Riba

For other uses, seeRiba (disambiguation).

Riba(Arabic:ربا,الربا، الربٰوة,ribāoral-ribā,IPA:[ˈrɪbæː]) is anArabicword used inIslamiclaw and roughly translated as "usury":unjust, exploitative gains made in trade or business.Ribais mentioned and condemned in several different verses in theQur'an(3:130,4:161,30:39,and most commonly2:275-2:280).It is also mentioned in manyhadith(reports of the life ofMuhammad).

While Muslims agree thatribais prohibited, not all agree on what precisely it is. It is often used to refer tointerestcharged on loans,and the widespread belief among Muslims that all loan or bank interest isribaforms the basis of the $2 trillionIslamic bankingindustry.However, not all Islamic scholars have equatedribawith all forms of interest, nor do they agree on whetherribais a major sin or simply discouraged (makruh),or whether it is in violation ofSharialaw to be punished by humans rather than byGod.

The primary form ofribais the interest or other increase on a loan of cash, known asriba an-nasiya.Most Islamic jurists acknowledge another type ofriba,the simultaneous exchange of unequal quantities or qualities of some commodity, knownriba al-fadl.

Etymology and definitions

The wordribawas used by theArabsprior to Islamto refer to an "increase". In classicalIslamic jurisprudence,the definition ofribawas "surplus valuewithout counterpart ".

The difficulty of definingribain Islam was noted by early Islamic jurists such asIbn MajahandIbn Kathir,who quotes the secondRashidun CaliphUmar ibn al-Khattab:

"There are three things, If God's Messenger had explained them clearly, it would have been dearer to me than the world and what it contains: (These are)kalalah,riba,andkhilafah."

Muhammad Taqi Usmani— "one of the leading" modern day "religious experts on Islamic finance"—disagrees, arguing that scripture concerningribacould not possibly be ambiguous (mutashabihat) because God would not condemn a practice without revealing its "correct nature" to Muslims.

Definitions

Definitions ofribainclude:

• Unjustified increment in borrowing or lending money, paid in kind or in money above the amount of loan, as a condition imposed by the lender or voluntarily promised by the borrower. This is calledfiqh riba al-duyun(debt usury) (Abdel-Rahman Yousri Ahmad).
• Unequal exchange. In addition to loan interest, this can include the exchange of nonequivalent quantities of goods (riba al-fadl) or unequal exposure to risk (Olivier Roy).
• All forms of interest, "any excess on the principal sum of loan", i.e. any and all interest, irrespective of how much is lent, whether the borrower is rich or poor, or the use of the loan for investment or for consumption. Some translations of verses of the Quran substitute the word "interest" forribaor "usury".This is the "orthodox"or "conservative"view of classical jurists, as well as revivalists such asAbul A'la Maududi.

The orthodox revivalistMuhammad Taqi Usmanigives these definitions forriba al-Quran:

• A contract of loan or debt for any additional amount over the principaland for the three varieties ofriba-al-sunnah:
• An exchange of money "of the same denomination where the quantity" exchanged is not equal, whether it is in a spot transaction or with deferred payment.
• "A barter exchange between two weighable or measurable commodities of the same kind", where either the quantity exchanged is not equal, or delivery of one side is deferred (riba al-fadl).
• "A barter exchange between two different weighable or measurable commodities where the delivery of one side is deferred."

Some sources (John Esposito, Cyril Glasse, Ludwig W. Adamec) emphasize a dichotomy in the prohibition ofriba,with classical scholars and orthodox revivalists interpreting its meaning broadly and strictly, and others using a narrower definition which is more easily evaded in modern practice.

• Broad definition of interest: "Prohibiting any loan contract that specifies a fixed return to the lender" on the grounds that it provides "unearned profit" and imposes "an unfair obligation on the borrower". In the modern era Islamists and revivalists preach that all interest is socially unjust and should be banned (John Esposito).
• Narrower definition in most Muslim-majority countries:ribameans "excessive interest"or "compound interest" (John Esposito).However, they allow interest-like charges, described as "commission" (Cyril Glasse),or legal subterfuges (ḥiyal), such as a lender buying something from the borrower for cash, while arranging to sell it back later for a greater amount (Ludwig Adamec).

Some Islamic modernists emphasize the moral prohibition on exploiting the needy, definingribanot as interest on all loans, but only "exploitive" loans, including:

• Loans for consumption not investment:investment loan interest is allowed, since such loans were allegedly unknown in Mohammed's time, and by their nature earn borrowers a return with which to pay the interest(proposed in the 1930s by Syrian scholar Marouf al-Daoualibi);
• Loans motivated by a desire of risk-free return, with no concern to whether the funds are invested to enhance the earning ability of the lender (Muhammad Akram Khan).
• Loans charging compound rather than simple interest,(an interpretation proposed in the 1940s by Egyptian jurist al-Sanhuri);
• Loans at "exorbitant" interest rates;
• Loans to the poor and needy,or to the economically strong to the economically vulnerable:this allows interest paid by large banks to individual account holders.

Varieties

According to variousahadith,the prophetMuhammadsaid there are either 70, 72,or 73 varietiesofriba,without giving specifics. Most Islamic jurists (fuqaha) describe several different kinds ofriba:

• Riba al-jahiliya:usury in pre-Islamic Arabia (Quran3:130). Scholars differ on its definition. According to Raqiub Zaman and M.O. Farooq, ariba al-jahiliyadebt was "doubled and redoubled" each year if the borrower could not pay what was owed.Another similar definition (described by Taqi Usmani) is thatriba al-jahiliyawas a kind of loan where the borrower was not charged any additional amount above the principal, unless they could not repay when the loan was due, in which case they were charged an additional amount, but not necessarily double or triple the principal.Usmani believes both of these definitions are incorrect, and that in reality a number of transactions where "an increased amount was charged on the principal amount of a debt" were in vogue at this time and can be consideredriba al-jahiliya.Other orthodox scholars agree and stateriba al-jahiliya,riba an-nasiya,riba ad-duyun,riba al-Quran,riba al-qardhare all names for one of the two types ofriba(the second type beingriba al-fadl).
• Riba an-nasiya:the excess accruing from a loan transaction.Riba an-nasiyais theribaon a credit transaction, when two quantities of items are exchanged, but one or both parties delays delivery or payment and paysinterest(i.e. excess monetary compensation in the form of a predetermined percentage amount or percentage)(Taqi Usmani quotes Fakhruddin Al-Raazi as saying "riba an-nasiah,it was a transaction well-known and recognized in the days ofjahiliya").
• Riba al-fadl,alsoriba al-sunna:excess accruing in a sale or barter transaction,i.e.ribainvolving the simultaneous exchange (not involving any deferred/delayed payment) of unequal quantities or qualities of a given commodity.Riba al-fadland prohibition of it—according to Usmani—was developed by Muhammad (hence the nameriba al-sunna), and so was not part of pre-Islamicjahiliya.

Still another source (the Takaful Basic Exam preparation of Islamic Banking and Finance Institute Malaysia and Aznan Hasan) describes two types ofriba,each with two sub sets(its definition ofriba Nasi'ahseems different from others):

Types of Riba

Types of riba	Description	Sub-type of riba	Description
Riba Duyun	Unjustified increment in money lent whether in kind or cash over and above the principal amount.	Riba Qard	Increase (interest) on the principal sum of the loan is agreed upon at the point of contract
		Riba Jahiliyyah	Increase levied on the borrower for late repayment or failure to repay the financial loan
Riba Buyu	Occurs in trading and exchange transactions, in which unequal exchange of certain commodities (gold, silver, dates, etc.) of same kind and same basis.	Riba Fadl	Due to unequal amount/quantity
		Riba Nasi'ah	Due to extension of time of delivery

History

Riba al-jahiliya

John Espositodescribesribaas a pre-Islamic practice in Arabia "that doubled a debt if the borrower defaulted and redoubled it if the borrower defaulted again".It was held responsible for enslaving some destitute Arab borrowers.

Abdullah Saeed quotes the son of Zayd b. Aslam (died 136/754) on what theQuran3:129-130means byribabeing "doubled and redoubled":

"Ribain the pre-Islamic period consisted of the doubling and redoubling [of money or commodities], and in the age [of the cattle]. At maturity, the creditor would say to the debtor, "Will you pay me, or increase [the debt]?". If the debtor had anything, he would pay. Otherwise, the age of the cattle [to be repaid] would be increased... If the debt was money or a commodity, the debt would be doubled to be paid in one year, and even then, if the debtor could not pay, it would be doubled again; one hundred in one year would become two hundred. If that was not paid, the debt would increase to four hundred. Each year the debt would be doubled. "

Orthodox Islamic scholar andIslamic bankingadvocateTaqi Usmanidisagrees. In describing "ribain the days of Jahiliyya ", he makes no mention of debts being doubled, but states thatriba"had different forms" and that "the common feature of all these transactions is that an increased amount was charged on the principal amount of a debt".

Riba

According to orthodox sources (Youssouf Fofanaa, Taqi Usmani), "some jurists" sawriba(which Fofanaa defines as interest) "forbidden early inMecca,some in the year 2AH(afterMuhammad left Mecca for Medina), and some after theopening of Mecca,but the majority agreed on its prohibition ".Usmani cites sources declaring that 3:130 "clearly" forbade interest and these verses were revealed in 2 AH.

Other sources—such as theEncyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World—state that early Muslims disagreed on whether all or only exorbitant rates of interest could be consideredriba,and thus declared forbidden, but the broader definition won out with a consensus of Muslim jurists holding that any loan that involved an increase in repayments was forbidden.One particular jurist (al-Jassas, died 981, who is criticized byModernists)is credited with establishing the orthodox definition ofriba—stipulating that it was excess payment "in a loan or debt" (i.e. interest on debt).M. A. Khan argues that attempts to ban interest resulted in either the development ofblack marketsand higher prices for "interest-bearing credit", which "defeat[ed] the very purpose for which interest was banned"; or in various "subterfuges to camouflage interest so as to bypass the legal sanctions".

Some (scholarTimur Kuran) attribute the basis of religious condemnation of interest on loans to the widespread practice in the ancient world of selling loan defaulters into slavery and shipping them to foreign lands. Feisal Khan argues that "all pre-modern, and not just Muslim societies" banned interest on loans, using a ban as "a simple and effective risk-mitigation mechanism for small borrowers that cannot afford the down-side risk inherent in financial transactions". Among othermonotheistAbrahamic religions,Christian theologians condemned interest as an "instrument of avarice",the JewishTorahprohibited lending at interest to fellow Jews, but allowed it to non-Jews (i.e.Gentiles) (Deut. 23:20)(historically many Jews were led to money lending with interest as a profession because of this exemption and because they were barred from many professions in Christian territories). With modernity and economic development, higher incomes and more complex mechanisms such as insurance eliminated the need for the ban. This, rather than religious backsliding, explains the lack of interest in the ban among the contemporary Christian and Jewish counterparts of the Islamiculema(according to Feisal Khan).

(According to two other sources—International Business Publicationsand Egyptian Grand MuftiAli Gomaa—ribais restricted to exchanges involving currencies of gold and silver, and so does not apply to loans of paper currency. Thus, when "currencies of base metal were first introduced in the Islamic world", Islamic jurists did not forbid interest charges on them asriba.)

Historically, while the Islamic states followed classical jurisprudence in prohibiting an increase in repayments on loans (interest) in theory, in practice the giving and taking of interest continued in Muslim society "at times through the use of legal ruses (hiyal), often more or less openly ".One common Ottoman era stratagem to circumvent of the ban on interest, according to Timur Kuran, was known asistiglaland involved the borrower selling his house to a lender and immediately leasing it back. The proceeds of the sale served as the sum loaned, the lease/rent/mortgage payment served as principal and interest repayment of the loan. According to Kuran, only transactions "that satisfied the letter of the ban" on interest "through stratagems" (hiyal) were allowed. In addition, in the sixteenth century, an Ottoman sultan "limited the annual rate of interest to 11.5%" "throughout the empire" on these loans. This order "was duly ratified by a legal opinion (fetva) ".Another source (Feisal Khan) quotes several sources indicating the Ottoman Empire forbid asribaonly interest rates above a certain level (about 10–20%).

According to Minna Rozen, the business of money lending was completely in the hands of Jewish Sarrafs in theOttoman Empire.Europeans who visited Ottoman Empire stated that Ottoman economy would not function without these Sarrafs, though they sometimes were accused of cheating.In Persia, money lending was also dominated by Jewish Sarrafs. In nineteenth centuryShiraz,for example, almost all Jews were active in lending money on interest.

Taqi Usmani maintains that outside of Dar al-Islam,riba(interest on loans) allowed theRothschild familyto "acquired financial mastery over the whole of Europe and theRockfeller[sic] over the whole of America ".

Modernism

The orthodox prohibition on interest was reconsidered byIslamic Modernistsstarting in the late 19th century in reaction to the rise ofEuropean power and influenceduring theAges of Enlightenment,Discoveryand colonialism. According to authorGilles Kepel,for many years in the 20th century, the fact that interest rates and insurance were among the "preconditions for productive investment" in a functioning modern economy led many Islamic jurists to strive to "find ways of" justifying the use of interest "without appearing to bend the rules laid down" in the Quran.In the largest Arab Muslim country, Egypt, Modernist Grand MuftiMuhammad Abduhdeclared collecting interest on bank deposits and loans permissible in 1900. From then up to the year 2002, successive Muftis have declaredriba"prohibited, permissible, and prohibited and then permissible again".

Revivalism

In the late 20th century (mid-1970s) however, Islamicrevivalists/activists/Islamistshave worked to revive and rejuvenate the definition of interest asriba,to enjoin Muslims to lend and borrow at "Islamic Banks" that avoided fixed rates, and to mobilize to pressure governments to ban the charging of interest. In 1976,King Abdulaziz UniversityinJeddahorganized the First International Conference on Islamic Economics inMakkah.At the conference, "several hundred Muslim intellectuals, Shari'ah scholars and economists unequivocally declared... that all forms of interest [were]riba".By 2009, over 300banksand 250mutual fundsaround the world complied with this definition ofribaand disavowed interest on loans or deposits,and by 2014 around $2 trillion in assets were "sharia-compliant".

The prime example being modern scholars such asGrand MuftiofSaudi Arabia,Abd al-Aziz Bin Baz,based theirfatwasaboutribadefinition on the basis of Ahadith that narrated byUbadah ibn al-Samit.

Scripture on riba

Both theQuranand theHadithof Muhammad mentionriba.Orthodox scholars such asMohammad Najatuallah Siddiquiand Taqi Usmani believe Quranic verses (2:275-280) defineribato mean any payment "over and above the principal" of a loan.Others disagree with this definition (such as non-orthodox economists Mohammad Omar Farooq and Muhammad Ahram Khan, and scholarFazlur Rahman Malik),and/or emphasize the importance ofahadith(Farhad Nomani,Fazlur Rahman Malikand Abdulkader, with Farooq stating "it is broadly agreed that the Qur'an does not defineriba").

Quran and prohibition

Twelve verses in the Quran deal withriba(although not all of them mention the word). The word (usually translated as usury) appearing eight times in total—three times in 2:275, and once each in verses 2:276, 2:278, 3:130, 4:161 and 30:39.

TheMekkan verseinSurahAr-Rumwas the first to be revealed on the topic:

And what you give in usury (riba), that it may increase upon the people's wealth, increases not with God;(Quran30:39)

Other Medinan verses are:

... for their taking usury (riba), that they were prohibited,...(Surah An-NisaaQuran4:161) O believers, devour not usury (riba), doubled and redoubled, and fear you God; haply so you will prosper.(Surah Al-i-'ImranQuran3:129-130)

Culminating with the verses inSurah Baqarah:

Those who devour usury (riba) shall not rise again except as he rises, whom Satan of the touch prostrates; that is because they say, 'Trade is like usury (riba).' God has permitted trade, and forbidden usury (riba). Whosoever receives an admonition from his Lord and gives over, he shall have his past gains, and his affair is committed to God; but whosoever reverts—those are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein dwelling forever.

God blots out usury, but freewill offerings He augments with interest. God loves not any guilty ingrate. Those who believe and do deeds of righteousness, and perform the prayer, and pay the alms – their wage awaits them with their Lord, and no fear shall be on them, neither shall they sorrow. O believers, fear you God; and give up the usury (riba) that is outstanding, if you are believers. But if you do not, then take notice that God shall war with you, and His Messenger; yet if you repent, you shall have your principal, unwronging and unwronged. And if any man should be in difficulties, let him have respite till things are easier; but that you should give freewill offerings is better for you, did you but know. (Quran2:275-280)

Interpretations

According to Youssouf Fofana and Taqi Usmani, jurists do not consider the verses 30:39 and 4:161 to clearly prohibit Muslims fromriba,whereas the latter two (3:129-130 and 2:275-280) do. Another orthodox scholar, M.N. Siddiqi, also believes 2:275-80 "establishes" thatribais "what is over and above the principal" and that "it is unjust". According to Fofana, historically (most) jurists agreed on the prohibition ofribafrom these verses and termed itriba al-nasia,distinguishing it fromriba al-fadl(the exchange of like goods in different quantities at the same time, mentioned in a number of narrations).

• verse 30:39 provides "insufficient indication" to prohibitriba,according to Fofana, because sources disagree on what it refers to.Muhammad ibn Jarir al-Tabariquotes a number ofTabi'een(Muslims who were born after Muhammad died but who were old enough to be contemporaries of theSahaba"Companions" ), who state that (Quran30:39) refers to a gift, whereas al-Jawzi quotes Hasan al-Basri as stating it refers toriba.
• Verse 4:161 refers to theJewsand their taking ofriba,but it is unclear if the prohibition applies to theMuslims(according to Usmani and Fofana).
• However 3:129-130 is seen by many—including Taqi UsmaniandIbn Hajar al-Asqalani(a medievalShafiiteSunnischolar of Islam)—as prohibitingriba.Fofana however, thinks "the verse itself could be interpreted as expressing a preference against interest", so interpreting the verse as prohibitingribamay require support from someahadith"relating to Amr ibn Aqyash".
• Mohammad Nejatullah Siddiqi, interprets Quranic verses (2:275-2:280, known asayat al-riba)to mean thatribais not only "categorically prohibited" and "unjust" (zulm), but is defined as any payment "over and above the principal" of a loan.Youssouf Fofana and Taqi Usmani and other orthodox sources agree.

Questions and replies

On the other hand, some believe the "riba verses" (2:275-280) to beayat al-mujmalat( "ambiguous" verses). These include the secondcaliph`Umar,(according toAl-Shafi'ijuristFakhr al-Din al-Razi),and a number of classical jurists, includingIbn Rushd(see below).Other Classical Islamic jurists considered the termriba"speculative general"rather than a "specific" (khass), or absolute or unqualified (mutlaq).They restricted the application ofribato "the clarification by the Tradition [ahadith]... ".According to Farhad Nomani, in studying scholarly "commentaries, one notes that the technical, and even to some extent the customary meaning ofribaas a practice in pre-Islamic era, is a matter of controversy among classical jurists and the interpreters of the Qur'an. " Other classical jurists ( "like al-Baji and al-Tawwafi, to name only two" ), believedribawas`amma,a "general term" meaning it "is definitive or free of speculative content", according to Farhad Nomani.

Umar, also declared that Muhammad died before he could explain the verse ofriba(among 2:275-280) fully—it being the last revealed verse of the Qur'an according to ahadithreported byIbn Majah.(However, according to Taqi Usmani, thishadithis not as authentic as that of another where one of the narrators in the change of transmission was more reliable.Thishadithindicates that the last verse was actually 2:281—one not mentioningriba.)

Raqiub Zaman argues against the orthodox translation ofribaas any:

"excess or addition—i.e. an addition over and above the principal sum that is lent." If Muslim jurists are referring to interest as usury on the basis of this literal meaning ofriba,than naturally one wonders why God Almighty used the terms `doubling` and `quadrupling` (the sum lent) as usury in 3:130... and why there was no further clarification of this verse in the Quran or by the Prophet.

Taqi Usmani argues that the words "doubled" and "tripled" in the verse are not "restrictive" of the prohibition ofriba,and like some other words in the Quran are not to be taken literally but are used "for emphasis or for explaining".

The background of these verses was the dispute between two clans,Banu Thaqifand Banu Amr ibn al-Mughirah. The verse is addressed to the Banu Thaqifa who insisted that they be able to collectribafrom the Banu Amr ibn al-Mughirah for a loan made to them, despite having signed a peace treaty forgoing claims ofriba.

According to Fofana, historically (most) jurists agreed on the prohibition ofribafrom these verses. Disagreeing with the orthodoxy is author/economist Muhammad Akram Khan who writes that since the verse ( "O believers, fear you God; and give up the usury (riba) that is outstanding, if you are believers" ) is addressed to the Banu Thaqifa it is (according to Khan) a "specific reference" addressing a "historical situation" and does "not institute a law that could make dealings inribaa state crime. "

Quran and credit sales and late payment

While orthodox scholars believe the Quran declares interest (or any increased repayment of a loan) to be forbiddenriba,orthodox scholars (includingTaqi Usmani,and Monzer Kahf)believe it specificallyallowsgiving credit in a sale and increasing the price for this deferred payment in some circumstances (for example charging RS21000 for 90 days credit for an appliance that would costs Rs20000 in cash on the spot). According to Taqi Usmani, in Quran aya 2:275,

"... they say, 'Trade is like usury,' [but] God has permitted trade, and forbidden usury.."

the reference to permitting "trade" refers to credit sales such asmurabaha,the "forbidden usury" refers tolate fees(charging extra when the repayment is late), and the "they" refers to non-Muslims who didn't understand why if one was allowed both were not.Usmani writes:

the objection of the infidels... was that when they increase the price at the initial stage of sale, it has not been held as prohibited but when the purchaser fails to pay on the due date, and they claim an additional amount for giving him more time, it is termed as "riba" and haram. The Holy Qur'an answered this objection by saying: "Allah has allowed sale and forbidden riba."

Usmani interprets the verse to mean that it is a "misconception" to believe that "whenever price is increased, taking the time of payment into consideration, the transaction comes within the definition of interest" and thusriba.Charging extra fordeferredpayment in a credit sale such asmurâbaḥahis not riba, but late charges are.

Regardinghadith,M.O. Farooq states "it is well-known and supported by many hadiths that the Prophet had entered into credit-purchase transactions (nasi'ah) and also that he paid more than the original amount. "

(While Usmani envisionedmurâbaḥahbeing a limited part of the Islamic Banking industry, it has come to dominate it, often as ahiyalto lend cash.There is also general agreement in Islamic finance that finding a solution to delinquentmurâbaḥahaccounts continues to be a "challenge".)

Hadith and prohibition

Scholars such as Farhad Nomani, Abdulkader Thomas,and M.O. Farooq argue that classical scholars believed that hadith(the body of reports of the teachings, deeds and sayings of the Islamic prophet Muhammad that often explain verses in the Quran) was needed to defineriba.

M.O. Farooq states that "it is commonly argued" thatribais "defined by hadith".Thus the argument goes, textual proof for the position that all forms of interest areribaand hence prohibited by Islamic law is based onhadith.(Farooq argues that hadiths are contradictory and do not yield a definition.)

Someahadithoffered by Usmani as prohibiting any increase in the amount "charged on the principal amount of a debt"include:

• "Every loan which derives a benefit is a kind ofriba."
• "If one of you has advanced a loan and the debtor offer the creditor a bowl (of food), he should not accept it, or if the debtor offers him a ride of his animal (cattle) the debtor must not take the ride...".

According to Farhad Nomani, among the schools offiqh, "... The classicalHanafi,some famous classicalShafi`i(e.g., al-Razi) andMaliki(e.g.,Ibn Rushd) jurists were of the opinion that riba in the Qur'an was an ambiguous (mujmal) term, the meaning of which was not clear per se, and therefore the ambiguity had to be cleared by the Tradition "(another name forahadith).

Different sources report different types and numbers ofriba-relatedahadith.According to Farhad Nomani, there are "three principal types" ofahadith that deal withriba.

1. The "most accepted or reliable sayings", found in most compilations ofahadith,that state thatribaexists when "six articles of the same kind are either bartered unequally or not delivered immediately".(seeRiba al-Fadl)
2. Another set citeIbn ʿAbbas,and report that there is "noribaexcept in deferment... in delivery and/or payment ".
3. A third set quote Muhammad's "sermon on the occasion of the last pilgrimage,"where he is reported to have said:

"God has forbidden you to take riba, therefore all riba obligation shall henceforth be waived. Your capital, however, is yours to keep. You will neither inflict nor suffer inequity. God has judged that there shall be noribaand that all theribadue to `Abbas ibn `Abd al Muttalib shall henceforth be waived. "

Similarly, M.A. Khan states "there are three sets of Traditions relating toriba",including theriba al-fadland last pilgriamge sermon. Another source, Abdulkader Thomas, states that "there are six authenticatedahadiththat allow us to define "riba. And under "riba in hadith", Shariq Nisar of Global Islamic Finance, lists seven "general"ahadithand another six on "Riba al-Nasi'ah".

Several narrators including Jabir,Abdul Rahman ibn Abdullah ibn Masoud,say that

Muhammad cursed the accepter of usury and its payer, and one who records it, and the two witnesses, saying: They are all equal.

Questions

On the other hand, the ambiguity and lack of clarity of what constitutesribais reported to been indicated by CaliphʿUmar,who included it among the three concepts that "it would have been dearer to me than the world" had Muhammad "explained them clearly" (see above), and twentieth century Islamic scholar,Fazlur Rahman Malik,who sums up his analysis of the ahadith on riba saying: "In short, no attempt to defineribain the light of Hadith has been so far successful ".

According to Farhad Nomani, "it is known that Ibn `Abas", a companion of Muhammad, "was of the opinion that the only forbiddenribawas the pre-Islamicriba."Nomani state that classical jurists "all agreed" that the meaning ofribawas not "free of speculative content", because there was a difference between

• the "linguistic and customary meaning" ofribain the pre-Islamic period on the one hand, and
• "on the other hand", the "specification by the Tradition (thehadith) and the ambiguity of the opinions of the close companions of the Prophet on the problem "of the meaning ofriba.

According to Abdullah Saeed, quotingRashid Rida

none of the authentichadithattributed to the Prophet in relation toribaappears to mention the terms, 'loan' (qard) or 'debt' (dayn). This absence of any reference to loans or debts inriba-related hadith led a minority of jurists to contend that what is actually prohibited as riba is certain forms of sales, which are referred to in the hadith literature.

According to another scholar, the mufti of Egypt, Dr.Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy,there is nothing in the Quran orHadiththat prohibits the pre-fixing of the rate of return, as long as it occurs with the mutual consent of the parties.

Arguments on scriptural support for prohibition

Arguing that Quran andhadithdo not provide clear evidence that interest on loans isriba,Farooq notes that a number of early jurists held positions that are at variance with blanketly equating riba with interest. Some note the wording ofaya3:130,

ImamAhmad ibn Hanbal(780–855 CE), believed onlyRiba al-jahiliya(where the amount owed "doubled and redoubled" each year if not paid off) was unlawful "without doubt from the Islamic viewpoint". According to Nabil A. Saleh, several companions (Sahabah) of Muhammad (Usama ibn Zayd,Abdullah ibn Masud,'Urwah ibn Zubayr,Zayd ibn Arqam), includingIbn Abbas,one of the major companions of the Prophet and earliest of the Islamic jurists, also "considered that the only unlawful riba is riba al-jahiliyyah".

Classical jurists and most Muslims believeribato be "a general term" with a broad definition of all interest,while

Fazlur Rahman definedribaas "exorbitant increment whereby the capital sum is doubled several-fold, against a fixed extension of the term of payment of the debt."

Farooq also questions traditionalist and activist orthodoxy, insisting theahadithcommonly cited as definingribaas interest are not unambiguous,as they must be when used as the basis for laws with impact on "people's life, honour and property" such as a ban on all interest does.

Farooq gives examples quoting a couple ofahadithstating there is noriba"in hand-to-hand [spot] transactions",or "except innasi'ah[waiting] "—that seem to contradict the orthodox position that there is alsoribainriba al-fadl,i.e. the "hand-to-hand" exchange of unequal amounts of the same commodity.(Farooq notes a hadith where twoSahabah(companions of Muhammad) argue, one 'Ubadah b. al-Samit—stating Muhammad forbaderiba al-fadl,while another Sahabah—Mu'awiyah—contradicts him, saying he never heard Muhammad forbid such trade, "though we saw him (the Prophet) and lived in his company?")

The "except innasi'ah"hadith also seems to contradict the manyahadithdescribing Muhammad buying on credit and paying more (after "waiting" ) than the original amount. The distinction sometimes made that it is notribato make voluntary, gift extra payments that are not stipulated in the sale agreement—such as Muhammad gave to Jabir bin 'Abdullah by when he paid back a loan,or when he repaid the loan of a camel giving two back, or another time giving a better quality camel than the original. But theseahadithare contradicted by thehadithstating "every loan that attracts a benefit/advantage is riba." as well as byhadithspecifically forbidding accepting a gift when extending a loan.And all theseahadithaddressing and warning the lender but saying nothing about or to the borrower, would appear to be at odds with the manyahadithwho include comments such as "The receiver and the giver" of extra payment "are equally guilty."

Importance of the ban

Replying to the non-orthodox, Taqi Usmani argues that scripture concerningribamust not be categorized as ambiguous (ormutashabihat) because God can not "wage war against a practice, the correct nature of which" is unknown by Muslims. Consequently, he would never reveal an unclear verse on the matter. Only those verses for which "no practical issue depends on its knowledge" may be ambiguous (according to Usmani).

Orthodox point to a number ofahadithindicating the gravity of the sin of committingriba.Abu Huraira is reported to have narrated:

The Prophet said, "Avoid the seven great destructive sins." The people inquire, "O God's Apostle! What are they?" He said, "To associate others in worship along with God, to practice sorcery, to kill the life which God has forbidden except for a just cause, (according to Islamic law), to eat up Riba (usury), to eat up an orphan's wealth, to give back to the enemy to flee from the battlefield at the time of fighting, and to accuse chaste women who never even think of anything touching chastity and are good believers."

According toSunan Ibn Majah,the Muhammad declared the practice ofribaworse than "a man committingzina(fornication) withhis own mother".In that hadeeth, he said that there are 70 sins of riba. Of these, the minimum sin is to commit adultery with oneself's mother, and the greatest riba is dishonoring any Muslim.In another Hadith, Muhammad said that, knowingly consuming one dirham of riba is equivalent to do adultery 36 times.

Sharia/fiqh and riba

How Muslims should deal withribais disputed. Some believeribais a violation ofsharia(Islamic law) to be prohibited by the state and violators punished.Others believe it is simply a sin to be left to God to judge and punish.Orthodox jurists tend to be less strict on its prohibition for Muslims in non-Muslims lands,and strictness tends to vary throughout the Muslim world with Sudan being the most severe and Malaysia the least.

At least one scholar (Abdulkader Thomas) has stated that not only is interest in violation of sharia, but is such a menace that failure to "combat" it indicatesunbeliefin Islam, (potentially punishable by death). According to Thomas, "Riba is part of a broader problem of belief and behavior. Refusing to combatribais akin to disbelief. Conceding the argument that money has an intrinsic value is potentially a greater act of disbelief ".

Author/economist Muhammad Akran Khan has noted that contemporary orthodox scholars have argued that interest is a violation of sharia law primarily on the basis of two sources:

• theFarewell Sermon(mentioned above where the Prophet abolished all claims ofribaon loans),

God has decreed that there will be no usury, and the usury of 'Abbās b. 'Abd al-Muṭṭalib is abolished, all of it.

• and the fact that theBanu Thaqifclan was threatened with war by Muhammad for abrogation of their treaty with the early Muslims if they tried to collect interest on loans from Muslims. (Banu Thaqif are the ones who are warned against "being at war with God and His messenger" inQuran2:275-280.)

However, M.A. Khan argues, "the Prophet could easily have announced the broad features of such a law [againstRiba]. The fact is that neither the Prophet nor the Qur'an has announced any law relating to interest ", as they had" in the case of theft, adultery or murder.... Neither the Prophet nor thefirst four caliphsnor any subsequent Islamic government ever enacted any law against riba. "Attempts to do so are" quite recent ".

The "authentic books of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) produced throughout Islamic history "had" sections dealing with riba ", discussing" its nature and what makes a transaction lawful or unlawful ", but according to M.A. Khan, until recently none contained" any public law for enforcement through state machinery. "The treasure of Islamic jurisprudence which has covered all facets of life, including imaginary situations, does not mention any punishment for one who indulges in riba. "In 1999 a work did. TheBlueprint of Islamic financial system including strategy for elimination of Ribaby the International Institute of Islamic Economics, called for riba-based transactions to be punishable by law.

Another (non-Muslim) scholar (Olivier Roy) points out AyatollahRuhollah Khomeini's book offatawaTawzih al-masa'il,written before 1962, as an example of a more traditionalist attitude towardriba,or at least the charging of interest on loans. Rather than calling for a ban on interest, Khomeini states that lending without charging interest, "is among the good works" (Mustahabb) that are "particularly recommended in the verses of the Quran and in the Hadiths."

Scriptural proof and fiqh

According to Farhad Nomani while classical jurists had "a consensus of opinion about the prohibition of riba", they disagreed on the "interpretation of the primary Islamic sources and, consequently, over the details of the ruling on riba". They believed that the "objects of riba occur in sale, and, only by analogy they related riba to loan..."

Madhhab(schools offiqh), differ somewhat in their interpretation ofriba.TheShafi'ihold that injunctions forribaapply to gold and silver currency but notfils(non-precious metal currency). "Thus, one hundredfils[coins made of neither silver or gold] could be exchanged for two hundred either on the spot or on a deferred delivery basis. "By extension this would apply to contemporaryfiat[i.e. paper] money, according to Abdullah Saeed.

(One author—Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad—argues "ribâ as it is used in the Qur'an and sunnah" is not the same as interest, but the failure to back currency with precious metals. This is not because riba can only involve loans using gold and silver currency, but because instead of interestribais actually the "now common practice of issuing unbacked paper currency". To end this sin, Muslim states must return to thegold standard.)

Critic of the all-interest-is-ribaformulation, M.O.Farooq, makes a number of criticisms of logic employed usingahadithto establish the connection.

• When it comes to "people's life, honor and property" special care should be taken formulating "laws, codes or dogmas" (such as forbidding interest on loans) in terms of scriptural backing. For example, even high qualitysahihahadithprovide "probabilistic" and not "certain knowledge" of what it was that Muhammad taught. (Only a very few ahadith provide "certain" knowledge, and none of them addressriba.)
• In defining riba, the "underlying reason" forwhyit is forbidden should be given first consideration, but in fact this reason—justice—has been given short shrift in orthodox scholarship.Taqi Usmani dismisses "justice" as an element of sharia on the ground that "Zulm(injustice) is a relative and rather ambiguous term the exact definition of which is very difficult to ascertain. Every person may have his own view about what is or what is notZulm."Two orthodox writers (Abu Umar Faruq Ahmad andM. Kabir Hassan), admit that the idea that the rationale for prohibition ofribaas formulated in al-Qur'an was injustice and hardship finds some support in Quranic verse 2:279 and in the works of some early scholars like Imam RaziandIbn Qayyimfor whom "it appears that what is prohibited is the exploitation of the needy, rather than the interest itself".

Farooq cites another critic, Abdullah Saeed, who complains that the schools of Islamic jurisprudence have ignored "rationale/wisdom" (hikmah) and arrived at a legal "cause" (`illa) to determine what wasriba"which had nothing to do with the circumstances of the transaction, the parties thereto, or the importance of the commodity to the survival of society."One result of this legalistic thinking is thathiyalcould be and has been used "from the medieval period to the present day", to create loans based on "fictitious transactions" charging "exorbitant rates of interest" approved by orthodox jurists as lackingriba.

A similar argument in favor of the objectives rather than means is made by Mahmud El-Gamal. In favor of making analysis ofistislah(public interest)rather thanqiyas,(i.e., using analogy to apply injunctions to new circumstances) "the final arbiter in the area of financial transactions", Gamal quotes the twentieth-centuryAzharijurist and legal theorist Abdul-Wahhab Khallaf:

"Benefit analysis and other legal proofs may lead to similar or different rulings.... In this regard, maximizing net benefit is the objective of the law for which rulings were established. Other legal proofs are means to attaining that legal end [of maximizing net benefits], and objectives should always have priority over means."

El-Gamal quotes 14th centuryMalikischolarAl-Shatibistating that the legal ends of Islamic law "are the benefits intended by the law. Thus, one who keeps legal form while squandering its substance does not follow the law."

El-Gamal also finds it curious that classical jurists considerurf(or adherence to convention or customary practice) an important "legal consideration"(for example Hanafi jurist Al-Sarakhsi writes "establishment [of rights, etc.] by customary practice is akin to establishment by canonical texts" ),and one that is not fixed but changes as customary practice changes. But when it come to banking, contemporary orthodox scholars do not consider "customary practices" to constitute a "legal consideration".

Future

Mohammad Omar Farooq argues the prevailing doctrine of interest-equals-ribamay eventually follow other such "long-standing orthodox" but no longer accepted practices such ashaddcapital punishment forapostasy from Islam,or that "triple talaq"(i.e. by a husband divorcing his wife by declaiming" talaq "aloud three times).

Issues in interest as riba an-nasiya

Opposing sides

Most Muslims and most "non-Muslim observers of the Islamic world" believe that interest on loans (also on bonds, bank deposits etc.) is forbidden by Islam.(Such loans—or banks that make them—are sometimes referred to asribawi,i.e. carryingriba.)This "orthodox" position is fortified by "voluminous and overwhelming" scholarly literature.Among the Islamic bodies that have declared all interest to beribainclude the First International Conference on Islamic Economics (1976),the Fiqh Academy of theOrganisation of Islamic Cooperation(1986), the Research Council ofal-Azhar University(1965), and theFederal Shariah Court of Pakistanin a 1991 judgement.Scholars and authors who have declaring that there is a religious consensus (ijma) on the subject includeAbul A'la Maududi(1903–79),Yusuf al-Qaradawi,Wahbah al-Zuhayli,Tariq Talib al-Anjari, Thanvir Ahmed, Mabid al-Jarhi,M.N. Siddiqi,Munawar Iqbal and Imran Ahsan Khan Nyazee.In the discipline of Islamic economics, a prohibition of interest on loans in the name of prohibitingribahas been called that field's "most salient objective".

Its importance amongIslamists/revivalist Muslimsis reflected in the size of theIslamic financial industrybuilt on the basis of the orthodox position (approximately $2 trillion as of 2017),and in expressions such as the uproar that temporarily shutdown thePakistan parliamentin 2004 when a Member of Parliament (MP) had the temerity to quote an Egyptian Islamic scholar decreeing that bank interest was not un-Islamic.(In response—after the parliament was reopened—an Islamist MP stated that no member of parliament had the right to question this "settled issue" since the Pakistan stateCouncil of Islamic Ideologyhad decreed that interest in all its forms washaramin an Islamic society.)

Among some (such asImran Nazar Hosein) interest on loans constitutes not just a sin or crime but the

"grand design of hostile forces who have already made considerable progress, throughriba,in gaining control over mankind. Their aim is to gain total control and to use that power to destroy faith in Allah. "

However, not all Muslims agree with the "orthodox" formulation that any and all interest—including contemporary "bank interest" (as opposed to interest charged inpredatory, unfair or abusive lending)—constitutesriba.The "thin ranks"of notable contemporary non-orthodox scholarsinclude Fathi Osman, Nawab Haider Naqvi, Salim Rashid, Imad al-Din Ahmed, Omar Afzal, Raquibuzzaman, Abdulaziz Sachedina, Abdullah Saeed, Mahmud El-Gamal and Mohammad Fadel.

While the minority status of non-orthodox scholars is uncontested, whether there is a consensus (ijma) in favor of orthodoxy, is. One non-orthodox economist (M.A. Khan) argues that a true consensus requires the agreement of not only most Islamic scholars but the Muslim community as a whole.Since most Muslims have failed to choose interest-free Islamic banking for most of their assets, this demonstrates (according to Khan) that they do not agree that all interest isriba.

Overview of rationale and its critics

In answer to the question, "why has God prohibited interest?", a number of arguments have been advanced by orthodox/Islamist/revivalist scholars, preachers, writers and economists.They include that (in their view)

• interest is a form of exploitation by the lender of the borrower and/or by the rich of the poor, that brings more inequality in society;
• interest should not exist because money is unproductive and charging a price for it is unfair;
• it is unjust for a lender to receive a fixed return (i.e. interest) when the profits or losses of the borrower/entrepreneur vary, and/or to gain from financial activity without risk of potential loss;
• interest is unnecessary in a contemporary economy because investment capital can be generated justly by the sharing of risks and profits between financiers and entrepreneurs (and when that is impractical other financing of commodity and product purchases); this Islamic system of banking and finance will lead to greater prosperity and more human sympathy, economic stability, efficiency, development, etc.

At the same time that orthodox analysts offer rationale for why interest is forbidden, "more than one analyst" —including medieval Quranic exegeteFakhr al-Din al-Raziand leading orthodox scholar Taqi Usmani—have stressed that ultimately, Muslims must obey the prohibition even if they do not understand the reason for it.Usmani writes:

"The Holy Qur'an has itself decided what is injustice in a transaction of loan, and it is not necessary that everybody finds out all the elements of injustice in aribatransaction ",[or even that] "the philosophy of the law" [be] "visible in a particular transaction"....

"There are areas in which human reason cannot give proper guidance... [thus] it is the firm belief of every Muslim that the commands given by the divine revelations... are to be followed in letter and spirit and cannot be violated or ignored on the basis of one's rational arguments..."

In any case, Usmani writes, injustice (zulm) "is a relative and rather ambiguous term the exact definition of which is very difficult to ascertain".

Criticism of rationale

Critics of the orthodox position—primarilyTimur Kuran,Mohammad Omar Farooq, Muhammad Ahram Khan and Feisal Khan—generally argue that not only has God/Islam not forbidden bank interest, but that interest does not harm economic prosperity, the poor, or society in general. Some of their contentions are

• that bank interest is notriba,
  • the definition of which should be based on the unjust/exploitive lending practices of theMakkan societywhere the Quran was revealed,
  • and which is far removed from the much more benign bank lending of contemporary society where most lending is for commercial purposes to large, sophisticated borrowers paying competitive, regulated interest rates;
• that the arguments advanced forwhyinterest is unjust, exploitative and forbidden, do not "hold up",
  • and can seldom be backed up by any studies or in depth research on the subject because so few have been done—the orthodox usually talking about injustice only in their polemical arguments,
• that attempts to replace interest with anIslamic banking systembased on profit and risk sharing havenot been successful,
  • thanks to practical problems such as dealing with inflation, thetime value of money,"information asymmetry",additional costs; which have led
  • profit and loss sharingitself to become aminor player,
  • while the backbone of the system (debt-like instrumentssuch asmurabaha) have usedhiyal(legal stratagem) to get around religious requirementsuntil they resemble conventional bankingin most everything besides the terminology they use;
  • and that promises made for this system—such as that it would fund long-term economic developmentand help low-income small traders—have not been fulfilled;
• and that ultimately the campaign against bank interest can best be explained not by scriptural-based argument, but by a need to create a complete and separate Islamic realm —

with its own financial sector—by which Muslims can strengthen their identity and avoid lapsing into being "partial Muslims".

Injustice of fixed return

The (alleged) injustice of fixed return and its (alleged) lack of risk, has been attacked by Ismail Ozsoy, M.N. Siddiqi, and M. Hameedullah. Ismail Ozsoy defines interest asribaand as "an unearned or unequally distributed income." He argues that both those who pay and receive interest are sinful and behaving unjustly because the interest rate is "fixed at the very beginning, but it is impossible to predict the outcome of the business at which the loan is used, profit or loss, or how much either would be." Ozsoy states that his argument is supported byQuran2:275-280.

Mohammad Nejatullah Siddiqi argues that charging interest on loans—whether intended for consumption or production—is forbidden exploitation. If a loan is to buy consumer goods, those who have wealth should assist those without and not charge any increment above principal. If a business borrows to invest in plant or equipment, a guaranteed return on capital is unjust because there is no sharing of profits between entrepreneur and financier,the borrower is "obliged to pay to the bank an extra amount" —i.e. interest.

M. Hameedullah and M. Ayub also argues that interest is unjust because the borrower of collateralized loans bears risk but (they believe) the lender does not,since the lenders can keep collateral if the borrower defaults,which (they believe) violates the Islamic principle that reward should require taking/being liable for risks.

Abul A'la Maududialso believed return on an investment other than profit sharing is unjust.He preached that the interest-charging lender will increase interest rates "in direct proportion" to the borrower's "misery and the extent of his need,... if the child of a starving man is dying of illness, the money-lender will not deem an interest rate of 400 or 500% as unduly harsh."

Defending the justice of a "fixed" return, M.O. Farooq asks if lenders aren't "renting out" the purchasing power of their capital for the length of the loan and due interest as a form of rentmuch as any landlord, rental agency, or other temporary provider of something valuable/useful. M.A. Khan asks why fixed rent and fixed wages are not equally unjustdespite not being forbidden by orthodox scholars. (While some Islamist thinkers have promoted the idea that 'labor owned firms would express the spirit of Islam better' than conventional ones,there is no movement to restrict businesses to profit-sharing payment for employees or even much debate on the issue.)Farooq notes that in the modern world banks compete with other lenders and subject to government regulation. Predatory lending does exist—from payday lenders, and those lending at high and variable rates. These "may be covered byribaand thus Islamically prohibited, "but this is hardly the same as declaring all interestriba.

Another argument against the idea that charging interest on loans exploits entrepreneurs, is that availability of capital for a modern business endeavour is one factor among many that lead to success or failure. The entrepreneur/business management involves in multiple elements—product design, production, marketing, sales, distribution, employee management and motivation, etc. Having provided its share in the process, why should financiers suffer part of the losses (if there are any) that are beyond their control; or be rewarded with profits (if there are any) that they had so little to do with?In answer to the idea that collecting interest on a business loan when the business has gone insolvent is unjust, M.A. Khan replies that in the overwhelming majority of cases both banks and lenders benefit from loans and asks if it is sensible to let the small fraction of bankruptcies dictate how finance is structured.

Feisal Khan points out that contrary to the orthodox view that collateralized loans are risk free, the 2008subprime mortgage crisishas shown that "even AAA-rated collateral is often insufficient to ward off lender losses".

M.A. Khan cites rates ofprofitsof business enterprises from developed countriesover several decades, which were "consistently" higher by "several multiples"than the rates of interest,a reflection ofcapital marketscompensating the greater risk of equities withgreater returns(on average), and saferfixed incomeinvestment with lower returns.Fixed income accounts also provide a service for those with fixed and modest income,critics argue, and for people who need ready access to cash (that less liquid profit-making investments can't provide) but want to "put their money to work". Large, sophisticated enterprises can hardly be considered victims of exploitation when they borrow funds that originate in accounts of small savers.

Concerning the motive of fighting injustice and exploitation, M.A. Khan complains that the orthodox have never bothered to define exactly what they mean by exploitation or done the research to substantiate their claim that all interest exploits.M.O. Farooq notes that orthodox supporters frequently invoke exploitation and injustice in their polemical arguments but ignore it in studies or in depth works.Farooq further argues that in the real world profit, in contrast with interest, is as much exploitative, if not more. In a separate work, he illuminates the importance of rent-seeking in the modern world that is more widespread and with far greater consequence than interest.Farooq and others (e.g. Izzud-Din Pal and Yoginder Sikand) complain that the pursuit of justice has not been made the "underlying reason" in definingribaby jurists. (See above.)

Vice and corruption

Among those arguing that interest has a corrupting influence on society are Muhammad N. Siddiqi,Yusuf al-Qaradawi, medieval juristFakhr al-Din al-Razi,Abul A'la Maududi.

Interest "corrupts" society and "demeans and diminishes human personality" according to M.N. Siddiqi. Those who earn income from interest will not have to work, leading to the interest drawers' contempt for work and depriving others of the benefits of the interest drawers' industry and efforts, according to Yusuf al-Qaradawi.Interest brings an end of "mutual sympathy, human goodliness, and obligation", according to ImamFakhr al-Din al Razi.

Maududi holds that interest "develops miserliness, selfishness, callousness, inhumanity". Ibn Rushdargued the rationale for prohibition relates to the possibilities of cheating that exists inriba,which is clearly visible inriba fadl.

Non-Orthodox M.O. Farooq replies by asking why Siddiqi does not even attempt to provide evidence for how charging interest leads to social and personal corruption, noting there is no connection between levels of corruption as determined by monitors such asTransparency Internationaland the use of interest-bearing loans.Farooq answers the charge that interest leads to sloth by stating that matching the savings of savers/depositors with the capital needs of borrowers is an economically useful and competitive function, and that in the present day many savers are retired elderly of modest means for whom it would be foolish to take risks with their life savings,and who pay for this caution with smaller returns. Another non-orthodox critic, Faisal Khan, argues that while complaints of lenders being wealthy and predatory may well have been valid in the 12th Century of al-Razi, or among the North Indian peasantry that Maududi knew (who borrowed from thebaniaHindu merchants who sometimes serve as money lenders), it "is hardly an accurate description" of the effects of a "modern conventional banking/financial system".

Taqi Usmani, maintains that investors/savers desire for fixed income investments/accounts is the result of an unnatural expectation of no risk of loss, brought about by the separation of finance "from normal trade activities" in capitalist banking—normal trade activities of course resulting in losses from time to time. Once people understand this they will invest in Islamic finance.

Inequality

Among those who believe that interest bearing loans favor the rich and exploit the poor are M.U. Chapra, Taqi Usmani, Al-Qaradawi, Abul A'la Maududi, Taji al-Din and Monzer Kahf,Fakhr al-Din al-Razi,andGhulam Ahmed Pervez. Many (such as Taji al-Din, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi and Al-Qaradawi),express concern over rich lenders exploiting or refusing to lend to poorer borrowers following the traditional orthodox theme of a "vicious rentier class that thrives on the misery of the poor" perpetuating "a system designed to enrich the few at the expense of the many. HoweverTaqi Usmaniexpresses concern about rich borrowers who borrow "huge" amounts for "their huge profitable projects" and exploit lenders by only paying interest and not sharing their profits.(Elsewhere he states that "the intrinsic nature" of interest and not the "financial position of the parties" make loans charging interest invalid.)

Taji al-Din and Monzer Kahf argues that charging interest on loans restricts the circulation of wealth to those who already have it, since lenders do not provide loans to those who are unable to repay them. This (he believes) is forbidden by the Quran and results in an increase the divide between the rich and poor.Chapra notes that since banks are primarily interested in collateral to secure loans rather than the profitability of what the borrower/entrepreneur is seeking capital for, banks will finance rich borrowers with collateral rather than small borrowers with good ideas.Abul A'la Maududi calls interest "the greatest instrument by... which the capitalist tries to concentrate in his hands the economic resources of the community",proclaiming "there is hardly a country in the world in which money-lenders and banks are not sucking the blood of poor labouring classes, farmers and low-income groups".

M.A. Khan replies that these difficulties would not be solved by Islamic banking, firstly because "no business firm will extend credit to a customer until it is satisfied with its credibility",and secondly because there is no evidence that Islamic banking institutions have been focusing on the potential profitability of the proposals of entrepreneurs seeking capital rather than collateral.Overall, Khan writes, there is simply "no significant and rigorously argued study, of either Muslim or non-Muslim countries, showing that interest is causing or contributing to inequalities of income and wealth."

General economic harm

Among the claims that interest plays a negative role in the economy include that it squeezes out productive investment, encourages speculation, creates credit bubbles, fuels inflation, instability, unemployment, depressions and imperialism.

Umer Chaprawrites that by providing "easy access to credit for unproductive purposes", interest "squeezes the availability of resources for need fulfilment",squelching job creation.Maududi states that productive investment is withheld when enterprise seeking investment cannot yield a profit equal to the "prevailing rate of interest".

Mohammad Abdul Mannanwrites that eliminating interest would follow the cooperative norm of the Quran, and stimulate job creation and economic vitality.

M.A. Khan replies that the harm created by interest cannot be that severe as interest-based finance is "deeply entrenched" in the developed countries of the OECD, where per capita income is quite high and the percentage of poor people relatively low.M.O. Farooq notes that the countries that have gone in an "'interest-free' direction" are "hardly examples of greater economic stability."

On the issue of over-indebtedness and instability, Chapra also argues that the interest-based system and its reliance on collateral leads to excessive levels of debt, which leads to economic instability.Islamic finance would mean greater financial discipline than debt-based financing because it is tied to real assets. This discipline would mean greater economic stability. Mirakhor and Kricheneargue that interest charges on debts lead to the creation of a secondary market for debt. This leads to debt changing hands, multiple layers of it being created, and the generation of credit bubbles whose inevitable bursting destabilizes the economy. M.T. Usmani insists interest-based financing may "fuel inflation" since it "does not necessarily" finance the creation of real assets "(its financing not tied to real assets), and may increase the supply of money without increasing products to match it.He cites a number of non-Muslim economists criticizing capitalist financial system for its propensity towards financial speculation, over-indebtedness, misallocation of lending capital.(Although their solutions its problems do not include banning all interest on loans.) Another way in which interest is alleged to "lend itself to speculation" is the (alleged) practice of borrowing at low rates to lend at higher ones. This (allegedly) disrupts "trade cycles" and interferes with economic planning and would be remedied by banning interest charges.Chapra also argues that "the erratic behaviour of interest rates" has caused "three decades" of "turbulence in the financial markets", citing aNobel Laureatein economics,Milton Friedman.

Islamist leaderAbul A'la Maududi—who was not an economist but has been credited with laying "down the foundations for development" of Islamic economics—preaches that interest (along with the lack ofzakattax on savings) prevents economic progress and prosperity by rewarding savings and capital formation (the common idea that these things help economic development being a "deception" ).When people are not in "the habit of spending all the wealth they earn"they consume less, which decreases employment, which leads to still less consumption, creating a downward spiralleading finally "to the destruction of the whole society as every learned economist knows."

Entrepreneurial profit and wages should be the only source of income in society. Siddiqi and Ganameh cite a hadith of "income devolved on liability" in this context.

In reply, M.A. Khan argues

• that the effective elimination of interest on loans for an extended period in the world's third largest economy (i.e. Japan, which lowered prime rates to 0.01% from about 2001 to 2006 in an attempt to stimulate its economy) failed to bring that country economic stability or prosperity;
• that asecondary marketfor financial instruments (which "unties" finance from real assets) "is a real, live need" of finance, even if it may pose a risk of speculation. The "alternative instruments of finance such assukukand other Islamic bonds would also require a secondary market. "And in fact there have been" efforts to create "these markets for Islamic financial instruments, but the need to follow the ideology of contemporary Islamic finance means that the markets" have ended up in a host of ruses, compromises and stratagems ".

While Khan admits that a banking system based on the two modes of (1) current account deposits backed by 100% reserve and (2) profit and loss sharing accounts, would doubtless be more stable than conventional banking,this "has limited practical application" —limited to that small niche of Islamic banking that actually uses profit and loss sharing.

In reply to Chapra's citing of Western economist Milton Friedman, M.O. Farooq notes that themonetaristeconomists such as Friedman blame interventionist monetary policy in general rather than interest charges for the instability, and when asked specifically about any economic danger from interest charges Friedman himself stated that the work Chapra quoted did "not provide any support whatsoever for the zero interest doctrine" and that he (Friedman) did "not believe there is any merit to the argument that an interest-free economy might contribute toward greater economic stability. I believe indeed it would have the opposite effect."

Accumulation of third world debt

Usmani and other orthodoxists believe that the burden offoreign debtincurred bydeveloping countries(including many Muslim countries) from loans by developed countries and institutions like theIMF,is an illustration of the curse of interest.Usmani quotes a number of non-Muslim sources,stating that this debt service exceeds "resource flows to developing countries", and is still growing, has brought "structural adjustment" and "austerity programs", leading to "massive unemployment, falling real incomes, pernicious inflation, increased imports,... denial of basic needs, severe hardship and deindustrialization", etc.,and can be compared to indentured labor where the worker is "permanently indentured through his debt to the employer".(Usmani suggests the problem might be remedied with Islamic modes of financing, and that "assets-related loans" could be converted into "leasing arrangement[s]".)

M.A. Khan agrees that the debt burden has created considerable hardship, but should be blamed on "mismanagement, fraud and corruption" in the misuse of borrowed funds, rather than interest charges. If interestwasto blame, Islamic financing would not be a solution (Khan argues), since it also involves costs (termed "profits" or "fees" rather than interest) to those in the developing world seeking capital.

Alternatives to interest

Further information:Islamic banking

Nature of interest-free finance

A newriba/interest free financial system would insure that no "increased amount was charged on the principal amount of a debt",as Usmani preached, the "Holy Prophet [Muhammad]... has left no ambiguity in the fact that the creditors will be entitled to get back only the principal and will not be able to charge even a penny over and above the principal amount".

Some of those promoting or writing about interest-free banking have posed zero-interest loans (and saving accounts) as an Islamic alternative to the interest-bearing loans/accounts of conventional banking. Muhammad Siddiqi reassured policy makers that interest-free accounts paying no return to savers would not mean a significant reduction in savings because savings is mainly a function of the income of the savers rather than their expectation of any return. Mawdudipromised that zero return loans would allow the flourishing production of what was socially useful but which generated only a small return. On the other side, skeptical economist Maha-Hanaan Balala questioned how creditors would ever extend interest-free loans considering "the opportunity cost, erosion of value through inflation, risk of default by debtors";and Fazl al-Rahman argued that an interest rate serves as a price for financing, limiting demand for it by borrowers, so that finance markets are not faced with limited supply and infinite demand.

However, according to Taqi Usmani, emphasis on zero return was misguided.

People not conversant with the principles of Shari'ah and its economic philosophy sometimes believe that abolishing interest from the banks and financial institutions would make them charitable, rather than commercial, concerns which offer financial services without a return. Obviously, this is totally a wrong assumption. According to Shari'ah, interest free loans are meant for cooperative and charitable activities, and not normally for commercial transactions....

Another observer (M.A. Khan) has reported "a consensus" among Muslim economists that Islamic finance for commercial transactions "would not be free", but would have some kind of "cost" other than interest.(Charitable, interest/return-free loans are known asQardhul Hasanin Islam.)

Growth of alternative (Islamic banking) industry

As the Islamic revival blossomed in the last half of the 20th century, this new financial system began to be developed. By the late 20th century a number of Islamic banks formed to applyriba/interest-free principles toprivateor semi-privatecommercialinstitutions within the Muslim community,In the 1980s the Pakistan regime of GeneralMuhammad Zia ul-Haqcondemned the "curse of interest" and promised to eliminate it. By 2014 around $2 trillion in banking assets were "sharia-compliant",(approximately 1% of total world banking assets).This industry was concentrated in theGulf Cooperation Council(GCC) countries, Iran, and Malaysia.

Modes

Islamic banking replacedriba/interest with accounts paying

• zero return on deposits: "current accounts"offered for safe keeping of depositor funds with no return added to the amount deposited(In practice these depositsoften include aHibah(literally "gift" ),in the form of prizes, exemptions, etc.,to compete with interest return of conventional banking current accounts.)
• a return varying according to the success of the project(s) the bank financed: for commercial finance the primary mode (in theory) of Islamic finance—calledprofit and loss sharing—would replace interest with risk sharing between the investor, the banker and the entrepreneur of the project being financed, much likeventure capital financing.One form of profit and loss sharing ismudarabah finance,where the bank would act as the capital partner in a back-to-back mudarabah contract with the depositor on one side and the entrepreneur on the other side. As the "loan" was repaid, the financier (rabb-ul-mal) would collects some agreed upon percentage of the profits (or deducts if there are losses) along with the "principal" from the user of capital (mudarib);
• fixed return: like interest but differing (in theory) by limiting finance to a specific sale.murabaha(credit sale) was the principal form of this type of "Asset-backed"or "trading-based"mode of financing (also used areIjara,Istisna,were some others) and they were to supplement the profit and loss sharing models. As Islamic finance grew, it became clearMurabahahwas not a supplement toprofit and loss sharing,but the mode used in about 80% of Islamic lending.(Explanation for this include that the structure and results ofMurabahahwere more familiar to bankers, and that profit and loss sharing turned out to be far more risky and costly than proponents had hoped.)

Murabaha and trade-based mode of finance

Further information:Murabaha

The similarity between credit sales and conventional non-Islamic ( "ribawi") loans has been noted (some callingmurabahaa "semantic work-around" for interest charging loans),necessary because businesses "cannot survive where cash and credit prices are equal", and urges that bank interest not be judgedharam.Critics complained that in the eyes ofstandard accounting practicesandtruth-in-lending regulationsthere is no distinction between (for example) getting 90 days credit on a Rs10000 (cash price) product and paying an extra Rs500 (allowed), or taking out a 90-day loan of Rs10000 that charges interest totaling Rs500 (forbidden).

Orthodox writers (such as Monzer Kahf) have defended the distinction stating attaching commodities to money in finance prevents money from being used for speculative purposes.

(see:Quran and credit sales and late payment)

Usmani insists that the phrase "God has permitted trade... "fromQuranic verse 2:275, refers to credit sales such asmurabaha,so that "taking the time of payment into consideration" in paying more for a product/commodity, doesnotcome "within the ambit of interest", i.e.riba. Paying more for credit when buying a product does not violate sharia law—the reasoning goes—because it is "an exchange of commodities for money",while a bank loan is "an exchange of money for money"and forbidden unless interest is zero.The buyer in a credit sale is paying not "principal" and "interest", but "cost" and "profit".

Other orthodox scholars(A.I. Qureshi,M.A. El-Gamal), instead of giving a rationale, declare that the difference is knowable only to God, something humans must obey without understanding.

The permissibility of the first [trade] and the prohibition of the second [usury/interest] are both quite clear and unequivocal... Why one is permitted while the other is forbidden can only be fully known by Allah and whomsoever he gave such knowledge. As a practical matter, we should know what is permitted and use it to our advantage, and what is forbidden and avoid it.

Credit sales do not follow the Islamic ideal called for by pioneers of Islamic banking of doing away with the "injustice" and exploitation of un-shared profits and losses in finance.Orthodox scholars have expressed a lack of enthusiasm formurabahacredit sales-based Islamic Banking.(The Pakistan stateCouncil of Islamic Ideologycalls it "no more than a second best solution from the viewpoint of an ideal Islamic system;"Usmani calls it a "borderline transaction with very fine lines of distinction as compared to an interest bearing loan".) According to Usmani an (orthodox) Islamically proper murabaha and other credit sale financing are only to be used

• when profit and loss sharing is impractical,
• when the transaction finances the purchase of some product or commodity by the customer,
• when that product or commodity is bought and owned by the bank (which takes the risk for it) until the customer's payment is complete, and
• when there are no additional charges for late payment.

Criticism of interest-free finance and its practices

The shortcomings of Islamic banking has been used by at least one non-orthodox critic as an arguments against equating interest withriba.According to M.O. Farooq, the "increasing need" of the Islamic banking industry "to resort toHiyal(legal stratagem) to claim Shari'ah-compliance ", is evidence that forbidding interest" is not tenable from Islamic viewpoint ".Critics/skeptics complain/note

• that aside from the belying all the lofty theoretical talk of eliminating the injustice of fixed return in finance,
• in practice not only do "murabaḥah"transactions resemble loans, but most donotfollow scholarly restrictions, being merely cash-flows between banks, brokers and borrowers, with no buying or selling of commodities;
• that the profit or mark-up is based on the prevailing interest rate used inharamlending by the non-Muslim world;
• that the risks taken by the financier are non-existent (being insured or covered by guarantees provided by the customer);
• that Islamic banks have "found it impractical to obey their own charters" and that they have "disguised interest under a variety of charges";
• that "the financial outlook" of Islamic Murabaha financing and conventional interest-charging financing is "the same",as is most everything else besides the terminology used.

(At least one supporter (Khalid Zaheer) of the interest=riba formulation has not only been unenthusiastic about but opposed to trying to distinguish between credit sales and interest, simply urging Islamic bankers to show "concern for the plight" of the Muslim borrower and charge them no interest.)

Substitutes for other interest-based financial products and for interest in accounting and economic models

Other Islamic finance products replacing conventional bonds (Sukuk), insurance (Takaful), promise to avoid not onlyribabut Islamically forbidden concepts such asMaysir(gambling or speculation) andGharar( "uncertainty" or "ambiguity" ).

Replacements have been suggested for the use of a bank (interest) rate for monetary policy. Siddiqi suggests two variables that can alternatively be used:

1) mark-up in sales with deferred payment and

2) ratios used in sharing modes of finance.

These ratios could be used to manipulate rates of profit (of Islamic finance). They could be determined through market forces or set by governments for the public interest, and as of the early 1980s this has been legislated in Sudan and Pakistan, according to Siddiqi. Another source (Bijan Bidabad) suggests that "some public equity-based instrument" such as "Rastin Swap Bonds (RSBs)" be used for "non-usury open market operations".

In modern economic theory many of the important models use interest as a key element, and in accounting interest rates are used to evaluate projects and investments. Islamic economics looks to find alternative variables and parameters—one suggestion has been forTobin's qto replace Interest (I).As a tool for comparing projects with countries where the interest rate is operated, however, it is argued that a profit rate could be used.

Non-orthodox approach

The non-orthodox position emphasizes the difference between bank interest and theribaof the Quran (sometimes arguing that contemporary "bank Interest" is a new financial technology not covered by classical fiqh),and the importance of moral and practical aspects in determining what isriba.

In addition to the defence of the use of bank interest as Islamically permissible and not the cause of harm to economic prosperity, the poor, or society in general, the non-orthodox (primarily M.O. Farooq, and M.A. Khan) argue that several issues—thetime value of money,dealing with inflation, early or delinquent loan payment—make a ban on all interest problematic, and that the "Islamic concept of money" used to defend the ban is itself problematic.

Government-affiliated ulama

A number of the high level jurists affiliated in some way with Muslim-majority governments have opposed a ban on all interest. Egyptian PresidentAnwar Sadatobtained a fatwa from theSheikh of al-Azharruled that interest-bearing treasury bonds were consistent with Islamic law.More recently the mufti of Egypt, Dr.Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy,issued severalfatawapermitting bank interest in 1991.In 1997 Shaykh Nasr Farid Wasil (Grand Mufti ofDar al-Ifta al-Misriyyahat the time) also declared bank interest permissible provided the money was invested inhalalavenues: "there is no such thing as an Islamic or non-Islamic bank. So let us stop this controversy about bank interest."Dr Abd-al-Munim Al-Nimr, an ex-minister of 'Awqaf in Egypt, publicly stated that banking interest cannot be consideredriba. This has been explained as in keeping with the tendency for rulers to get the fatwas they want on "key policy issues"from "official" ulama "whose task it is to legitimize" rulers' policies.(Historians note the practice is not new and that jurists legitimized interest forawqaf(religious endowments) during the late period of the Ottoman rule (as mentioned above).

Modernist position

In addition to service to government, another motivation of jurists opposing the formulation interest=riba has been the arguments ofIslamic Modernismof the 20th century Modernist jurists, mentioned above. (Other Modernists interpreters ofribainclude those on the India-Pakistan subcontinent including:Ja'afar Shah Phulwarai,Tamanna Imadi,Rafiullah Shihab,Yaqub Shah,Abdul Ghafur Muslim,Syed Ahmad,Aqdas Ali Kazmi,and Abdullah Saeed.)

Islamic Moderniststend to "emphasize the moral aspect of the prohibition ofriba,and argue that the rationale for this prohibition as formulated in al-Qur'an was injustice and hardship. "Modernists believepre-Islamiclending practices inMakkaconstitutedribaand are much different from and more problematic than contemporary bank lending, which do not involveriba,according to sources such as M.A. KhanandThe Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World.

Makkan lending (Riba al-jahiliya) involved high interest rates charged by rich money lenders to poor customers who borrowed for purposes of consumption,and led to the accumulation of large debts and often financial slavery. In contrast, most money loaned in contemporary society is for commercial purposes and investment, transacted between sophisticated parties, offering/paying interest rates determined and kept low by a competitive and regulated market—most of these features not in existence when the Quran was revealed.Furthermore, contemporary bankruptcy laws "protect borrowers against the horrors once produced byriba".

They also advance the economic argument that "the goal of eradicating interest is both misguided and unfeasible," because interest is "indispensable to any complex economy".

Harm to borrower

Islamic Modernist scholar such asFazlur Rahman Malik,Muhammad Asad,Sa'id al-Najjar,Sayyid Tantawi,differ from the orthodox interpreters in arguing that interest is notribaunless it involves exploitation of the needy. They differentiate between various forms of interest charges advocating the lawfulness of some and rejecting others.

Abd-al-Munim Al-Nimr, also argues thatribamust involve harm to the debtor. In his fatawa permitting bank interest and declaring it non-riba,Muhammad Sayyid Tantawyargued it makes little sense to suggest that modest saving account holders are exploiting sophisticated multibillion-dollar banks that pay them the interest on their accounts.Fixed return or "determination of the profit in advance is done for the sake of the owner of the capital (that is the depositor) and is done to prevent a dispute between him and the bank,"rather than to exploit.

Lawyer and Islamic scholar Kemal A. Faruki, complained that much time and energy were spent in Pakistan on "learned discussions onriba"and" doubtful distinctions between `interest` and `guaranteed profits` "in the banking system, while a far more serious problem affecting the poor was ignored:

usury perpetrated on the illiterate and the poor bysoodkhuris(lit. `devourers of usury`). These officially registered moneylenders under the Moneylenders Act are permitted to lend at not more than 1% below the State Bank rate. In fact they are Mafia-like individuals who charge interest as high as 60% per annum collected ruthlessly in monthly installments and refuse to accept repayment of the principal sum indefinitely. Their tactics include intimidation and force.

Practicality

Economic arguments that bank interest is needed for efficient allocation of resources and economic development, also mean that it serves the public interest. Because public interest (Maslaha), is one of the bases of divine law(ranking below other sources: Quran, Sunnah,ijma'(scholarly consensus) andqiyas(analogy)) this may exempt bank interest from charges of beingharamandriba.

Turkish-American economist and Islamic Studies scholar Timur Kuran questions whether an economy without interest has ever existed: "As far as is known, no Muslim polity has had a genuinely interest-free economy." Feisal Khan notes that the Islamic banking industry is under criticism not just from non-orthodox who think Islam does not call for a ban on interest, but from "ultra-orthodox" who believe it has not truly excluding all forms of interest from finance. He notes complaints about the authenticity of Islamic banking from strict Muslims (Taqi Usmani has argued that the industry has "totally" neglected the "basic philosophy", undermining its ownraison d'être;so that non-Muslims and the Muslim "masses" have now gotten the impression that Islamic banking is "nothing but a matter of twisting documents...." ) and that in 2002—23 years afterribawas first forbidden in Pakistan—the State Bank of Pakistan declared that banks and "windows" made "Islamic" in 1979 were not truly Islamic, but conventional,and that other banks (such as theMeezan BankandAl Baraka Bank) were "full-fledged" Islamic commercial banks who would be promoted by the state bank.Despite this "rebooting", Khan states that the new, purified, full-fledged Islamic banks are the same in "form and function" as the old Islamic banks, and that eleven years later (as of 2013), use only a minuscule amount (3%) of profit and loss sharing, and make up only about 10% of the country's banking sector.

Reply to Modernists

Most of these arguments have been criticized by Islamic revivalist writers, including Siddiqi, Zarqa, Khan & Mirakhor and Chapra, and especially by Taqi Usmani's "Judgement on Interest Delivered in the Supreme Court of Pakistan".

Taqi Usmani argues that commercial, industrial and agricultural (as opposed to consumption) loans could not have been unknown to Arabs in the era of Muhammad sinceahadithmention large loans and large scale caravans used by Arab traders.Arabs of Muhammad's era also had "constant business relations" with the adjacentByzantineprovince of Syria (Arabs used its silver dirhams and gold dinars for currency) where interest bearing loans were so widespread that a separate law was enforced to fix their rate of interest. He also points out that there are a number of references to "all"ribabeing forbidden inahadith,and all excess over principal beingriba,but no mention of some smaller amount of interest being permissible.

Time value of money

One concept instrumental in explaining (and defending) the justice of charging interest on loans is thetime value of money—the idea that there is greater benefit in possessing money in the present rather than the future. The concept justifies the idea that later payment should be discounted and savers/investors/lenders be compensated for deferring the benefits of consumption, or—as mentioned above (see:Injustice of fixed return)—compensated for "renting out" the purchasing power of their capital, much as any rental agency providing something valuable/useful is paid rent.

As such, some Islamic finance supporters have attacked the idea of time value. Fahim Khan of the Islamic Research and Training Institute in Saudi Arabia states that the prohibition of interest "can be considered" a "sort of a denial of time value of money".Maududi has called the difference "between the psychological values of the present and the future... nothing but an illusion",and disproven by the fact that few people "spend all their wealth on present pleasure and enjoyment."Taqi Usmai has declared unequivocally that "in Shariah there is no concept of time value of money".

Irfan argues that the value of money diminishes very little over time because some consumption—such as eating—can only be done over time. Furthermore, discounting for time may lead to negative outcomes such as unsustainable agricultural production with planting and grazing that causesdesertificationand erosion, since these bad outcomes occur in the discounted future. However, Islamic banking also calls for rewarding delayed gratification in the form of "return on investment"and the sale of goods on credit (endorsed by early jurists such asMuhammad al-Shaybani).

Most orthodox Islamic scholars and economists have taken a middle path—insisting that a rate of discount of money over time is aninvalidconcept if the rate is interest on aloan,butvalidif the rate is return on capital fromMurabahaor other Islamic contracts.Critic Farooq complains that this rationalization is contradictory,and amounts to denying time value in theory while embracing it in practice, and that the accepting of the theory in practice explains the large (and successful) move of non-Islamic western banks into Islamic banking.

Islamic concept of money

Answers to the argument (of economists such as Farooq) that lenders of money are due some kind of rent-like compensation;and to the question of why charging extra to finance a purchase (in, for example,murabahaIslamic finance) is allowed, but in lending cash it isriba, can be found (supporters believe) in the "Islamic concept of money".

Orthodox scholars, such as M.U. Chapra and M.T. Usmani, have written that money can only be a "medium of exchange" and must not be treated as an "asset or commodity".Trading a commodity/asset, or paying a fee for its use is right and sensible (they argue), but trading or renting a medium of exchange is wrong,because money is "unproductive" has "no intrinsic utility". This being the case, no return for the use of money can be justified,and explains (at least in part) why it isriba.

Usmani quotes condemnations of speculation by various Western sourcesand the writings of the celebrated medieval Islamic scholarAl-Ghazzalithat money was made to facilitate trade and should never be hoarded or used to charge interest.

In response, M.A. Khan questions

• whether the distinction between asset and medium of exchange proceeds from a need "to prove that all types of interest are unfair",rather than from Islam;
• how money can be a medium of exchange but not an asset, asking what "the justification for charging"zakat(the Islamic religious tax) on money is "if money is not a store of value";
• how cash balances are to be entered in modern business accounting if not as assets;
• if there is any good way for enforcers of Islamic law to differentiate between productive trading and the speculation which is forbidden by this definition.

Early payment of debt

The opposite of credit sales—i.e., higher charge for deferred payment—is reduced charges for early payment, and is hard to justify without an acknowledgment of the time value of money and the validity of interest on loans, according to some (such as M.A. Khan).

Reduction of debt for early payment is consideredharamby the four Sunni schools of jurisprudence (Hanafi,Maliki,Shafi'i,Hanbali), but whether there is a consensus of Islamic jurists is unclear. According to Ridha Saadullah, such reductions have

been permitted by some companions of the Prophet and some of their followers. This position has been advanced byIbn TaymiyyaandIbn al-Qayyim,and it has, more recently, been adopted by the IslamicFiqhAcademy of theOIC.The Academy decided that `reduction of a deferred debt in order to accelerate its repayment, whether at the request of the debtor or the creditor is permissible underShariah.It does not constitute forbiddenribaif it is not agreed upon in advance and as long as the creditor-debtor relationship remains bilateral....

Inflation

Whether or not compensation to lenders for the erosion of the value of the funds from inflation is allowed (and how to provide that compensation in a way that is not consideredriba), has also been called a problem "vexing" Islamic scholars,since finance for businesses will not be forthcoming if a lender loses money by lending.

Volume 1 ofInvestment Laws in Muslim Countries Handbook,states "an interest rate that did not exceed the rate of inflation was notribaaccording to classical Islamic jurists. "Suggestions to solve the problem include indexing loans or denominating loans "in terms of a commodity" such as gold, and doing further research to find an answer.

However, many scholars believe indexing is a type ofriba]and that it encourages inflation.Others state that using "interest to neutralise inflation would be tantamount to using a bigger 'evil' [interest] to fight a smaller one [inflation].

Delinquent payments/Defaults

While in conventional finance late payments/delinquent loans are discouraged by interest that accumulates while the loan is delinquent, the price for credit payments can "never be increased" no matter how late the lender/buyer is in repaying (according to Usmani) because late fees are payment "against money", which violates the principal that credit payments must be "against commodity and not against money".

Prohibition against late fees has led to the control and management of delinquent accounts becoming "one of the vexing problems" in Islamic finance, according to M.A. Khan.According to Ibrahim Warde,

Islamic banks face a serious problem with late payments, not to speak of outright defaults, since some people take advantage of every dilatory legal and regal and religious device... In most Islamic countries, various forms of penalties and late fees have been established, only to be outlawed or considered unenforceable. Late fees in particular have been assimilated to riba. As a result, `debtors know that they can pay Islamic banks last since doing so involves no cost`

Warde also complains that

"Many businessmen who had borrowed large amounts of money over long periods of time seized the opportunity of Islamicization to do away with accumulated interest of their debt, by repaying only the principal—usually a puny sum when years of double-digit inflation were taken into consideration.

Riba al-fadl

Whileriba an-nasiya=interest is a major issue among Islamist/revivalist preachers, writers and economists, and forms the basis of Islamic Banking, another type of riba—what jurists callriba al-fadl( "surplus riba" ) is also forbidden by orthodox jurists.Riba al-fadldoes not involve paying back over time but instead the trading of different quantities of the same commodity (gold, silver, wheat, barley, date, or salt), typically because the quality of the smaller quantity is superior.

Becauseriba al-fadlinvolves barter, and barter is much less common than it was in early Meccan society,riba al-fadlis of much less interest nowadays thanriba an-nasiya.It is also considered (at least by some sources) a form of riba prohibited by theSunnahrather than the Quran. Taqi Usmani states thatRiba al-fadlwas developed by Muhammad and so was not part of pre-Islamicjahiliya.

According to theZahirischool and early scholars likeTawus ibn KaysanandQatadah,Riba on hand-to-hand exchanges of gold, silver, dates, salt, wheat and barley are prohibited by Muhammad's injunction, but analogical reasoning is not used to extend that injunction to other agricultural produce as is the case with other schools.In his treatise "The Removal of Blames from the Great Imams", classical scholar Ibn Taymiyya acknowledges the difference of opinion (khilaf) amongst the scholars on the prohibition ofriba al-fadl.Similarly, his student Ibn Qayyim distinguished betweenriba al-nasi'ahandriba al-fadl,maintaining thatrib al-nasi'ahwas prohibited by Qur'an and Sunnah definitively while the latter was only prohibited in order to stop the charging of interest. According to him, the prohibition ofriba al-fadlwas less severe and it could be allowed in dire need or greater public interest (maslaha). Hence under a compelling need, an item may be sold with delay in return for dirhams or for another weighed substance despite implicatingriba al-nasi'ah.In addition, Ibn Qayyim held that the sales of gold and silver jewelry for more than their equivalent weight in gold or silver was permissible, in consideration of workmanship and people's dire need.

Traditional Hanafi school of thought also permits a Muslim living in a warring non-Muslim country to give interest to non-Muslims with their consent (be itriba al-fadlorriba al-nasi'ah), but it is forbidden to take interest from them when they give at interest, that is, such a transaction is prohibited. According to another view within theHanafischool (reported fromAbu Hanifaand his studentMuhammad al-Shaybani), a Muslim living in a non-Muslim country is allowed to deal in interest with its citizens regardless of faith. In addition, some classicalHanbalijurists such as Ibn Taymiyya permitted transactions involving interest between a Muslim and non-Muslim indar al-harb(territory of war) provided neither entered the others' territory underamaan(i.e., protection under permission to stay).

Seeking precedence from classical scholarship, post-classical scholarly skepticism of the interest=riba formulation (forming a so-called "non-orthodox" or "Non-Equivalence School" )goes back toOttomanGrandMuftiEbussuud Efendiand includes 19th/20th century Islamic jurists, such asMuhammad Abduh,Rashid Rida,Mahmud Shaltut,Syed Ahmad Khan,Fazl al-Rahman,Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy.

Hadith

Examples of the ahadith cited in forbiddingriba al-fadl—many fromSahih Bukhari—are:

Narrated Abu Said: We used to be given mixed dates (from the booty) and used to sell (barter) two Sas (of those dates) for one Sa (of good dates). The Prophet said (to us), "No (bartering of) two Sas for one Sa nor two Dirhams for one Dirham is permissible", (as that is a kind of usury).(Sahih al-Bukhari,3:34:294)

Narrated 'Umar bin Al-Khattab: God's Apostle said, "The bartering of gold for silver is riba, (usury), except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount, and wheat grain for wheat grain is usury except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount, and dates for dates is usury except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount, and barley for barley is usury except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount".(Sahih al-Bukhari,3:34:344)

Narrated Ibn 'Umar: Muhammad said, "The selling of wheat for wheat is riba (usury) except if it is handed from hand to hand and equal in amount. Similarly the selling of barley for barley, is Riba except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount, and dates for dates is usury except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount.(Sahih al-Bukhari,3:34:379)

Narrated AbuHurayrah: Muhammad said: If anyone makes two transactions combined in one bargain, he should have the lesser of the two or it will involve usury.(Sunan Abu Daud)

Raqiub Zaman notes that whenribais described in hadith literature, it is "in the context of sales" (whereriba al-fadlmight apply), with "no mention of loan (qard) or debt (dayan) ",(whereriba an-nasiyamight apply).

However, there are various contradictions and discrepancies in ahadith onriba al-fadl.Both M.O. Farooq and M.A. Khan quote a well-known hadith by Usama bin Zayd (inSahih al-Bukhari) making a rather categorical statement that

• "there is noribaexcept innasi'ah(delay) ".

Farooq cites another fromSahih Muslim

• "There is no riba in hand-to-hand [spot] transactions."

Farooq quotes another scholar (Iqbal Ahmad Khan Suhail) who believes the two ahadith "demolish the self-invented castle of riba al-fadl".M.A. Khan also believes the hadith indicate thatribain a spot exchange is "ruled out". According to scholar Farhad Nomani, ahadith citingIbn `Abbas,acompanionof Muhammad, "report that there is noribaexcept in deferment... [of] delivery and/or payment ", again questioning the existence ofriba al-fadl.(Ibn Rushdalso reportedly agreed that according to Ibn 'Abba, Muhammad did not acceptriba al-fadlbecause, "there was no Riba except in credit".But according to Mahmoud A. El-Gamal, Ibn Rushd later reversed his position.)

(There are also contradictory ahadith on trading silver for gold: one stating: "... The bartering of gold for silver isRibaexcept if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount... ",while others say: "the Prophet... allowed us to sell gold for silver and vice versa as we wished." )

Application

Islamic jurists have traditionally interpreted the admonition of riba by the ahadith to mean that if one amount of commodity is traded for the same kind of commodity then the two items exchanged must be of the samequantity,ignoring thequalityof the commodity or the labor added to it. (Although there is some question of why anyone would ever exchange equal quantities of the same quality commodity "like for like" —that the ahadith seems to call for—for example 100 kilograms of wheat for 100 kg of wheat.) If, for example, a jeweler is paid in gold bullion for a gold ornament or piece of jewelry, and charges any money for their labor, they are guilty ofriba al-fadl.If someone has a 100 grams of 24karatgold and needs 100 grams of 18 karat gold (and can only get it by trade with their gold), they must trade their 100 grams for an equal amount of that less pure gold or commitriba al-fadl.

All the schools of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) accept this prohibition. In more recent times, the International Institute of Islamic Economics 1999Blueprint of Islamic financial system including strategy for elimination of riba,declaredriba al-fadlforbidden under Islamic law, defining it as exchange transactions of the `same general kind` where there are `qualitative differences`. TheConcise Dictionary of Islamic Terms(1979) also states thatriba al-fadlis one of two kinds ofribawhich are "strictly forbidden by the laws of Islam".

While all the schools offiqhagree with the prohibition, they do not agree over its rationale or whether it is restricted to the six commodities mentioned in ahadith—gold, silver, wheat, barley, date, salt—as the ahadith do not say "whether or not other commodities will assume the same status".

• ImamAbu Hanifa,of theSunniHanafischooloffiqhbelieved that the six commodities shared the common feature (`illah) of being able to be weighed or measured, so that other commodities sold by weighing or measuring were subject to the same rule.
• ImamAl-Shafi'i,of theShafi'ischool offiqh,was of the opinion that their common feature (`llah) was that they were either eatables or were used as a universal legal tender.Thus, to him, all eatables and universal legal tenders were subject toriba al-fadl.
• For ImamMalik ibn Anasof theMalikischool the common feature of the six was that they were either food items or could be stored (i.e. were non-perishable),so in this school only food items or storable items are included in this category.

This disagreement (according to Taqi Usmani) is the part of the lament ofRashidun CaliphUmarthat Muhammad did not explain the prohibition more clearly.

Criticism

Critics of this interpretation include activist Khalid Zaheer and economists M.A. Khan and Mohammad Omar Farooq. Zaheer believes that "the literature on Islamic Finance and Economics is presenting very strange applications of the concept ofriba al-fadl,which are... being applied in areas of business and finance where their application was never intended. "He notes that some scholars "openly" admit they do not understand the logic of the ban onRiba al-Fadl.

Prohibition of riba al-fadl (specifically in barter of six specified commodities) is mentioned only in hadith. M.A. Khan and Farooq find the reference to riba al-fadl questionable as it makes no sense. Khan asks why anyone would ever trade equal quantities of the same kind of commodity ( "like for like" )—for example 100 kilograms of wheat for 100 kg of wheat—in a riba-free transaction called for by quoted ahadith. Or how "divine law" could prescribe that a jeweler— "who has spent his time and effort to convert gold into jewelry" and is taking gold as payment—not be compensated? M.A. Khan also notes that the authors of the IIIE blueprint have no objection to traders selling higher purity/quality commodity for cash and using the proceeds to buying more less purity/quality commodity, and wonders what would be accomplished by such "an ineffective and roundabout method of handling a simple exchange transaction".

Abdullah Saeed complains that the legal cause or feature (`illa) used by the schools of Islamic jurisprudence to determine what commodities were subject toriba(i.e. being able to be measured, eaten or used as legal tender) ignoresreasonswhy a sale should be prohibited (hikmah) issues such as "the circumstances of the transaction, the parties thereto, or the importance of the commodity to the survival of society."

Mahmoud El-Gama notes that orthodox interpretation (or at least orthodox Hanafi) ofriba(the basis of what he attacks as "shari'a arbitrage" ) distinguishes betweenfungible(mithli) and non-fungible (qimi) items. Thus (allegedly) fungible gold may not be traded one ounce for two, but trading one non-fungible item (such as diamonds) for two is permitted, whatever the items' market value. Thus "selling a diamond worth $10,000 today for a deferred price of $20,000 tomorrow" and immediately selling the diamond for $10,000 in cash ishalal(legal) under orthodox rules ofriba al-fadl—notwithstanding the fact that it would give the financier an effective rate of 100% interest. El-Gama describes this as avoiding "riba in form" while being "usurious in substance".

Rationale

According to Abdullah Saeed, "the intended meaning" of the ahadith concerningriba al-fadl"was not very clear even to many jurists", who nonetheless believed the prohibition "was to be observed and complied with... without probing into the reasons for the prohibition."Other scholars have probed. Ibn Rushd stated that "what is targeted by the prohibition ofribais the excessive inequity it entails ". Taqi Usmani asserts thatRiba al-fadlwas developed by Muhammad after his ban on riba to avoid "certain barter transactions might lead the people to indulge in Riba", picking out commodities that were "a medium of exchange like money".

Iqbal Suhail believes trading lesser quality foodstuffs for better quality and less quantity was forbidden because the frugality and austerity of Muhammad was offended by something like the spending resources on higher quality foodstuffs "for the sake of gratification of the palate." Others believeriba al-fadlmakes little sense as a prohibited sin but does as a sort of consumer advice. Mohammed Fadel (of the faculty of law, University of Toronto) calls it a 'prudential regulation'.

Farooq suggest it may have arisen to warn Muslims that barter is usually less profitable than buying and selling separately,and notes several hadith where Muhammad tells a Muslim not to trade dates of different quality but never mentionsriba. M.A. Khan argues that the prohibition againstriba al-fadlcomes not from any clear understanding of the ahadith but from an attempt to find a plausible explanation "to rationalize the ambiguity in the text".

See also

Islam related

• Islamic banking and finance
• Shariah investments
• Dhimmi
• Jizya
• Zakat

Economy related

• Loans and interest in Judaism
• Terrorism financing
• Usury
• Vix pervenit

Contemporary issues

• FATF blacklist
• Terrorism financing

References

Further reading

• Ahmad, Abu Umar Faruq; Hassan, M. Kabir (6 March 2014)."Riba and Islamic Banking".Journal of Islamic Economics, Banking and Finance.Retrieved26 October2016.
• Badr, Gamal M. (Spring 1989). "To the Editor".The American Journal of Comparative Law.37(2). American Society of Comparative Law:424–425.doi:10.2307/840180.JSTOR840180.
• Chapra, M.U. (2001)."Why has Islam prohibited interest? The Rationale behind prohibition of interest".In Thomas Abdulkader (ed.).Interest in Islamic economics. Understanding Riba.London: Routledge.ISBN9780415342421.Retrieved8 January2017.
• Farooq, Mohammad Omar (27 December 2009). "Riba, Interest and Six Hadiths: Do We Have a Definition or a Conundrum?".Review of Islamic Economics.13(1):105–141.SSRN1528770.
• Farooq, Mohammad Omar (November 2005)."The Riba-Interest Equation and Islam: Re-examination of the Traditional Arguments"(PDF).Global Journal of Finance and Economics.6(2):99–111, September 2009.Retrieved16 September2016.
• Khan, Muhammad Akram (2013).What Is Wrong with Islamic Economics?: Analysing the Present State and Future Agenda.Edward Elgar Publishing.ISBN9781782544159.Retrieved26 March2015.
• Kuran, Timur (2004).Islam and Mammon: The Economic Predicaments of Islamism.Princeton University Press.ISBN1400837359.Retrieved25 March2015.
• Kuran, Timur (2011).The Long Divergence: How Islamic Law Held Back the Middle East.Princeton University Press.ISBN978-1400836017.Retrieved30 March2015.
• Nomani, Farhad (2002)."The Interpretative Debate of the Classical Islamic Jurists on Riba (Usury)".Loyola University.Retrieved1 November2016.
• al-Qaradawi, Yusuf.The Lawful and the Prohibited in Islam(PDF).al-Falah Foundation. pp.262–268.Retrieved20 September2016.
• Saeed, Abdullah (1999) [1996].Islamic Banking and Interest: A Study of the Prohibition of Riba and Its Contemporary Interpretation.Brill.ISBN9004105654.Retrieved26 January2015.
• Siddiqi, Mohammad Nejatullah (2004).Riba, Bank Interest and the Rationale of Its Prohibition(PDF).Jeddah – Saudi Arabia: Islamc Development Bank and Training Institute. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 20 November 2016.Retrieved27 March2015.
• Siddiqi, Mohammad Nejatullah (2007).Muslim Economic Thinking: A Survey Of Contemporary Literature(PDF).Leicester: The Islamic Foundation.
• Usmani, Muhammad Taqi (1999).The Historic Judgment on Interest Delivered in the Supreme Court of Pakistan(PDF).Karachi, Pakistan: albalagh.net.
• Usmani, Muhammad Taqi (1998).An Introduction to Islamic Finance(PDF).Kazakhstan. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 7 August 2015.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)