The Quran

275

Preface

الَّذينَ يَأكُلونَ الرِّبا لا يَقومونَ إِلّا كَما يَقومُ الَّذي يَتَخَبَّطُهُ الشَّيطانُ مِنَ المَسِّ ۚ ذٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُم قالوا إِنَّمَا البَيعُ مِثلُ الرِّبا ۗ وَأَحَلَّ اللَّهُ البَيعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبا ۚ فَمَن جاءَهُ مَوعِظَةٌ مِن رَبِّهِ فَانتَهىٰ فَلَهُ ما سَلَفَ وَأَمرُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ وَمَن عادَ فَأُولٰئِكَ أَصحابُ النّارِ ۖ هُم فيها خالِدونَ

Yusuf Ali

Those who devour usury¹ will not stand except as stand one whom the Evil one by his touch Hath driven to madness². That is because they say: “Trade is like usury³,” but God hath permitted trade and forbidden usury. Those who after receiving direction from their Lord, desist, shall be pardoned for the past; their case is for God (to judge); but those who repeat (The offence) are companions of the Fire: They will abide therein (for ever).

Usury is condemned and prohibited in the strongest possible terms. There can be no question about the prohibition. When we come to the definition of usury there is room for difference of opinion. 'Umar, according to Ibn Kathir, felt some difficulty in the matter, as the Prophet left this world before the details of the question were settled. This was one of the three questions on which he wished he had had more light from the Prophet, the other two being Khilafah and Kafalah (see 4:12, n. 518). Our 'Ulama', ancient and modern, have worked out a great body of literature on usury, based mainly on economic conditions as they existed at the rise of Islam. (Cf. 3:130). (R).
An apt simile: whereas legitimate trade or industry increases the prosperity and stability of men and nations, a dependence on usury would merely encourage a race of idlers, cruel blood-suckers, and worthless fellows who do not know their own good and therefore akin to madmen.
Owing to the fact that interest occupies a central position in modern economic life, and specially since interest is the very life blood of the existing financial institutions, a number of Muslims have been inclined to interpret it in a manner which is radically different from the understanding of Muslim scholars throughout the last fourteen centuries and is also sharply in conflict with the categorical statements of the Prophet (peace be on him). According to Islamic teachings any excess on the capital is rib'a (interest). Islam accepts no distinction, insofar as prohibition is concerned, between reasonable and exorbitant rates of interest, and thus what came to be regarded as the difference between usury and interest; nor between returns on bonus for consumption and those for production purposes and so on. [Eds.].