FIRST REVELATION ON RIBA
It is after having laid bare
the evil involved in the act of economic exploitation that the Qur’an names,
for the first time, riba as a form of economic exploitation;
And that which you
lend (or invest) in riba (usurious investment. lending on interest) seeking
increase (usurious profit, interest on the loan) through (feeding upon) the
Wealth of others, will not increase with Allah (thus Allah rejects it as a legitimate
form of business. It is nor business. It is economic exploitation); - whereas
all that you give as charity (or lend as a charitable loan i.e. qard hasana),
seeking Allah’s Face (i.e. Allah's Pleasure), such are the ones who will be
blessed with multiple increase.
(Qur’an: al-Rum- 30:39)
When money by itself,
independent of any human labor or effort is transformed into capital which is
invested usuriously, the increase which the capital sum realizes (which is
called riba) is acquired at the expense of the wealth of others.
That is robbery. It is obnoxious to Allah the Most High. It earns no blessings!
When, on the other hand, money is spent charitably it earns blessings. For this
reason Allah the Most High, exhorted the believers, in due verse of Surah
al-Rum which preceded the verse on riba, to be charitable;
So-give what is due
to kindred, the need and the traveler. That is best for those who seek the
Countenance of Allah and it is they who will prosper.
(Qur’an: Al-Rum:-30:38)
We noted earlier that riba
is here described as ‘increase in capital at the expense of the wealth of
others. In other words in riba the 'loss' of one is the 'gain' of
the other. Such a transaction does not qualify as ‘business’; rather it is the
opposite of ‘business’! Allah the Most High, made ‘business’ permissible
(halal) and riba prohibited (haram)! Islam ordains an ideal of
mutual consent and hence satisfaction amongst all parties to a business
transaction. (Qur’an: al-Nisa:- 4:29)
Muhammad Asad is, in our
view, the most perceptive of all the commentators of the Qur’an, classical as
well as modern, in so far as his comments on the Qur’anic verses pertaining to riba
are concerned. For this reason we have taken the extraordinary liberty to quote
at length, at the beginning of chapter one, his comments on the Qur’anic
revelations pertaining to riba- We now quote his comments on the above
verse (Qur’an; al-Rum:-30.39). First of all, this is how be translates
the verse:
And (remember)
whatever you may give Out in usury so that it might increase through (other)
people’s possessions will bring (you) no increase in the sight of God - whereas
all that you give out in charity seeking God's countenance, (will) be blessed
by Him} for it is they (who thus seek His countenance) that shall have their
recompense multiplied!
Asad then proceeds to make
the following comment concerning the verse in which he identifies riba
with interest. :
This is the earliest mention
of the term and concept of riba in the chronology of Qur'anic revolution.
In its general linguistic sense this term denotes an ‘addition’ to or an ‘increase
' of a thing over and above its original size or amount in the terminology of the
Qur‘an, it signifies any unlawful addition, by way of interest to a sum of money
or goods lent by one person or body of persons to another. Considering the
problem in terms of the economic conditions prevailing at or before their time,
most of the early Muslim jurists identified this 'unlawful addition' with
profits obtained through any kind of interest-hearing loans irrespective of the
rate of interest and the economic motivation involved.
Asad is careful to point out
that there have always been some differences as to what exactly constituted riba:
Islamic scholars have not
yet been able to reach an absolute agreement on the definition of riba:
a definition that is, which would cover all conceivable legal situations and
positively respond to all the exigencies of a variable economic environment.
But he forges for himself a
creative definition of riba in which his primary focus is
directed to the social and moral implications of economic transactions. As a
consequence he succeeded, as no other commentator before did, in reaching the
very substance of the Qur’anic prohibition of riba, namely riba
as a vehicle of economic exploitation .
If we were to compare Asad’s
translation and commentary of this verse with that of another famous modem
commentator, Maulana Abul ‘Ala Maududi, we will begin to appreciate the depth
to which he penetrated the subject. Here for example is Moulana Maududi’s translation of verse
39 of Surah al-Rum of the Qur’an (i.e. 30:39).
The interest that you give
in order to increase the wealth of the people, does not increase in the sight
of Allah; and the zakat that you pay in order to win Allah’s approval, its
payers do indeed increase their wealth.
Maulana Maududi understands
this verse as follows; This is the first verse revealed in the Qur’an that
condemned interest. It only says this: You pay interest thinking that it will cause
an increase in the wealth of the money-lender. But actually in the sight of
Allah, interest does not increase the wealth, but the wealth is increased by
the payment of zakat.
Another modem commentator,
Moulana Abd al-Majid Daryabadi, translates the same verse of Surah al-Rum
(30:39) as follows:
And whatever you gave in
gift in order that it may increase among the substance of men increased not
with Allah; and whatever you give in poor-rate seeking the countenance of Allah
- then those, they shall have increase manifold.
The commentary of Maulana
Daryabadi on the verse is even more astonishing. His comments are placed in
small type within his translation of the verse: And whatever you gave in
gift [Riba is literally ‘an excess and an addition’. Here in
means anything that is spent, not in the way of God, but merely to conform to
convention, such as is the practice on many ceremonial occasions, and with a
view to receiving back more] order that it may increase among the substance of
men [and come back to you in an augmented form] increaseth not with Allah [i.e.
although this form of expenditure is not strictly forbidden, yet there will be
no recompense for it from God, nor will He bless it]; and whatever you give in
poor-rate seeking the countenance of Allah - then those [i.e. the persons who
pay the poor-rate], they shall have increase manifold.
Asad's translation and
commentary of the verse of the Qur’an in which Allah the Most High, targets riba
by name for the first time (Qur'an;-30-39) is superb. His definition of riba
and comments on riba are confirmed by later revelation on the
subject in which Allah the Most High, condemns the Jews for their oppression,
tyranny and evil or wicked conduct (zulm). Among their acts of oppression
was their taking riba, although if had been prohibited for them
and as a consequence of their taking riba. Allah the Most High,
went on to declare. they were:
. . . consuming the wealth
of mankind through means which were false and wrong (batil) . . .
(Qur'an: al-Nisa:- 4:161}
And so the riba
which the Qur’an is here denouncing would be increase in loan capital which is
realized at the expense of the wealth of others through means which are false
and wrong.
The first lesson taught by
the Qur’an in connection with the evils of riba, belongs to that
branch of knowledge which can best be described as the sociology of economics,
i.e. the implications of economic thought and conduct on the fabric of society.
Lending is a humanitarian institution. It should be used for helping those in need.
Lending should be spiritualized. Between lenders (the ‘haves’) and borrowers
(the ’have nots’) there ought to be a human fraternal and spiritual bond. When
lending becomes a business, the value of charity will vanish. Lenders will
become predators preying on the needs or misfortunes of mankind in order to
unjustly appropriate their wealth. This will result in incalculable harm to the
very fabric of the healthy stable society. The charitable loan functions in a
way which witnesses wealth at work in restoring and consolidating fraternity of
the human family and stability to the social order. The predatory loan (i.e. riba),
on the other hand witnesses wealth at work in destroying that fraternity and
destabilizing the social order.
This is precisely what has happened
to Judeo-Christian western civilization as a consequence of the embrace of a
capitalist economic system based on riba. So great has been the collapse
the idea of ‘society as a family’, with mutual ethical obligations between
individuals similar to those within a family, that a former President of the
United States of America, Ronald Reagan gave a loan to his own daughter and
charged her intend (riba) on the ban. Riba destroys
the concept of society as a family. Where formerly the community was the
insurance which insured individuals against catastrophic losses, now
individuals have to fend for themselves. And it was precisely because
individuals now have to fend for themselves that this curious institution
emerged in the modem capitalist economy, i.e. the insurance company! Insurance
appears to be very closely interlinked with riba. Indeed a riba-based
economy cannot, perhaps fully emerge without insurance.
This is by no means the only
reason why riba is obnoxious to Allah the Most High, There are
other reasons besides. But Allah the Most High, chooses to confine Himself
in-this the first revelation, to simply pointing to the enormous damage which
would result for society if the institution of charity were to be weakened.
Society would he rendered vulnerable if individuals were all left to fend for
themselves and the sharks of riba would then have an opportunity
to enter and devour the wealth of the society.
Indeed, not only is charity
weakened when ‘lending’ becomes a business, but that which takes the place of
charity is quite corrosive.
It is instructive that Allah
ta'alah should in the very first reference to riba in the Qur’an,
compare it with charity. It is in the comparison of the two that we can
penetrate the veils and see the true nature of riba. In riba
there is only taking with no giving in return. In true charity there is only
giving with no taking in return. In charity we give to those in need and take
nothing in return! In riba the lender takes from the borrower and
gives nothing in return.
There is a world of
difference between 'taking' and 'giving', particularly when it concerns those
who are in need. In charity both the receiver and the giver gain. Also, ‘giving’
which is charity brings the society together and cements it as a family. In riba
the ‘gain’ of the tender is the ‘loss’ of the borrower. Riba,
which is ‘taking’ in a way which violates, justice destroys the family and
divides the society into those who exploit the needs of others for their own
benefit and those who are in need and whose very need causes them to be
subjected to injustice and exploitation. Riba thus destroys the
fabric of society.
The riba-based
capitalist economy is doing precisely this. It is destroying the unity of
society and is instead, creating class warfare, - creating a society and a
world order of ‘sharks’ and ‘sardines’ – i.e. those who exploit the needs of
others and those who are exploited. The Latin American statesman, Juan Domingo
Alvorado, was the first to use the expression ‘sharks and sardines' to describe
the economy produced by interest-based capitalism. It is this more than
anything else which aroused the anger of Karl Marx and produced communism. Marx
of course, was quite wrong in the alternative which he advocated and which was
imposed, in place of the riba-based capitalist economic system.
In destroying the free and fair market by way of State control over the market.
Marx replaced one form of riba with another. It lead to fasad
(corruption. turmoil, anarchy).
I have vivid memories of one
of my teachers of international economics Bernard Coard, making devastatingly
accurate analyses of Latin American economies and directing attention to the
economic exploitation which was taking place. It was riba, but he
could not recognize riba. Another of my teachers of monetary
economics, Mrs. Patricia Robinson, spent a long time patiently responding to my
numerous classroom inquiries but could not recognize any exploitation or
injustice involved in the lending money on interest.
to be continued . . . .
