Fatwa bans Indian Muslims to work in banks

A powerful Islamic seminary in northern India has issued a fatwa, or decree, against Muslims working in banks, a spokesman said yesterday, deeming it a violation of Islamic law.
The ruling by the Darul-Uloom Deoband, India's oldest Sunni-run seminary, in northern Uttar Pradesh state, was issued last week but made public Friday, Mufti Shakeel of the "Fatwa" department said.
"According to the tenets of Islam, Muslims must not work in banks because as employees they would have to deal with transactions involving interest and also make interest entries in bank ledgers," Shakeel said by telephone from Saharanpur district, 450 kilometres (280 miles) from Lucknow.