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’an
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 Infaq (spending in the way of Allah) in relation
to Jihad (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’an,
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’an has not defined
Riba.
It didn’t have to. The meaning of the word was already clear to those who
understood the Qur’anic Arabic. Just as the Qur’an
did not
have to define Zina (a word used for adultery and fornication),
it did not have to define Riba. It merely prohibited both. Riba
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’an
that
those people gave Riba 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’an leave
no room for the argument that only such Riba 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 Riba [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 Islahi*,
the particle ‘ ’ (idhaa: if) would have been used instead
of ‘ ’ (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’an says: Give up what remains [due to you]
from Riba... 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
Riba 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’an 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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