298. Here the discourse turns to the subject touched upon in verses 244 ff.
above. Believers were urged to sacrifice life and property for the sake of the
great cause in which they believed. It is difficult, however, to persuade those
whose standard of judgement in respect of economic matters has not completely
changed, to rise above either personal or narrow group interests and dispense
their wealth wholeheartedly for the sake of a righteous cause. People who have
a materialistic outlook and whose life constitutes an uninterrupted pursuit
of money, who adore every single penny they have, and who can never stop thinking
about their balance sheets can never have the capacity to do anything really
effective for the sake of higher ideals. When such people apparently do spend
money for the sake of higher moral ideals, it is merely an outward act which
is performed after carefully calculating the material benefits which are likely
to accrue either to them, to their group or to their nation. With this outlook
a person cannot go one step forward along the path of that religion which requires
man to become indifferent to considerations of worldly profit and loss, and constantly
to spend time, energy and money to make the Word of God reign supreme.
To follow such a course requires a moral outlook of an altogether different
kind; it requires breadth of vision and magnanimity and, above all, an exclusive
devotion to God. At the same time it requires that man's collective life should
be so re-moulded as to become conducive to the growth of the moral qualities
mentioned above rather than to the growth of a materialistic outlook and behaviour.
Hence the three succeeding sections i.e. (verses 261-81 - Ed.)are devoted to
enunciating instructions designed to foster such an outlook.
299. A great many expenditures fall under the category of spending 'in the way of Allah', as long as this is done according to the laws of God and with the intention of seeking His good pleasure. This includes spending one's wealth to fulfil one's legitimate needs, to provide for one's family, to look after the needs of relatives, to help the needy and to contribute to the general welfare and to spread the true religion and so on.
300. The greater the sincerity and the more intense the feeling with which one spends for the sake of God, the greater will be God's reward. It is not difficult at all for God, Who blesses a grain so that out of it seven hundred grains grow, to allow one's charity to grow in like manner so that the unit of money one spends will return seven hundred fold. This statement is followed by a mention of two of God's attributes. First is His munificence. His Hand is not clenched so as to restrain Him from recompensing man for his deeds to the fullest extent that he deserves. Second, God is All-Knowing. He is not unaware of what one spends and the spirit in which one spends. So there is no reason to fear that one will not receive one's due reward.
301. They need not fear that they will not be amply rewarded or that they will have any reason to feel remorse for spending in the way of God.
302 This implies two things. First, Allah does not stand in need of anybody's charity, for He is Self-Sufficient. Secondly, He likes those people who are generous and large-hearted, but does not like frivolous and narrow-minded people, for He Himself is Generous, Clement and Forbearing. How, then Allah, Who bestows on the people the necessities of life without stint, and forgives and pardons them over and over again in spite of their errors, would like those who mar the self-respect of a person by sending repeated reminders of their charity and making pointed references to it even though they might have given only a farthing. A Tradition of the Holy Prophet says that on the Day of Resurrection, Allah will neither speak a word nor even so much as look at a person who makes pointed references to the gift he gave to some one.
303. The desire to display one's good deeds itself proves that the person concerned does not truly believe in God and the Hereafter. One who does good merely in order to impress people with his righteousness clearly regards those persons as his god. Such a person neither expects reward from God nor is he concerned that his good deeds will some day be reckoned to his credit.
304. In this parable, 'heavy rain' signifies charity, and 'rock' the wicked intent and motive which lie behind external acts of charity. The expression, 'with a thin coating of earth upon it' signifies the external aspect of charity which conceals the wicked intent and motive of a man. These explanations make the significance and purport of the parable clear. The natural effect of rainfall should be the growth of plants and harvest. But if the earth, which is the repository of fertility, is insignificant in quantity, for example only a coating of it on some rock, the result will be that instead of yielding any beneficial result the rainfall may even prove harmful. Similarly, charity has the capacity to generate goodness and benevolence in human beings. Man's potential for goodness, however, is conditional on sincerity. Devoid of that charity leads to sheer loss and waste.
305. Here the term kafir is used in the sense of the ungrateful person who refuses to acknowledge benevolence. People who either make use of the bounties of God in order to seek the gratitude of God's creatures rather than God's good pleasure, or who spend on others and then hurt them by stressing their acts of benevolence and kindness, are ungrateful to God for His bounties and favours. Since such people do not seek to please God, God does not care to direct them to the way that leads to His good pleasure.
306. 'Heavy rain' signifies here charity motivated by a high degree of benevolence and sincerity. 'Light shower' refers to charity deficient in sincerity and goodness, though not altogether devoid of them.
307. It is obvious that a man does not like to see the earnings of his lifetime destroyed in his old age, when he needs them badly and when he can no longer earn. How is it, then, that he can contemplate stepping into the realm of the Hereafter and finding suddenly that he is empty-handed; that he has sown nothing from which he can reap the fruit? In the Next World there will he no opportunity to begin earning anew. Whatever one can do towards ensuring one's well-being in the Hereafter must he done in this world. If one devotes oneself totally to the pursuit of the riches of this world rather than to the Hereafter, one's situation will be as pitiable as that of the age-stricken man whose orchard (his source of income in his old age) is reduced to ashes too late for him to produce a new one.
308. It is obvious that He Who is invested with the best attributes cannot be appreciative of those possessed of low and evil qualities. God is, for instance, Generous and Beneficent, and constantly showers His favours and bounties on His creatures. How is it possible for Him, then, to love those who are mean, niggardly and vicious?
309. 'Wisdom' signifies sound perception and sound judgement. The purpose of this statement is to point out that one who is possessed of wisdom will follow God's path rather than that of Satan. The followers of Satan believe that it is the height of wisdom and shrewdness to be constantly concerned with saving out of one's earnings, and to be perpetually on the look-out for higher income. But for those endowed with Divine perception such an attitude is sheer folly. True wisdom consists in using one's resource moderately to meet one's needs and in spending whatever is left for charitable purposes. It may be possible for a person who does not spend for charitable purposes to attain a much greater degree of worldy prosperity than others. The life of this world, however, is only a fraction of man's total life which is not limited to the confines of this world. One who risks the well-being of his eternal existence for the sake of highly transient well-being in this world is indeed a fool. The truly wise person is he who makes full use of the tenure of this life and invests his resources in prosperity in this life that will never cease.
310. Whether or not a man spends in the way of God, and whether or not he
vows to spend in the way of God, God is fully aware both of his intentions and
deeds. All those who either spend for the sake of God or vow to spend for the
sake of God will be adequately rewarded. As for those who have either spent
or have vowed to spend for others than God, no one will save them from God's
chastisement.
'Vow' means either a man's pledge to spend something or to perform some act
of goodness which is not obligatory on him providing a particular wish of his
is fulfilled. Provided that this vow is related to some wish which is in itself
permissible and good and that the person concerned makes it to none but God
and for the sake of God, then such a vow will be reckoned as an act of obedience
to God and its fulfilment will be worthy of reward. Otherwise such a vow will
be seen as an act of disobedience and sin and its fulfilment will invite punishment
from God.
311. If charity is of an obligatory nature it is preferable to dispense it openly. Non-obligatory charity should preferably be dispensed secretly. This principle applies to all acts. As a rule, it is more meritorious to perform obligatory acts openly and non-obligatory acts of goodness, secretly .
312. The performance of good deeds in secret leads to the continual improvement of one's life and character. One's good qualities develop fully and one's bad qualities gradually wither away. This makes a man so acceptable to God that He pardons the sins that he might have committed.
313. In the beginning Muslims tended to hesitate in helping either their non-Muslim relatives or other non-Muslims who were in need. They thought that helping Muslims only constituted 'spending in the way of Allah'. This verse rejects this attitude. The purpose of this verse is to point out that Muslims are not responsible for forcing true guidance down the throats of people; conveying the message of Truth to people absolves them of the obligation incumbent upon them. It is, then, for God either to favour the recipients of the message with true perception or not. In addition Muslims should not shrink from helping their relatives in the affairs of the world on the ground that they are not following the true guidance; they will he rewarded by God for whatever help they render to needy persons for the sake of God.
314. The people referred to here are those who, because they had dedicated themselves wholly to serving the religion of God, were unable to earn their livelihood. In the time of the Prophet there was a group of such volunteer workers, known as Ashab al-Suffah, consisting of about three or four hundred people who had forsaken their homes and gone to Madina. They remained at all times in the company, of the Prophet, always at his beck and call to perform whatever service he required of them. They were dispatched by the Prophet on whatever expeditions he wished. Whenever there was nothing to do elsewhere, they stayed in Madina and devoted themseleves to acquiring religious knowledge and imparting it to others. Since they were full-time workers and had no private resources to meet their needs, God pointed out to the Muslims that helping such people was the best way of 'spending in the way of Allah'.
315. The term riba in Arabic means 'to grow, to exceed, to increase'. Technically, it denotes the amount that a lender receives from a borrower at a fixed rate of interest. At the time of the revelation of the Qur'an several forms of interest transactions were in vogue and were designated as riba by the Arabs. Of these one was that the vendor sold an article and fixed a time limit for the payment of the price, stipulating that if the buyer failed to pay within the specified period of time, he would extend the time limit but increase the price of the article. Another was that a man loaned a sum of money to another person and stipulated that the borrower should return a specified amount in excess of the amount loaned within a given time limit. A third form of interest transaction was that the borrower and vendor agreed that the former would repay the loan within a certain limit at a fixed rate of interest, and that if he failed to do so within the limit, the lender would extend the time limit, but at the same time would increase the rate of interest. It is to transactions such as these that the injunctions mentioned here apply.
316. The Arabs used the word majnun (possessed by the jinn) to characterize the insane. The Qur'an uses the same expression about those who take interest. Just as an insane person, unconstrained by ordinary reason, resorts to all kinds of immoderate acts, so does one who takes interest. He pursues his craze for money as if he were insane. He is heedless of the fact that interest cuts the very roots of human love, brotherhood and fellow-feeling, and undermines the welfare and happiness of human society, and that his enrichment is at the expense of the well-being of many other human beings. This is the state of his 'insanity' in this world: since a man will rise in the Hereafter in the same state in which he dies in the present world, he will be resurrected as a lunatic.
317. The unsoundness of this view lies in not differentiating between the
profit one gains on investment in commercial enterprises on the one hand, and
interest on the other. As a result of this confusion, the proponents of this
view argue that if profit on money invested in a business enterprise is permissible,
why should the profit accruing on loaned money be deemed unlawful? Similar
arguments
are advanced by those who thrive on interest in our own times. Their argument
runs as follows: A person who could have profitably invested his money in a
commercial enterprise loans it out to somebody who, in turn, makes a profit
out of it. In such circumstances why should the borrower not pay the lender
a part of the profit? Such people, however, disregard the fact that no enterprise
in which a man participates, whether it is commercial, industrial or agricultural,
and whether one participates in it with one's organizing skill or capital, or
by both, is immune from risk. No enterprise carries absolutely guaranteed profit
at a fixed rate. What is the justification, then, for the fact that out of all
the people in the business world, the financier alone should be considered entitled
to a profit at a fixed rate in all circumstances, and should be protected against
all possibility of loss?
Let us set aside for a moment the questions of non-profitable loans and vacillations
in the rate of profit. Let us consider only the question of loans for profitable
enterprises, and confine our consideration to loans made at non-exorbitant rates
of interest. The question, however, remains: Which rational principle, which
logic, which canon of justice and which sound economic principle can justify
that those who spend their time, energy, capacity and resources, and whose effort
and skill make a business thrive, are not guaranteed profit at any fixed rate,
whereas those who merely lend out their funds are fully secured against all
risks of loss and are guaranteed profit at a fixed rate? And which principle
can justify the fact that a man lends out his funds to an industrial concern
and fixes, say for the next twenty years, that he will be entitled to receive
each year a given per cent interest on his capital, while the proprietors of
the industrial concern have no means of foretelling the price changes affecting
their commodity, and hence their profit? Let us consider another case, namely
that of war loans. How can it be appropriate that all classes of people endure
all kinds of losses and are exposed to all kinds of risks and dangers connected
with war, whereas the financiers, simply by having made loans, continue to receive
Interest on them for long periods of time, sometimes even for a whole century?
318. The essential difference between non-interest business transactions
and interest-bearing transactions rests on the following grounds:
(1) In ordinary business transactions there occurs a mutually equitable exchange
of benefits between the buyer and the seller. The buyer derives benefit from
the article which he purchases from the seller; the seller receives compensation
for the effort, ingenuity and time spent on making the article available to
the buyer. In interest-bearing transactions, on the other hand, the exchange
of benefits does not take place equitably. The interest receiving party, receives
a fixed amount as a payment for using the loan he advances and thus his gain
is secured. The other party to the transaction has only one thing at his disposal
- a period of time during which he can make use of the funds loaned, and which
may not always yield a profit. If such a person spends the borrowed funds on
consumption, there is obviously no question of profit. Even if the funds are
invested in trade, agriculture or industry, one stands the chance both of making
a profit and of incurring a loss during the period of time in question. Hence
an interest-bearing transaction entails either a loss on one side and a profit
on the other, or an assured and fixed profit on one side and an uncertain and
unspecified profit on the other.
(2) In business enterprises the profit that a person makes, however large it
may be, is made only once. The person who lends out money on interest receives,
on the contrary, an on-going profit which multiplies with the passage of time.
Moreover, however large the extent of the profit made by the borrower from the
loaned money it will still be within certain limits, while the claims of the
lender in return for this profit are unlimited. It is even possible that the
lender may seize the entire turnover of the borrower if he defaults on payment,
thus depriving him of all the resources from which he makes his living. It is
also possible that even after the lender has seized all the property of the
borrower, his claims will still remain unsatisfied.
(3) In a business deal, the transaction ends with the exchange between a commodity
and its price. After this exchange has taken place, no obligation remains on
either party towards the other. If the transaction is that of rent, the thing
rented (e.g. land or building) is not consumed but is rather used and remains
intact, and is returned to the owner after a stipulated period of time. In a
transaction involving interest, however, what actually happens is that the borrower
first spends the loaned funds, then reclaims them with his efforts, returning
them to the lender together with a surplus.
(4) In agriculture and industry, and in trade and commerce, one makes a profit
after having expended one's effort, intelligence and time. In an interest-bearing
transaction, on the contrary, one becomes entitled to a sizeable share in the
earnings of others without any toil and effort, by merely allowing someone to
make use of one's surplus money. The lender is neither a 'partner' in the technical
sense of the term, for he does not share both the profit and the loss, nor is
his share in proportion to the actual profit.
There is thus a tremendous difference from an economic point of view between
business transactions as such and interest- bearing transactions. Whereas the
former plays a highly constructive role in human society, the latter leads to
its corrosion. This is in addition to its moral implications. By its very nature
interest breeds meanness, selfishness, apathy and cruelty towards others. It
leads to the worship of money and destroys fellow-feeling and a spirit of altruistic
co-operation between man and man. Thus it is ruinous for mankind from both an
economic and a moral viewpoint.
319. What is said here is not that man will be pardoned by God for the interest taken in the past, but that it is for God to judge him. The expression: 'may keep his previous gains' does not signify absolute pardon from God for the interest one has taken, rather it points to the legal concession that has been made. It only means that no legal claim will be made for the interest taken in the past. For were such claims to be entertained, an endless succession of litigation would ensue. From a moral point of view, however, the earnings made by way of interest would continue to be impure. If a person is really God-fearing and if his economic and moral viewpoint has really undergone a change under the influence of Islam, he will try to abstain from spending on himself the income which he has obtained by illegitimate means. He will also try to seek out those from whom he has derived illegitimate earnings and will try to return those earnings to such people; if he is unable to locate them, he will try to spend them on collective welfare rather than on himself. It is this conduct alone which can save him from the punishment of God. As for one who continues to enjoy his illegitimate earnings, it is not unlikely that he will be subjected to God's punishment.
320. The fact stated in this verse is a truism from a moral and spiritual
as well as from an economic and social viewpoint. For, although wealth apparently
multiplies through interest and shrinks as a result of charity, in actual fact
the opposite is the case. By God's decree, the law of nature is such that interest
not only serves as a strain on moral and spiritual well-being, and social and
economic growth, it also causes actual regression and decline. Charity, however,
(including such acts as lending money to people with the stipulation that they
should return it if they can. and at their convenience) leads to the growth
and expansion of man's moral and spiritual qualities and to the growth of human
society and economy.
Looked at from moral and spiritual standpoints, it is evident that interest
is not only the outcome of selfishness, miserliness and callousness but also
encourages their growth. Charity, on the other hand, is the outcome of generosity,
compassion, large -heartedness and magnanimity, with the result that the more
one practises charity the more these qualities develop. It is obvious that if
there is a society whose individuals are selfish in their dealings with one
another, in which none is prepared to assist the other without self-interest,
in which every person considers the other's need an opportunity to capitalize
and exploit, in which the interests of the rich are directly opposed to the
interests of the common people, that society does not rest on stable foundations.
In such a society, instead of love and compassion there is bound to grow mutual
spite and bitterness, apathy, indifference and callousness. The elements which
compose such a society are bound to remain inclined towards disintegration and
chaos; acute internal conflict and strife are sure to occur.
Contrast this with the society which is based on mutual sympathy and co-operation,
whose individuals deal with one another magnanimously, in which, when a person
is in need, people willingly come forward to accord generous help, in which
the 'haves' assist the 'have-nots' with compassion and at least engage in just
and equitable co-operation. In such a society mutual cordiality. goodwill and
fellow-feeling are bound to flourish. The various components of such a society
will be closely knit together and prove a source of mutual support. In such
a society internal conflict and strife will make few inroads. Also, owing to
mutual co-operation and goodwill the pace of development should be faster than
in the other kind of society.
Let us now look at the matter from an economic viewpoint, from which interest-
bearing loans are seen to be of two kinds. The first category, consists of loans
incurred by people in genuine need, who are compelled to borrow for their personal
consumption requirements. The second consists of the loans incurred by businessmen
for investment in trade and industry or agriculture.
The first category is generally acknowledged to lead to ruin. Nevertheless,
there is not one country in the world where financiers and financial institutions
are not sucking the blood of poor labourers, peasants and ordinary low-income
people through interest on consumption loans. The burden of interest makes it
extremely difficult, often impossible, for borrowers to pay off the original
loan. They may even have to resort to fresh borrowing from elsewhere to pay
if off. Because of the way interest works, the sum outstanding against them
often remains even after they, have paid twice or three times its amount in
interest. The bulk of the income of labourers is snatched away from them by
lenders, leaving them without enough for the bare necessities of life for themselves
and their families. This situation steadily erodes their interest in their jobs.
For if someone else is to reap the benefit of a man's hard work, why should
he work hard at all? Moreover, oppressed by the worries of debt, the health
and strength of labourers is gradually destroyed by undernourishment and lack
of medical treatment.
In short, a minority of people continually fatten themselves by sucking the
blood of millions of ordinary people, but the total production level of the
people remains much lower than its optimum potential. Ultimately, of course,
these exploiters are seldom spared the evil consequences of their actions. Their
callous selfishness causes such widespread misery among the masses that anger
and resentment against the rich smoulder in their hearts ready to erupt in times
of revolutionary unrest. The exploiters then have to pay very dearly: their
ill-earned riches are not only wrested from them, they are either killed mercilessly
or subjected to ignominy and humiliation.
The second category of loans, those invested in productive enterprises, also
cause harm because of the infliction of a predetermined rate of interest on
such borrowings. The most significant are the following:
(1 ) Projects which do not promise a higher rate of profit than the current
rate of interest fail to attract sufficient funds, no matter how useful and
necessary they may, be from the viewpoint of larger national interests. Loanable
funds flow towards those business enterprises which are likely to yield at least
the same, if not a higher rate of profit on investments than the current rate
of interest, even though they may be of very little or no benefit to the nation
at large.
(2) There can be no guarantee that a business investment, whether it is in trade,
industry or agriculture, will always yield a rate of profit which is higher
than the rate of interest. Not only can there be no such assurance, there can
never be an assurance about any business that it will always remain profitable.
What really happens, therefore, is that the financier is assured interest at
a predetermined rate whereas the business in which the loan is invested is exposed
to risk and possible losses.
(3) Since the lender does not share the profit and loss of the business but
lends out funds on the assurance of a fixed rate of interest, he is in no way
concerned with the fortunes of the business itself. He is solely concerned,
and in a totally selfish spirit, with his own pecuniary benefit. Hence, whenever
the lender senses the faintest sign of depression, he begins to withdraw money
from the market. The result is that sometimes imaginary fears and anxieties
spark off an actual depression in the economy. And if the economy is depressed
owing to other factors, the excessive selfishness of the financiers tends to
escalate the situation into a full-scale economic crisis. These three evils
of interest are obvious to every student of economics. Can anyone then deny
the truth of the Natural law, enunciated by Allah that interest decreases the
national economic wealth?
Let us now look at the economic effects of charity. Suppose the general attitude
of the prosperous members of a society, is that within the limits of their means
they spend generously on the fulfilment of their own requirements and on the
requirements of their family, and then devote the surplus to helping the poor.
After that they, either use their funds to provide interest-free loans to businessmen,
invest them in business with the stipulation that they shall be co-sharers in
both the profit and loss of the business, or deposit them with the government
so that it may use them on projects of public welfare. A little reflection will
make it obvious that trade, industry, and agriculture in such a society, will
attain maximum prosperity; the standard of living of its people will continually
rise and production in it will be much higher than in societies where economic
activity is fettered by interest.
321. It is clear that only those who have a surplus of earnings over their basic requirements can lend out money at interest. This surplus, according to the Qur'an, constitutes God's bounty. And true thankfulness for this bounty requires that a person should be bountiful towards other creatures of God even as the Creator has been to him. If, instead of doing this, the person tries to become richer at the expense of those whose present earnings are insufficient to meet their needs, he is at once guilty of ungratefulness to God, and blatantly unjust, cruel and wicked.
322. In this section God brings into sharp relief two contrasting characters.
One is selfish, Mammon-worshipping, a kind of Shylock. He is totally preoccupied
with making and accumulating money in total disregard of his obligations to
God and his fellow-beings. He counts the money he has saved and is so consumed
by the desire to see it multiply that he spends much time estimating how much
it will grow in the weeks, months and years to come. The other character is
a God-worshipping, generous and compassionate person, ever conscious of the
claims of both God and man, ready to spend whatever he earns by the sweat of
his brow on himself as well as on other human beings, and devotes a good part
of it to philanthropic purposes.
The first character is strongly denounced by God. No healthy society can exist
on the basis of such men, and in the Hereafter, too, they are destined to meet
grief and affliction, torment and misery. The latter, by contrast, is a character
highly extolled by God, a character which will serve as the basis of a sound
and healthy society in this world and will lead man to salvation in the Next.
323. This verse was revealed after the conquest of Makka and has been placed here because of its contextual relevance. Although interest was considered objectionable earlier, it had not been legally prohibited. After the revelation of this verse interest-bearing transactions became a punishable offence within the realm of Islam. The Prophet (peace he on him) warned the Arab tribes through his officials that war would be declared against them if they did not give up interest-bearing transactions. It was specified, for instance, in the agreement under which the Christians of Najran were granted internal autonomy under the suzerainty of the Islamic state, that if they continued to use interest, the agreement with them would be considered void and their action an act of belligerency. On the basis of the last words of the verse, Ibn 'Abbas, Hasan al-Baari, Ibn Sirin and Rabi' ibn Anas are of the view that anyone who takes interest within the boundaries of the Islamic State (Dar al-Islam) should be pressed to repudiate the transaction and recant and, if he persists, should be put to death. Others consider it sufficient to imprison such people and keep them in prison until they pledge to give up taking interest. (See Jassas's commentary, on verse 2: 278; see especially vol. 1, pp. 471 f. - Ed.)
324. This verse is the basis of the Islamic regulation that if a person has become incapable of paying off his debt, the court will force the creditors to grant him respite for payment. In fact, under certain circumstances, the court is entitled to remit a part of his debt and, at times, the whole of it. It is mentioned in the Hadith that once a person suffered loss in his trade and became greatly burdened with debt and the case was brought to the notice of the Prophet. The Prophet urged the people to help their brother in his distress. They came to his assistance but the amount of help was not enough to wipe out his debts. Then the Prophet approached the lenders and asked them to accept whatever amount was available and to grant remission to the borrower because of his inability to make further payments. Muslim jurists have made it clear that a debtor's residential house, eating utensils, clothes and the tools which he uses for earning his livelihood may not be confiscated in any, circumstances whatsoever for non-payrment of loans. (For relevant discussion and textual evidence see the commentaries on this verse in Ibn Kathir, Jassas, and Qurtubi - Ed.)