledge than Taqi Usmani (not the gold standard) then he/should not trust it. Because then again, Islamic Banks also perform currency trading. At least, that is what the history of Islamic banking tells.
