Some people argue that only usury (interest at such an exorbitant rate that
it exploits the debtor) has been declared unlawful by Islam. Therefore,
interest at a mutually acceptable rate can be charged, which is usually the
case in loans given for commercial purposes. It is in loans given for the
purposes of personal needs that the possibility of exploitation exists. The
following verse of Qur’ān is presented to support this point of view:
O believers! Do not devour interest, doubling and redoubling.[3:130]
This verse, however, does not support the argument. It merely indicates the
gravity of the failing of those who, in a time when Infāq (spending in the
way of Allah) in relation to Jihād (holy war) was affording great
opportunities to the Muslims to earn Allah’s forgiveness, were busy earning
interest. This style is used in a language to reprimand a person for the
heinousness of his attitude of not only doing something wrong but also
showing total disregard for values in doing so. For example, when one says
(in English) ‘For God’s sake, [at least] don’t flirt with another woman in
front of your wife’, it does not mean that one is suggesting that one should
flirt with another woman while one’s wife is not around. To take an example
from the Qur’ān, consider the following verse:
Force not your slave-girls into prostitution that you may seek pleasures of
the life of the world, if they would preserve their chastity. (24:33)
Obviously, this verse does not mean that if the slave-girls are willing,
prostitution may be allowed. It merely points out the intensity of the sin
of those who force such slave-girls to prostitution as wish to avoid the
despicable crime.
The Qur’ān has not defined Ribā. It didn’t have to. The meaning of the word
was already clear to those who understood the Qur’ānic Arabic. Just as the
Qur’ān did not have to define Zinā (a word used for adultery and
fornication), it did not have to define Ribā. It merely prohibited both.
Ribā refers to any benefit which the lender makes a condition for the loan
he gives. Moreover, it is also clear from the following verse of the Qur’ān
that those people gave Ribā for commercial purposes as well, for it is this
form of interest which increases ‘in other’s wealth’, not the interest on
loans given for personal needs of the debtor:
And that interest-based loan which you give that it may increase in the
wealth of others does not increase with Allah. (30:39)
Therefore, if anyone advocates that the word is also used in a sense
different from its denotion, the onus of proof is on him.
Furthermore, the following verses of the Qur’ān leave no room for the
argument that only such Ribā was declared unlawful as put the debtor in
difficult circumstances:
O you who believe! Observe your duty to Allah, and give up what remains [due
to you] from Ribā [interest], if you are [in truth] believers. (2:278)
And if the debtor is in straitened circumstances, then [let there be]
postponement to the time of ease... (2:280)
These two verses have the same context and therefore can be taken together
to show that interest has not been prohibited merely in cases where the
debtor is in difficult circumstances. The words ‘And if the debtor is in
straitened circumstances’ indicate an exceptional case, and point out that
the prohibition in the previous verse (2:278) is of interest at a normal
mutually acceptable rate.
According to Islāhi, the
particle ‘اذا’ (idhā: if) would have been used
instead of ‘ان’ (in: if), if the words were not
indicative of an exceptional case.
To take an example from the English language, let us assume that a police
officer says to his subordinates ‘free all these culprits tomorrow. And if a
culprit has helped the police, free him today’. As the context of the two
sentences is the same, the second sentence makes it obvious that not all the
culprits have helped the police. Similarly, when the Qur’ān says: Give up
what remains [due to you] from Ribā... and if the debtor is in difficult
circumstances [let there be] postponement to the time of ease....’, it is
clear from the second portion that the case of the debtor being in difficult
circumstances has been mentioned as an exceptional one. In other words, the
prohibition of Ribā in the first portion pertains to the general cases of
loans given to such people as are not in straitened circumstances.
Therefore, it is evident from the Qur’ān that interest of all kinds has been
prohibited, including that which does not necessarily put the debtor in
distressing circumstances, as is the case with interest on commercial loans.
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