What is the philosophy behind “Riba” or Usury?
In Islam, receiving Riba or usury or interest is forbidden, of course because the word of “interest” in English may contain different kinds of interests that some of them are legal and Halal, we mention a brief meaning of it:
Riba or interest which is Haram and forbidden, has two kinds, the first is that happens in lending and the second is in the exchange.
Riba in lending can be described in this way: where we get money from a person as a loan and that person says to us: you should pay me back, more than what I give you now, for example I give you 100 dollars and after a month you should give me back 120 dollars.
And the second kind of Riba is that if in an exchange, two stuffs of the exchange are from the same material, like if a kind of rice is bought to another kind of rice, and the amount of one side of that exchange, is more than the amount of the other side, of course the condition of this kind of Riba, is that if the stuffs of that exchange, are among those things that they are sold and bought by 1- weighting 2- or measuring (through measuring by specific container).
In this essay we just talk about the first kind of Riba which happens in lending, and we leave the second kind to an independent discussion.
The prohibition of that is mentioned in chapter Bagharah verse 275:
أَحَلَّ اللّهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا
“Allah has permitted trading and forbidden usury”
It must be said that there are some jurisprudential branches and detail or the ways that we can get escape from Riba, that it must be described in its appropriate place.
Now let’s talk about the philosophy of the prohibition of Riba.
We take benefit from what Martyr Motahhari has mentioned in this regard.
You know there are some kinds of exchanges that Islam has accepted them, like transaction, lending and Mozarebah (which means to give money to someone to work with that money and the interest and detriment of that work are for both sides, of course by some conditions that is mentioned in Islamic resources). There is a difference between lending money and the second mentioned exchange i.e. Mozarebah. In the lending, the giver, gives money to the second person and makes him/her the owner of that money (of course it is not as a gift but from Islamic perspective, the taker of the loan, after receiving it, is considered as the owner of that specific money but he/she must return the money) despite of what happens in Mozarebah, because in Mozarebah, the giver of the money is still the owner of that, and for this reason, he/she is in common with the taker of the money, in interest and detriment. So in the lending, the giver of the loan because of not being the owner of the loan (after lending), is not in common in interest and detriment of the loan, so if he/she wants to receive interest from the taker of the loan, he/she has taken something that is not his/her right and has no legal and religious justification, so it is Haram and forbidden.
But if we want to say the philosophy of this rule in general we say:
In Islam, “Justice” is so important and the spirit of Islamic rulings is base on it, and Riba is against justice, how? Let’s mention it:
It is a kind of cruelty that those who have money commit toward the poor people and those that they are in need of money, and Riba is a kind of destruction and usurping the right of needy people.
Riba is mentioned in the Quran as a war against Allah the all mighty.
Allah said in chapter Bagharah verses 278, 279:
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَذَرُواْ مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ
فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُواْ فَأْذَنُواْ بِحَرْبٍ مِّنَ اللّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَإِن تُبْتُمْ فَلَكُمْ رُؤُوسُ أَمْوَالِكُمْ لاَ تَظْلِمُونَ وَلاَ تُظْلَمُونَ
“Believers, fear Allah and give up what is still due to you from usury, if you are believers.
But if you do not, then take notice of war from Allah and his messenger. Yet, if you repent, you shall have the principal of your wealth. Neither will you harm nor will you be harmed”.
And the reason of this rule can be understood from the end of the verse above when this verse says:
If you get the principal of your wealth without interest, you do not commit cruelty and no cruelty is committed to you.
So it means by receiving Riba you have committed cruelty toward others.
And this matter of cruelty can be the reason of the prohibition of Riba in the exchange.
By Riba the social gap gets more and more and it enhances the inequality.
In Islam, helping others and giving loan to the needy are so much praised and Riba as it is mentioned in some Narrations, is a way that reduces borrowing and lending in the Islamic society.
Getting the Riba from the needy is against humanistic emotions, and against the brotherhood that is an important base in the Islamic society.
And getting Riba because of being an act through which without any effort, someone obtains money, it is a way which leads to laziness and economic slump and on the other side, it plants the seed of hatred and animosity between Muslims, so it can be another philosophy of its prohibition.
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Sources:
ahkam.tebyan.net
hawzah.net
