Riba (Arabic: ???, ) means usury and is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence.

Qur'an

The Qur'an states the following on Riba:

Ahadith

Riba is also mentioned in Ahadith and is considered one of the seven major sins:

Jurisprudence

The interpretation of riba varies among different scholars of Islamic law and jurisprudence. The popular view in modern Islamic banking and Islamic economic jurisprudence is that the concept of interest itself is riba and is therefore unlawful.

The definition of riba in classical Islamic jurisprudence was "surplus value without counterpart." When "currencies of base metal were first introduced in the Islamic world, no jurist ever thought that paying a debt in a higher number of units of this fiat money was riba" as they were concerned with the real value of money (determined by weight only) rather than its numerical value. For example, it was acceptable for a loan of 1000 gold dinars to be paid back as 1050 dinars of equal aggregate weight of gold (i.e., the value in terms of weight had to be same because all makes of coins did not carry exactly similar weight) - therfore having the same real value. The rationale behind riba according to classical Islamic jurists was "to ensure equivalency in real value" and that the "numerical value was immaterial (or it was not of any concern at that time)." The common denominator between the classical view, and the modern view is that paying fiat money back at a higher value than the original loan is riba, if not any numerical value above the original amount. This would still rule out modern loan interest rates in both opinions so has given birth to the modern Islamic banking and Islamic economic jurisprudence.

See also

• Allah
• Islamic Banking
• Usury
• Zakat

Notes

References

External links

• RIBA IN ISLAM - A refreshing Look
• Riba Free Finance Corporation
• Global Islamic Finance
• Islamic Banking Portal
• Toward Defining and Understanding Riba by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
• Islamic Finance - A Primer.
• Exclusive on the subject of Riba (ar-Riba, usury, interest), answering Why Riba was prohibited? and The definition of Riba.
• Riba, Interest and Six Hadiths: Do We Have a Definition or a Conundrum? by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
• The Riba-Interest Equation and Islam: Reexamination of the Traditional Arguments by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq
• Why does Islam prohibit interest (Riba)?
• Riba and Interest: Definitions and Implications.
• Interest is Halal?
• Interest vs Risk-Sharing in Business Partnerships
• Khalid Chraibi: Mixed message on "riba" leaves Muslims trapped between usurers and lenders

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