On Interest and Interest Dealings

The seven sins mentioned in it are the worst forms of evildoing. The holy Prophet has described them as Mobqat, i.e., fatal to man and to the spirit of his faith, and specified usury as next to Polytheism, witchcraft and murder. As the physicians tell about the properties of herbs, minerals and foods, on the basis of their knowledge and experience, so do the Prophets inform concerning the effects and properties of beliefs, morals and deeds of men on the basis of the knowledge vouschafed to them by God, with the difference that while there is the possibility of an error in the knowledge or judgement of the physicians, what the Prophets tell is beyond the shadow of a doubt or fallacy, at least for men of faith, for the simple reason that it stems from Divine revelations. But; strangely enough, although people follow the advice of the physicians and take the medicines prescribed by them unquestioningly – no patient can justifiably insist upon knowing the pharmacology of a medicine before using it – when the Book of God, the Qur’an, and His Messenger inform about a thing like usury that it is a grievous sin and ruinous to the soul and a fearful punishment awaits those in the Hereafter who lend money at interest, many a claimant to Faith and intellect are reluctant to believe and its philosophy must be explained to them before they are convinced.

On the night of the Prophet’s ascension to Heaven, he was shown many things that belonged to the invisible World, including some glimpses and objects of Heaven and Hell in order that from Haqqul Yaqeen (certainty relating to truth) he attained the stage of Ainul Yaqeen (certainty relating to seeing), and could, also, instruct and inform the people with regard to Divine reward and punishment in the light of personal observation. Among these was the scene described in the above Tradition. We are indebted to the narrators of the Traditions that owing to the extraordinary pains they took, we, too, have come to know, through authentic compilations, of the supernal experiences of the Prophet during the Journey by Night.

 As already stated, in the Arabic idiom and the language of the Qur’an and the Traditions, the word ‘seventy’, often, denotes the abundance of a thing, and not the exact number. Anyway, what the above Tradition seeks to emphasize is that usury is a more detestable crime than committing incest on one’s own mother.

It tells that usury is such a grave sin that all those who are associated with it in any way are doomed to the eternal punishment of the Hereafter, and the curse rests equally on the borrower, the writer of the deed and the witnesses thereof.

Meaning usury is so ruinous in its consequences that one should be careful to avoid a situation bearing even a trace of it. When a person gives a loan to anyone, he should refrain from receiving the least worldly gain or advantage from him, and allow not even a suspicion of it to come near himself.

The word Riba, which has been used in the text of the above Tradition for usury was current in the Arabic language before the revelation of the Qur’an, and carried the same meaning as we have slated in the introductory lines. Thus, when the verse relating to it was revealed, it was believed that the practice of lending money at interest had been forbidden. There was no question of a doubt or confusion with regard to it. But in some of his sayings we shall be discussing later, the holy Prophet expressed the view about certain forms of trade which were not considered objectionable that they, too, amounted to usury. He, however, did not explain the various implications of it, but as the philosophy of the Shariat would demand, furnished only the doctrinal guidance and left it to the jurist to work out the details. The same is the case with all the heads and sections of the Shariat. But Hazrat Omar, who was among the leading legists of the Ummat, was so overawed by the warnings of punishment on usury that he felt it would have been better had the Prophet enunciated the details of the commandment as well, and not left it to the jurists to decide on their own. It was on account of this extremely God-fearing and cautious attitude of the mind that Hazrat Omar remarked that the better and wiser course for Believers was that they kept strictly aloof from everything that bore the least suggestion of usury. The irony of fate, however, is that some intellectuals of our times who claim for themselves the right to interpret the Shariat on the basis of Ijtehad conclude, from the above utterance of Hazrat Omar, that the position of usury is vague and uncertain, and, from it, proceed to justify various forms of it that are in vogue today.

If the word ‘Aaqibatahu occurring in the original is taken to mean the ultimate end of the Hereafter, no believing person can have a doubt concerning it for in the future world everyone will see with his own eyes that the people who had made immense gains through usury will rise as paupers on the Last Day and the wealth they had so acquired will prove a curse for them, as set forth in the Qur’an and the Traditions. Should, however, the Tradition be supposed to signify that however much a person may add to his wealth through usury, it will, ultimately, avail him nothing and he will end up in poverty, the superficial observers may find it hard to believe but those who are capable of taking a deeper view of things will understand. Instances are not wanting of people accumulating a lot of wealth through usurious means, and, then, the whole wealth evaporating, as one would say, into thin air through a sudden turn of events, in their own lifetime or after death. It, also, is common experience that people who live on usury seldom enjoy real peace and happiness which is the chief advantage of being wealthy. It will, as such, not be incorrect to say that a man who acquires wealth by money-lending is, virtually, a pauper, all his worldly possessions notwithstanding. Says the Quran: “Allah hath blighted usury, i.e., taken away all propitiousness from wealth acquired by usurious means.” (11: 276).

Its purpose is not merely to make a prediction, but to warn the Ummat that there will come a time when the practice of usury will become so common that no one will remain safe from it. The Believers and men of piety should, therefore, be vigilant. Our own times are no different, and even persons who consider usury a sin and abstain from it buy their provisions from shop-keepers who, directly or indirectly, are connected with the business of money-lending. In fact, it is practically impossible, now-a-days, to keep any business free from the effects of usury.

Traditions having the same meaning have, also, been related by Hazrat Omar, Hazrat Obaidah bin Saamit, Hazrat Abu Bakrah, Hazrat Abu Hurairah and many other Companions. In the above narrative, it is told. that if any of the six commodities mentioned in it, gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates and salt, is sold in return for the same commodity, as for instance, wheat is exchanged for wheat, the transaction will be fair and .lawful if it is equal in measure, value and quality, and conducted from hand to hand. If, however, what is exchanged is of a greater or lesser weight or value or the business deal is not carried out from hand to hand, but by way of borrowing and lending then it will be a usurious transaction and both the parties will be guilty of usury. The sum and substance of the comments offered on these Traditions by Shah Waliullah, in Hujjdtillah-il Baligha, is that the form of usury practiced in Arabia during the time of the holy Prophet and even earlier, and for which the term, Riba was used was that people, in their need, borrowed money from those who did the business of lending at interest and it was settled at the time of the transaction that they would return it within a fixed period, along with the agreed interest charge and if it could not be paid back on time, they obtained a respite and agreed to pay an additional amount. This was the Riba that was directly forbidden by the Qur’an. Later, at the behest of God, the Prophet included some other kinds of business deals, too, in the sphere of application of the commandment concerning usury, and enjoined upon the (Ummat to abstain from them as well. The Traditions, we have just seen contain the same promulgation, and their purport is that if any commodity among the six mentioned therein is exchanged for the same commodity, it should be of an equal weight and quality, and the transaction carried out from hand to hand, otherwise it will be a usurious deal and both the parties to it will stand condemned before God.

Only six articles are mentioned in these Traditions, but the legist-doctors are almost unanimous on the point that other articles belonging to the same category, too, are covered by the commandment although there is some difference in their views on matters of detail.

Hazrat Bilal would, certainly, not have been unaware that Riba had been forbidden by God, but he did not know that the manner of his buying the dates, too, was a usurious practice. He thought that only the taking or giving of a loan at interest was usury. But the Prophet explained to him that the exchange of the dates on unequal terms, also, was similar. According to Shah Waliullah, Riba relating to a loan is real Riba while what has been described as such in the narratives of Hazrat Abu Saeed Khudri etc., is equivalent in significance to it.

Hazrat Muawiya was the Governor of Syria during the Caliphate of Hazrat Omar, and Hazrat Abu Darda, also, used to live there. It was in those days that Hazrat Muawiya sold a drinking vessel of gold or silver in exchange for the metal it was made of, though the metal weighed a little more than the vessel, but he thought that there was no harm in it. Hazrat Abu Darda, thereupon, told him that the holy Prophet had forbidden such a deal and commanded that if an article of gold or silver was sold in return for the same metal, the two should be of an equal weight, neither more nor less. Hazrat Muawiya, perhaps, was under the impression that if an article – a vessel or an ornament – made of gold or silver was sold, it would not be unfair to charge a higher price, taking into consideration the cost of manufacture. That was why he remarked that he saw nothing wrong and unlawful in the transaction. Hazrat Abu Darda, however, was extremely shocked at it as he believed that there was no question of one’s own view or judgement in what he had heard from the Prophet. Anyway, he left Syria for good, and came to Medina where he related the incident to Hazrat Omar. Hazrat Omar, then, wrote to Hazrat Muawiya that the correct legal position was what Hazrat Abu Darda had stated, and, therefore, no such deals could be permitted.

It shows how firm and uncompromising the holy Companions were in their attitude even on the second category of Riba. They were not ready to tolerate even the least deviation or error of judgement in that regard.