455. After the emphasis on charity the outlawing of interest is now being discussed, which is the opposite of charity and almsgiving, Charity begets in men the feelings of sympathy, generosity, kindness, sacrifice and love for Allah but interest creates in men selfishness miserliness unkindness and love for money. Therefore where Quran has directed to spend money in the cause of Allah and in charity, there it also asks men to abstain from taking interest.

456. In the text the word used is ‘Riba’ whose literal meaning is increase and addition. It implies that increase or addition which result from the time given for repayment of loan, which is called ‘interest’. Interest is absolutely different from trade and is totally forbidden by Islam. Therefore, the interest, which results from the dealings either with an individual money-lender or a bank and is taken either from a poor man or a rich person; and the relevant loan which might have been given for business purposes or for public welfare will come under interest and its unlawfulness or being forbidden will not be affected in the least. It may be noted that in the Divine Books interest is forbidden from the beginning. Accordingly, the Torah states: “If you lend money to any of my people with you who is poor, you shall not be to him as a creditor and you shall not exact interest from him.” (Exodus, 22. 25.)

“you shall not lend upon interest to your brother, interest on money, interest on victuals, interest on anything that is lent for interest.” (Deuteronomy: 23. 19.)

“Who does not put out his money at interest and does not take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these thing’ shall never be moved.” (Psalms: 15.5.).

“Does not lend at interest or take any increase, withholds his hand from iniquity, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes and is careful to observe my ordinances–he is righteous he shall surely live, says the Lord God. If he begets a son who is a robber, a shedder of blood, who does, none of these duties, but eats upon the mountains, defiles his neighbours wife, oppresses the poor and needy, commits robbery, does not restore the pledge, lifts up his eyes to the idols commits abomination, lends at interest and takes increase; shall he then live ? He shall not live, He has done all these abominable things; he shall surely die, his blood shall be upon himself. But if this man begets a son who sees all the sins which his father has done and fears and does not do likewise, who does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbour’s wife, does not wrong anyone, exacts no pledge, commits no robbey but gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, withholds his hand from iniquity, takes no interest or increase, observes my ordinances and walk in my statutes; he shall not die for his father’s iniquity; he shall surely live.” (Ezekiel 18. 8-17).

The children of Israel wrongfully amended the original command of Torah and had made taking of interest lawful. In the Book of Deuteronomy (Bible) it is written :–

“To a foreigner you may lend upon interest but to your brother you shall not lend upon interest; that the Lord your God may bless you in all that you undertake in the land which you are entering to take possession of it. (Deuteronomy: 23.20)

On this conduct of theirs, Quran has offered this criticism :

“They say that we will not be answerable in the matter of non-believers:’ (Al-i-Imran. 75)

The teaching of Quran is that wrong dealing is not justified with anyone, whether he is a Muslim or a non-Muslim and taking usury or interest is the biggest wrong-dealing and therefore there is no justification for devouring the wealth of the non-Muslim by charging them interest. Those who are influenced by the modern economics explain the Quranic ‘Riba’ as interest which may be taken from the poor and needy persons for loans given to them for meeting their basic needs. As regards the interest on loans taken for business purposes, they say that there was no system of such loans at that time nor is it forbidden by the Quran. But the fact is that both these assumptions are wrong: the system of business loans had been prevalent during the ancient times e.g. in Babylon during the time of Hammurabi this system was prevalent. (Vide Encyclopaedia of Religions and Ethics Vol.12, page 555).

With regard to forbidding it or otherwise by the Quran, the Quran has forbidden interest generally, which includes all types of interest, whether it is taken from the needy or from big business, whether its rate is ordinary or exhorbitant and whether it comes under the definition of interest or usury.

457. Standing here means standing from the grave or rising from the grave on the Day or Resurrection.

458. Devil’s touch means the influence of the devil which affects the heart and mind of a man as a result of which a man becomes mad for the love of money and wealth. Such a person acts like a mad man where collecion of money is concerned and he forgets that he is sucking the blood of the poor and is trampling the noble emotions of sympathy and good- fellow-feeling. Besides, he is exerting a very bad influence on the economic condition of the country. When these men would rise on the Day of Resurrection, they would have, on account of the blood of the poor that they were sucking in the form of interest, their brains would be out of order and they would be have like mad men. And when they will see that their efforts in increasing their wealth by taking more and more interest has been in vain and cause of their downfall then their condition will be of mad persons.

459. Those who considered interest as equivalent or similar to trade are not only the modern economists but also some “Intelligent” people who existed even during the time when the holy Quran was being revealed, although the two types of persons are totally different from one another. It is however a fact that persons who considered interest a curse for the society existed in the olden days also as they exist today,

Accordingly, Aristotle while denouncing interest, had stated:–

“Money does not breed” (Encyclopaedia of Social Sciences, Vol. VIII Pe. 131 ). The present day socialists also consider that interest is unjust and tyrannical against the poor and labourers.

“By interest then the socialist claims the rich are made richer and the poor, poorer and the stability of the social organism is disturbed – the evil that Melamchthon had feared.” (Ency. of R.E. Vol. 12 – p. 554)

“Usury has come to mean exhorbitant interest but the legitimacy of interest is still debated. The early attacks on usury were motivated by the Church’s sympathy with the oppressed poor – the latest attack finds its strength in the plea that interest is an unjust tax on the labouring classes.” (do -p. 554).

“Interest is the unpaid wage of the labourer.” (do -p. 554)

460. The reasons for forbidding usury or interest are as under : –

(1) Interest is that profit which the moneylender takes from the debtor for the use of his money.

“Interest in its primary meaning is the payment for the use of money. (Ency. of S.S. Vol. VIII p. 131).

From this it becomes quite clear that the dealings involving usury are not trade or commerce as in these dealings no articles are either purchased or sold but the capital is given for use. It is not even rent because the thing which is taken on rent remains in its original form and is returned to its owner in the same form. But in the dealings concerning usury the debtor spends the capital and when he returns it to the moneylender he does not return the same money but he returns some other amount. Therefore it is not correct to call it rent. It is therefore evident that in the known sense of the word interest is neither trade nor rent of what then the profit is taken? The justification for its being forbidden is self-evident.

(2) In the trade there is a chance of loss as well as of profit. Therefore, a man has to take risk in trade. But the man who takes interest does not have to take any risk because the payment of the capital with the interest is assured.

(3) In trade a man has to spend his physical and intellectual energies but for taking interest a man gets profit without spending any physical or intellectual energy. For this reason a man avoids doing any physical work and wants to take the easy way of investing money in interestyielding dealing. This system is wrong and harmful both from the moral and economic point of view.

Moreover, the impression which the debtor has about the money lender is not favourable. He considers interest as an additional burden on himself, which is an indication that human nature despises interest and considers it wrong, whereas no such impression of a trader who sells his goods on reasonable profit is carried by the poorest of the consumers. In short, interest is the name of the system which allows blood-sucking of the poor and of their exploitation by the capitalist section. The loans which are given on interest for the purpose of carrying on business are also a burden on the poor because a businessman or a trader takes into consideration the account of interest he has to pay in fixing the prices of his articles to be sold.

461. The declaration of permanent punishment of being thrown into fire for the dealers in interest is an indication that taking interest is a more serious sin than other sins. And in spite of this clear warning if people do not obey Allah’s command and persist in taking interest, then this attitude of theirs is a definite proof of their disobedience and rebellion against Allah because such a conduct is not commensurate with belief in Allah.

462. Apparently the capital increases with interest and diminishes with charity but in reality it increases with charity and decreases with interest, This increase and decrease is In relation to the final reckoning on the Day of Judgment. Accordingly, the interest-taker will himself see on the Day of Judgment that in this world the capital which he has been striving to increase by charging interest and has been depositing lakhs of rupees in the bank will be of no use to him, as the balance in his account to be reckoned by Allah will be zero and his share then will be total disappointment and frustration.

As against this, those persons who had been giving money without any interest will be deriving their reward for their good acts. Particularly those who have been spending their wealth in the cause of Allah will find their capital duly deposited in the bank of the Hereafter and not only the amounts thus spent by them but many times more than what they spent in Allah’s way. This will be the result in the Hereafter. As regards the consequences in this world, interest destroys virtue and blessing and exerts an adverse influence on the economy of the society. On the other hand charity promotes blessing and virtue and exerts a healthy influence on the society’s economy.

463. The dealer in interest is ungrateful in as much as he uses wealth given by Allah in contravention of Allah’s commands. He is also a usurper of the rights of others in as much as he commits tyranny and aggression against his fellow-beings.

464. By means of these verses, which belong to the last period of revelations made in Madina, a legal ban has been imposed on interest and the interest-takers are ultimately warned that in the Islamic system the position of dealers in interest is that of disrupters and rebels and that the government may penalise the interest-takers by passing death sentence against them. This special aspect of the Islamic system that there is no scope for dealings in interest makes it distinctly different from the Capitalist system in which dealing in interest is the backbone of that system.

The prohibting of interest and it being outlawed was very forcefully stated by the Prophet (P.b.u.h.) in his speech on his last Hajj in the following words:

Interest of pre-Islamic days (Jahiliya) is declared void. The first of all interests which I declare void is the interest payable to a family member of mine, Abbas Ibn Abdul Muttalib – that has been declared totally void.” (Muslim-Kitab-Al- Hajj),

465. In the olden times if the debtor was unable to pay the debt he was in the danger of losing his freedom. Accordingly on his being unable to repay the debt, he or his wife or children were made slaves. But Quran stopped these harsh punishments saying :

“If the debtor is in difficulty, then give him time till better times.” In view of this command, those persons who are unable to repay their debts due to straitened circumstances, should be given time; they can neither be made slaves nor can their residential houses, cooking utensils and personal clothes be attached.