The ruling on riba (hukm al-riba)

This part belongs to the full section: All sections of this part.

This chapter brings together nine leaves of the fiqh encyclopedia devoted to riba and money exchange (sarf): the legal ruling on riba, its types, the commodities in which it occurs, the requirements of equivalence and taking possession, the interpretation of taking possession, the enumeration of ribawi commodities in the Maliki school, what is not ribawi, the wisdom behind forbidding riba of deferment in foodstuffs, and the cause of forbidding riba of surplus in dirhams and dinars. Each leaf cites its Quranic and prophetic evidence, the positions of the schools, and the classical references.

The ruling on riba (hukm al-riba)

Riba is forbidden by the Book, the Sunnah and the consensus (ijma') of the community. The verses and hadiths establishing this are explicit.

"Allah has permitted trade and forbidden riba."

Surah Al-Baqarah, 2, 275

"O you who believe, fear Allah and give up what remains of riba, if you are indeed believers. If you do not, then be warned of war from Allah and His Messenger. But if you repent, you may keep your capital: you will neither wrong nor be wronged."

Surah Al-Baqarah, 2, 278-279

"O you who believe, do not devour riba, doubled and multiplied, and fear Allah so that you may succeed."

Surah Al-'Imran, 3, 130

In the Sunnah, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Avoid the seven destructive sins." It was asked: "What are they, O Messenger of Allah?" He replied: "Associating partners with Allah, sorcery, killing the soul Allah has made sacred except by right, devouring riba, devouring the wealth of the orphan, fleeing on the day of battle, and slandering chaste, unaware, believing women." (Reported by Bukhari, no. 2767, and Muslim, no. 89, from Abu Hurayrah.)

"Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, dates for dates, salt for salt: like for like, hand to hand. Whoever gives more or asks for more has engaged in riba; the taker and the giver are equal."Reported by Bukhari (no. 2177) and Muslim (no. 1584), from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri

The Messenger of Allah cursed the one who devours riba, the one who feeds it, the one who writes its contract and its two witnesses, and he said: "They are all equal."Reported by Muslim (no. 1598), from Jabir

Riba is among the major sins. The scholars unanimously agreed on its prohibition and that it is a form of consuming people's wealth without right. Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Riba is of two kinds: riba of surplus (fadl) and riba of deferment (nasi'ah), and the scholars agreed on prohibiting both" (al-Mughni, 4/25; Maratib al-Ijma', p. 89; Majmu' al-Fatawa, 29, p. 411). Al-Zarkashi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The Muslims agreed that riba of deferment is forbidden beyond any doubt, and most of them agreed on forbidding riba of surplus" (Sharh al-Zarkashi, 2/12).

Allah forbade riba only because of the harm it does to those in need and the consumption of wealth without compensation, both present in ribawi transactions. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (may Allah have mercy on him) reports several causes proposed by the scholars (al-Tafsir al-Kabir, 7/76-77):

• The first: riba means taking a person's wealth without compensation: whoever sells one dirham for two dirhams, cash or deferred, gains an extra dirham for nothing. Yet a person's wealth is tied to his needs and enjoys immense sanctity: the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "A person's wealth is as sacred as his blood." Taking it without compensation is therefore forbidden.
• The second: Allah forbade riba because it turns people away from earning a living: whoever can obtain the extra amount through a riba contract no longer endures the hardship of earning, trade and hard crafts, which leads to the breakdown of the services people render one another, while the interests of the world are ordered only through commerce, crafts, industries and construction.
• The third: riba cuts off the kindness of gratuitous lending between people: were riba permitted, the needy person's need would drive him to take one dirham for two, and mutual aid, benevolence and generosity would vanish.
• The fourth: the lender is usually rich and the borrower poor; permitting riba would allow the rich to take extra wealth from the weak poor, which the mercy of the Most Merciful does not permit.
• The fifth: the prohibition of riba is established by explicit text; the wisdom behind every obligation need not be known to creatures: the prohibition of the riba contract is therefore decisive even if its cause is unknown.

The types of riba

Riba is of two types. The first is riba of surplus (fadl): selling with an excess of one of the two counter-values over the other. The second is riba of deferment (nasi'ah), also called riba of debts: the stipulated increase the creditor takes from the debtor in return for deferring payment. It also denotes sale on credit, that is, the stipulated increase in return for the delay, such as selling gold for silver or silver for silver on credit, unless it is a salam (advance-payment sale with deferred delivery).

The Shafi'is added a third type, riba of the hand (yad): selling wealth for wealth such that one of the two counter-values is taken in the sitting while the other is not; its ruling follows, Allah willing.

Al-Jassas (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The riba the Arabs knew and practiced was lending dirhams and dinars on term for an increase over the amount borrowed, as they mutually agreed" (Ahkam al-Qur'an, 1/495). Al-Razi (may Allah have mercy on him) wrote: riba of deferment was the famous practice of the jahiliyyah: money was handed over for a fixed amount collected each month while the capital remained due; at maturity they demanded the capital from the debtor, and if he could not pay they increased both the debt and the term. As for cash riba (naqd), it is selling one measure of wheat for two of the same and the like (al-Tafsir al-Kabir, 7/75).

What al-Razi described is what Imam Malik reported from Zayd ibn Aslam: "Riba in the jahiliyyah was that a man hold a debt on another man for a term; when the term fell due he would say: 'Will you pay, or will you let it grow?' If he paid, he took it; otherwise he increased his due and extended the term." Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "The objectionable practice on which we know of no disagreement is that a man hold a term debt on another and the creditor waive it in return for earlier payment; that is, for us, like the case of one who defers his debt past its due date and whose creditor increases the due. Malik said: if a man holds one hundred dinars on another for a term, and at maturity the debtor says to him: 'Sell me goods worth one hundred dinars cash for one hundred and fifty on credit,' this is an invalid sale which the scholars never ceased to condemn; for he gives him the very price of what he sells, defers the first hundred to the new term, and gains fifty extra dinars for the deferral." (Al-Muwatta of Imam Malik, 2/672, 674.)

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Riba is of two kinds: manifest (jaliyy) and hidden (khafiyy). The manifest was forbidden because of the immense harm it contains; the hidden was forbidden because it is the path leading to the manifest. The prohibition of the first is a purpose; that of the second is a means." (I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in, 2/397, 399.) The manifest one is the riba of deferment of the jahiliyyah: the debtor defers his debt and increases it, each deferral increasing the sum until one hundred becomes thousands; the one who does this is usually a destitute man trapped in the debt and the fear of imprisonment, until the debt swallows all he owns, while the usurer devours his brother's wealth without right. Hence the mercy of the Most Merciful of the merciful, who forbade riba, cursed its devourer, its feeder, its writer and its two witnesses, and warned those who do not abandon it of war from Him and His Messenger: no other prohibition among the major sins carries such a warning.

Asked about riba beyond dispute, Imam Ahmad said: it is the case of a creditor who says to the debtor: "Will you pay, or will you let it grow?" If he does not pay, both the debt and the term are increased. Allah made riba the opposite of charity: the usurer is the opposite of the charitable giver, as in these verses:

"Allah destroys riba and makes charity grow."

Surah Al-Baqarah, 2, 276

"Whatever you give in riba, that it may increase within the wealth of people, does not increase with Allah; but what you give in zakah, seeking the face of Allah: those will have their reward multiplied."

Surah Ar-Rum, 30, 39

"O you who believe, do not devour riba, doubled and multiplied, and fear Allah so that you may succeed. And fear the Fire prepared for the disbelievers."

Surah Al-'Imran, 3, 130-131

The verse then mentions the Garden prepared for those who fear Allah, who spend in ease and hardship, the very opposite of the usurers: Allah forbade riba, which is injustice to people, and commanded charity, which is kindness to them.

The prohibition of riba of surplus comes under closing the paths (sadd al-dhara'i'). The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "Do not sell a dirham for two dirhams, for I fear for you the rama (scourge), and the rama is riba" (reported by Ahmad in his Musnad, nos. 5885 and 11019; Malik in the Muwatta, Book of Sales, 2/634-635; al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan al-Kubra, 5/279, from 'Umar: "Do not sell gold for gold... for I fear for you the rama, and the rama is riba"; and al-Haythami noted in al-Majma', 4/113, a route through al-Tabarani with Abu Janab, trustworthy but a dissimulator). He forbade them riba of surplus for fear it would lead them to riba of deferment: selling a dirham for two, which happens only because of some difference between the two species (quality, mintage, weight), would carry them from quick profit to deferred profit, which is precisely riba of deferment. It is a very near path, which the Lawgiver closed; a reasonable wisdom that bars their road to corruption (I'lam al-Muwaqqi'in, 2/397, 399).

Ibn al-'Arabi (may Allah have mercy on him), commenting on "those who devour riba" (Surah Al-Baqarah, 2, 275), wrote: riba in language means increase, and every increase requires a substratum on which it appears; hence the disagreement over whether the verse is general, covering every increase, or "mufradah", to be specified by other texts. Riba was known among the Arabs: a man would contract for a term with another and at maturity say: "Will you pay, or will you let it grow?", meaning: "Will you increase what you owe me for another term?" Allah therefore forbade riba, that is, the increase. But an increase appears only upon a substratum, and when one thing is exchanged against what is not of its kind, no increase appears; likewise, at equal kind, it appears only when the Law makes it appear: this is what made the verse hard for most people and known to whomever Allah aids with His clearest light (Ahkam al-Qur'an, 1/320, 324).

He also explains "O you who believe, do not devour your wealth among yourselves unjustly, except it be a trade by mutual consent between you" (Surah An-Nisa, 4, 29): the unjust is that whose expression does not allow taking wealth without compensation in the form of compensation; trade is the confrontation of wealth with wealth, that is, sale, whose types are: species for species (cash sale), goods for a deferred price (salam), manufacture (istisna'), or species for benefit (ijarah). Riba in language is increase, and in the verse, every increase that meets no counter-value: the increase is not forbidden in itself, for a contract upon it is lawful in its proper place; were it forbidden in itself, no counter-value could be set against it, as with wine and carrion. The jahiliyyah added an increase without counter-value, saying "sale is only like riba", and Allah refuted their claim, clarifying that if the term falls due and the debtor cannot pay, an easy respite is granted him (Ahkam al-Qur'an, 1/320, 324).

The increase appears only after the two counter-values are matched, in two cases: where the Law itself fixes the counter-values (the ribawi commodities, in which no increase is permitted), and where it leaves them to the contracting parties; in the second case, the increase is measured by the value of the two counter-values at exchange, and it is lawful by consensus in what people accept to exchange with a known difference, including what falls outside custom: the early scholars allowed it as trade, while the later scholars of Baghdad and their like rejected it and limited the rejected case to one third. Ibn al-'Arabi holds that if the difference is known to both contracting parties, it is lawful, falling under "a trade by mutual consent"; if it escapes one of them, the other holds the option, as in the hadith of the man who was cheated in his sales and to whom the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "When you buy, say: no cheating, and you have the option for three days" (reported by al-Daraqutni and others).

Allah then revealed to His Messenger additions not permitted among the Arabs: He annexed to riba the sale of rutab (fresh dates) for dates, grapes for raisins, sale combined with salam, and clarified the forms of consuming wealth unlawfully in every uncertain (gharar) sale: wine, carrion, blood, and deceptive sales. It is authentically reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade fifty-six cases, which Ibn al-'Arabi lists in order:

• The first and second: the price of things, kind against kind.
• From the third to the seventh: sale of food; or the price of things kind against kind with excess; or kind against a different kind deferred; or sale of rutab for dates and grapes for raisins; or muzabanah sale according to one of the two opinions; or sale combined with salaf.
• The eighth: two sales in one sale.
• The ninth: gharar sale; rejected with it were sale by touch (mulamasah), by throwing (munabadhah), by pebble (hasat), thuniyah sale, 'urban (earnest money), sale of what you do not own, concealed fruits (madamin) and grafted plants (malaqih), and what is combined with them: sale of fruit before its soundness appears, of spikes before they harden, of grapes before they blacken; then muhaqalah, mu'awamah, mukhabarah and muhasarah, sale of what has not been harvested, profit on what is not guaranteed, sale of food before recovering part of the preceding, wine, carrion and its fats, the price of blood, sale of idols, the stud fee of the stallion, the dog and the cat, the cupper's earnings, the prostitute's fee, the soothsayer's gifts, the sale of the coerced, sale of wala' (right of manumission), the child or the mother sold in two separate contracts, rental of land, water and pasture, fictitious bidding (najsh), a man selling over his brother's sale and his proposal over his brother's proposal, sale by one present against one absent, intercepting merchant caravans (talaqqi al-rukan), and sale of singing girls.

These fifty-six cases, in the correct classification, fall into seven categories: what pertains to the quality of the contract, what pertains to the quality of the contracting parties, what pertains to the two counter-values, what pertains to the state of the contract, and the seventh: the time of the contract, such as selling at the time of the Friday call or in the last part of the prescribed time of a prayer. They do not go beyond three types: riba, the unlawful (batil) and gharar; gharar in reality reverts to batil, so they form two categories by the two verses, these prohibitions interlocking with the nuance of meaning. Some of them fall within riba and trade apparently, some exit it apparently, some enter it by possibility, and some are forbidden for people's benefit and their mutual accord, because of the corruption that severance would bring (Ahkam al-Qur'an, 1/320, 324).

The commodities in which riba occurs

The Law named six commodities for riba of surplus: gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates and salt, as in Abu Sa'id's hadith quoted above. The point of naming them is that most transactions in those days were made with these goods: "we used to sell in the markets by awsuq", that is, what enters a wasq and of which the need is great. The scholars agreed on forbidding excess within these kinds at equal kind, and those who practice analogy (qiyas) also agreed that riba in them is established by its cause ('illah) and extends to everything bearing that cause, qiyas being a legal proof requiring that the cause of the ruling be extracted and established wherever found.

They then differed over the criterion by which the ruling extends to other wealth, in four opinions:

• First opinion, of the Hanafis and the Hanbalis in the madhhab: the cause of riba in the categories named by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) is measurement or weight: anything measured or weighed, sold at equal kind with excess, is forbidden, whether edible or not. The cause of a commodity's being ribawi is thus quantity joined to kind, that is, measure with kind, or weight with kind. Selling a qafiz of wheat for two qafiz is forbidden, and likewise what is weighed, such as iron and lead; whereas there is no riba in food neither measured nor weighed, such as counted items: one watermelon for two, one egg for two, one handful for two handfuls are lawful, there being no measure. Nor is there riba in a handful of wheat or a granule of gold, nor, for the Hanafis, in a different kind; the Hanbalis add: what is of a kind normally measured or weighed, even if no measure or weight takes place, whether from scarcity (one grain, two grains, a handful, two handfuls, and less than a granule of gold or silver) or abundance (a great ingot), may be sold part for part only at equality, excess being forbidden. This is also al-Shafi'i's view, from the hadith: "Dates for dates, wheat for wheat, like for like: whoever gives more or takes more has engaged in riba", and because that in which riba occurs in abundance occurs in small quantity, like the weighed. The proof that the cause is measure or weight even without edibility is Abu Sa'id's hadith on gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates and salt, which imposes equivalence within one kind in the interest of both contractors: equivalence is by quantity and by kind. From Ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with him), the Messenger of Allah said: "Do not sell a dinar for two dinars, nor a dirham for two dirhams, nor a sa' for two sa's, for I fear for you the rama, and the rama is riba"; a man then asked: "What of one who sells a horse for horses, a noble she-camel for camels?" He replied: "No harm if hand to hand," which refers to what is measured by the sa', the hadith being general over all it permits, food or otherwise. Al-Daraqutni (no. 2890) reported from Ubadah and Anas (may Allah be pleased with them): "What was weighed: like for like if of one type; what was measured, likewise; if the two types differ, no harm." This hadith attaches the ruling to kind and quantity, which are therefore its cause. Confirming it is what Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib reported from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri and Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with them): the Messenger of Allah appointed a man over Khaybar; he brought him jaynib dates, and the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked: "Are all the dates of Khaybar like this?" He said: "No, by Allah: we take a sa' of these for two sa's, and two for three." He said: "Do not do so: sell the lot for dirhams, then buy jaynib with the dirhams"; and he said the like of the weight (reported by Bukhari, no. 2202, and Muslim, no. 1593). These traditions establish the proof of extending the ruling beyond the six things.
• Second opinion, of the Shafi'is in the madhhab and Ahmad in one narration: the cause of riba in these four categories is food (ta'am), even without measure or weight, from the hadith: "Food for food, like for like" (reported by Muslim, no. 1592). Food is the name of everything eaten, as in "The food of those given the Scripture is lawful for you, and your food is lawful for them" (Surah Al-Ma'idah, 5, 5), meaning their slaughtered animals. 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said: "We spent a year with our Prophet with no food but the two black things: water and dates." When a ruling is suspended on a derived name, that is its cause, as amputation in theft or the punishment in fornication: as long as the grain is food, riba is forbidden in it; if sown and it ceases to be food, riba is no longer forbidden in it, and once the ear forms and becomes food, riba returns to it. On this view, riba is forbidden in every food, measured, weighed or otherwise: quince, watermelon, pomegranate, vegetables. Food is what is generally prepared for nourishment, accompaniment, snacking or medicine: grains, stews, sweets, fruits, vegetables, spices and medicines, and rare cases such as acorns and turthuth, a known plant, eaten alone or mixed. The prohibition of riba extends to all medicines, such as the myrobalans (ihlilaj, amlaj) and scammony, and to water. As for fatty substances, they are of three types: those prepared for eating (butter, sann, olive oil, shayraj, oils of walnut, almond, terebinth, turnip, mustard, pine), in which riba applies since they are eaten medicinally; those intended for treatment (bitter-almond oil, khirwa' oil), in which riba applies as well; those intended for perfume (oils of violet, rose, jasmine, camphor, ban), in which riba also applies: none of these oils may be sold part for part with excess, nor part of them for shayraj with excess, without disagreement, for all of it is shayraj whose scent varies with what adjoins it; and what is intended for lighting (fish oil, linseed and its oil) is not ribawi. Whatever is neither gold nor silver nor edible nor drinkable carries no riba: excess and deferment are lawful, and separation before taking possession is lawful.
• Third opinion, of al-Shafi'i in the early position and Ahmad in one narration: the cause of riba in these categories is food if measured or weighed; the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) forbade selling food for food except like for like, and equivalence is established only by measure or weight: riba therefore applies only to food measured or weighed, not to quince, apple, pomegranate, egg, walnut, vegetables, nor to what is not food, such as saffron, ushnan, iron and lead. Each of the two attributes has an effect, and the ruling is bound to both in the explicit text; measure, weight and kind do not by themselves require equivalence: only the legal standard does, which is measure and weight. The hadiths of this chapter must therefore be combined: the prohibition of food except like for like is conditioned on the presence of a legal standard, and the prohibition of a sa' for two sa's on being food. Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "This view is very weak."
• Fourth opinion, of the Malikis and the choice of Ibn al-Qayyim among the Hanbalis: the cause of the prohibition of riba of surplus in food is being staple consumption and storable (al-iqtiyat wa-l-iddikhar), that is, both attributes combined: ribawi is the food on which people live when restricted to it and which is customarily stored for the sought future without spoiling with delay; storage is taken in general, with no condition of scarcity, each thing according to its measure. Riba is thus forbidden in every storable staple; what is not staple (such as fruits), or is staple but not storable, carries no riba.

The requirement of equivalence and taking possession

The scholars agreed that when these commodities are sold at equal kind (dates for dates, gold for gold), two conditions are required: equivalence in quantity, like for like, any excess being forbidden by consensus since surplus is riba, per Abu Sa'id's hadith; and taking possession (qabd) before separation, by both parties, in the sitting, per "like for like, hand to hand".

"Do not sell gold for gold except like for like, and do not shortchange one over the other; do not sell silver for silver except like for like, and do not shortchange one over the other; and do not sell of it what is absent for what is present."Reported by Bukhari (no. 2068) and Muslim (no. 1584), from Abu Sa'id al-Khudri

"Do not shortchange" (la tashifu) means: do not overvalue or undervalue one against the other; the word also denotes falling short, being one of those words bearing opposite senses (al-Nihayah, 2/486; Lisan al-Arab, 9/181; al-Nawawi's Sharh Muslim, 11/10). Abu 'Umar (Ibn 'Abd al-Barr, may Allah have mercy on him) said: the sum of the scholars' schools is that gold and silver fall under riba within one kind in two aspects, excess and deferment: gold is not sold for gold except like for like, hand to hand, and likewise silver for silver. As for the two kinds, one against the other (gold against silver), excess is lawful by consensus of the scholars, and deferment is forbidden by consensus as well (al-Istidhkar, 6/356).

Malik ibn Aws ibn al-Hadathan (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated: I came asking, "Who will exchange dirhams?" Talhah ibn 'Ubayd Allah, in the presence of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, said: "Show us your gold, then come to us when our servant comes, and we will give you your silver." 'Umar said: "No, by Allah! You will give him his silver or return his gold, for the Messenger of Allah said: 'Silver for gold is riba, except hand to hand; wheat for wheat is riba, except hand to hand; barley for barley is riba, except hand to hand; dates for dates are riba, except hand to hand.'"Reported by Muslim (no. 1586)

Imam Ibn al-Mundhir (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "All whose report has reached me among the scholars agreed that when the two exchangers separate before mutual exchange, the exchange is void" (al-Ishraf, 6/61; al-Ijma', no. 548). When the sale is between different kinds (gold for silver, wheat for barley), only one condition applies: taking possession before separation; deferment is forbidden but excess lawful, per 'Ubadah's hadith: "When these categories differ, sell as you wish, provided it is hand to hand" (reported by Muslim, no. 1587). If the measured is sold for the weighed (wheat for gold), excess and separation before taking are lawful, the cause being different, as price against priced goods.

When both attributes exist (quantity and kind), surplus and deferment are forbidden, as wheat for wheat and silver for silver; when neither exists, both are lawful, for lack of the cause of prohibition; when only one exists (quantity without kind), excess is lawful and deferment forbidden, as wheat for barley and silver for gold, per 'Ubadah's hadith: "When these categories differ, sell as you wish, hand to hand" (reported by Muslim, no. 1587). Ibn Qudamah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "Everything in which excess is forbidden, deferment is forbidden as well, by no disagreement we know of, and separation before taking possession is forbidden, per 'species for species' and 'hand to hand'; the prohibition of deferment is even more emphatic, which is why it extends to the two different kinds: if excess is forbidden, deferment is all the more so" (al-Mughni, 4/30). Ibn Hubayrah (may Allah have mercy on him) said: "They agreed that the riba Allah forbade is of two kinds: increase and deferment, whence the six commodities named by the Lawgiver: gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates and salt. The Muslims agreed that gold is not sold for gold, in ingot, coin or jewelry, nor silver for silver, except like for like, weight for weight, hand to hand, and that nothing absent is sold for something present; riba in this kind thus occurs by both paths, increase and deferment. They agreed that gold for silver and silver for gold with excess, hand to hand, is lawful, and that deferment is forbidden in it; and that wheat for wheat, barley for barley, salt for salt and dates for dates, by a standard, are not sold except like for like, hand to hand, and nothing absent for something present, except Abu Hanifah, who permitted separation before the mere taking of possession" (al-Ifsah, 1/357-358).