Can he get rid of interest by giving it to his brother who is in debt?
Question

                I put some money in the bank in return for interest, and I want to purify (my wealth) of this interest by giving it to my brother who is responsible for himself and his family, and also owes money to one of his friends. He borrowed the money to buy a piece of land on which to build a house for his family, as his current accommodation is not big enough for him and his family, and his house will have only two rooms, and there are seven people in his family. Is it permissible for me to do that?.
Praise be to Allah.Firstly: 
Putting 
    money in the bank for interest is emphatically forbidden, and is a major 
    sin. Allaah says (interpretation of the meaning): 
“O you 
    who believe! Be afraid of Allaah and give up what remains (due to you) from 
    Ribaa (from now onward) if you are (really) believers.
279. And 
    if you do not do it, then take a notice of war from Allaah and His Messenger 
    but if you repent, you shall have your capital sums. Deal not unjustly (by 
    asking more than your capital sums), and you shall not be dealt with 
    unjustly (by receiving less than your capital sums)”

    [al-Baqarah 2:278-279]
It is not 
    permissible to put money in a riba-based bank except if there is the fear 
    that the money may be stolen etc, if there is no other means of protecting 
    the money except by putting it in the bank. In that case it is enough for 
    him to put it in a current account that does not bear any interest, because 
    in cases of necessity, things that are ordinarily forbidden may be 
    permitted, but only to the extent that is necessary. 
Secondly: 
If a person 
    has engaged in riba, then he has to repent to Allaah by giving up the sin, 
    regretting what he has done, resolving not to go back to it, and getting rid 
    of the haraam interest by spending it on charitable causes. He is not 
    allowed to benefit from it himself or spend it on those on whom he is 
    obliged to spend. 
Shaykh ‘Abd 
    al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz (may Allaah have mercy on him) said: With regard to the 
    interest that the bank has given to you, do not give it back to the bank and 
    do not consume it yourself; rather spend it on charitable causes, such as 
    giving it to the poor, repairing public washrooms, and helping debtors who 
    are unable to pay off their debts. End quote from Fataawa Islamiyyah 
    (2/407). 
Thirdly: 
It is 
    permissible for you to get rid of this interest by giving it to your brother 
    who is in need, on condition that it is not obligatory for you to spend on 
    him, so that that will not be a trick to enable you to benefit from it and 
    save your own money that you would spend on him if you had to. A man is 
    obliged to spend on his brother if three conditions are met: 

    1-The one who is spending would 
    inherit from the one on whom he is spending if the latter died. But if the 
    brother would not inherit from his brother because the father is there or 
    because the brother has a male child, then spending on him is not 
    obligatory.

    2-The brother on whom he is 
    spending is in need and is unable to earn enough to make him independent of 
    means.

    3-The one who is spending should 
    have wealth that is surplus to his own needs and those of his wife and 
    children.
If these 
    conditions are met, then it is obligatory for a man to spend on his 
    brother. 
See also the 
    answer to question no. 6026. 
Fourthly: 
There is 
    nothing wrong with getting rid of this interest by giving it to your brother 
    to pay off his debts, even if it is obligatory for you to spend on him, 
    because a man is not obliged to pay off his relative’s debt in all cases, 
    whether it is his father, brother or anyone else. Hence the most correct 
    view concerning zakaah is that it is permissible to give zakaah to parents 
    and siblings to pay off their debts, as was the view favoured by Shaykh 
    al-Islam [Ibn Taymiyah] and others. 
See: 
    al-Ikhtiyaaraat al-Fiqhiyyah, p. 104. 
For more 
    information, see question no. 
    39175. 
Conclusion: 
    It is permissible for you to give the interest to your brother to pay off 
    his debts, whether you are obliged to spend on him or not. 
As for 
    giving him the interest to spend on himself and his family, not to pay off 
    his debts, that is permissible so long as it is not obligatory for you to 
    spend on him. 
And Allaah 
    knows best.