The Holy Qor-aan 030:040
وَمَاۤ اٰتَيۡتُمۡ مِّنۡ رِّبًا لِّيَرۡبُوَا۟ فِىۡۤ اَمۡوَالِ النَّاسِ فَلَا يَرۡبُوۡا عِنۡدَ اللّٰهِۚ وَمَاۤ اٰتَيۡتُمۡ مِّنۡ زَكٰوةٍ تُرِيۡدُوۡنَ وَجۡهَ اللّٰهِ فَاُولٰٓٮِٕكَ هُمُ الۡمُضۡعِفُوۡنَ
Wa-maa-aa-tai-toom-mir-ray-bun Lay-yur-boo-fee-um-waa-lin-naa-say Fa-laa-yur-boo-in-dil-laa-hay Wa-maa-aa-tai-toom-min-za-kaa-tin To-ree-doo-na-wuj-hul-laa-hay Fa-o-laa-aiy-ka-ho-mool-mooz-aiy-foo-n
And all that you pay as interest For increasing the assets of the people Then will not multiply in the eyes of Allah. And all that you pay as the Purification Intending the pleasure of Allah Then it is they who will be enriched.
- وَ — Wa — And (= Conj., links words, phrases or clauses; additionally; but; also; more over; though; when; while; yet; whereupon)
- مَاۤ — Maa — All that (= Any time; what; whatever; whatsoever; whenever)
- اٰتَيۡ — Aa-tai — Give (= v. Award; bestow; bless; confer; contribute; deliver; distribute; donate or practice as charity; entrust; gift; grant; hand over; lay out; offer as compensation; pay; present; reimburse; remit; remunerate)
- تُمۡ — Toom — You (= pro., pl., m., 2nd person. You. The Holy Qor-aan states this way when addressing both men and women jointly)
- مِّنۡ — Min…(r) — As (= Among, from or out of the class or category of several articles, counts, kind, things, persons or phenomenon. Also, In the form of)
- رِّبًا — Ray-bun — Interest (= n., Compounding interest known as interest-on- interest that goes on multiplying itself as is practiced by the world-wide banking systems. The activity, business or demand for lending money to get compounded interest. Exponentially multiplying interest. Interest inflated with layers upon layers of it. The harsher, punitive and higher interest rates that go into effect if a hard-money loan goes in an actual or technical default. See also the Note 002:276 and our Commentary tiled as the “Law – Usury“)
- لِ — Lay — For (= Concerning; regarding; relative to; so that; to; towards)
- يَرۡبُوَا۟ — Yur-boo — Increasing (= v., pres., Add to; compound; foster; grow; inflate; multiply. A/t/a, ‘to obtain an increased return’)
- فِىۡ — Fee — In (= Contained or in a duration, event, time, place, period, thing or situation)
- اَمۡوَالِ –Um-waa-li(n) — Assets (= n., pl., This plural has generally been translated in the singular such as affluence, cash, jewelry, land, money, property, substance and wealth. But assets includes also businesses, gains, goods, possessions, riches, resources, time, talent, ostensible means or signs of all above, and other valuables. See more meanings in Note 002:262)
- لنَّاسِ — Naa-say — The people (= Factions; folks; groups; human beings; mankind, men; nations; tribes. Referred to are the others, receivers, recipients and takers of interest income)
- فَ — Fa — Then (= As a result; consequently; hence; so; thereafter; yet; therefore. A/t/a After all this; at the end; in conclusion)
- لَا — Laa — Will not (= Absolute denial; never; not at all; total negation)
- يَرۡبُوَا۟ — Yur-boo — Multiply (= v., pres., Add to; compound; foster; grow; increase; inflate)
- عِنۡدَ — In-da…(ul) — Near (= In the counting, esteem; estimate, eyes, front, near or sight of. Within the presence, precincts or seeing)
- اللّٰهِ — Laa-hay — Allah (= The One and the Only One Almighty God)
- وَ — Wa — And (= Conj., links words, phrases or clauses; additionally; but; also; more over; though; when; while; yet; whereupon)
- مَاۤ — Maa — All that (= Any time; what; whatever; whatsoever; whenever)
- اٰتَيۡ — Aa-tai — Give (= v. Award; bestow; bless; confer; contribute; deliver; distribute; donate or practice as charity; entrust; gift; grant; hand over; offer as compensation; pay; present; reimburse; remit; remunerate)
- تُمۡ — Toom — You (= pro., pl., m., 2nd person. You. The Holy Qor-aan states this way when addressing both men and women jointly)
- مِّنۡ — Min — As (= Among; from; in the form of. See مِّنۡ above)
- زَكٰوةٍ — Za-kaa-tin — Purification (= Alms, alms-tax, poor due, poor rate, purifying alms or tithes paid to purify. The portion of income donated for purification of earnings and soul. Regular charity. The technique to invest in the causes of Allah a little now to reap much larger rewards later on; Way to spend to make earnings grow)
- تُرِيۡدُوۡنَ — To-ree-doona — Intending (= v., pres., Aspiring; desiring; liking; loving; seeking; wanting; willing; wishing)
- وَجۡهَ — Wuj-ha…(ul) — Pleasure (= n. s., Face. favor; will. The best, all, entire, exclusive, single, sole, total or whole of a person’s attention, countenance, dominant thought, focus, objective, purpose or pursuit. The sole objective sought)
- اللّٰهِ — Laa-hay — Allah (= The One and the Only One Almighty God)
- فَ — Fa — Then (= As a result; consequently; hence. See فَ above)
- اُولٰٓٮِٕكَ — O-laa-aiy-ka — All of them (= Refers to the seekers of Allah’s attention. The word also means the acts, facts, items, persons or things)
- هُمُ — Ho-m…(ol) — They (= pro., pl., m., 3 rd person. Referred to are the payers of the Zakat)
- الۡمُضۡعِفُوۡنَ — Mooz-aiy-foo-n — Enriched (= Whose gains and wealth would increase, multiply manifold. A/t/a, recipients of ‘multiplied recompense’ ; ‘repaid many times over’)
Law – Usury
LAW
USURY
What of interest, or usury, or both, or neither, has the Holy Qor-aan really prohibited? The answer is what you get from whom you ask. The simple and straightforward translation of the six pertinent verses is on this site but briefly they lay down as follows.
Besides the above verses that directly spell out the Prohibition, there are scenarios which deprecate usury particularly in relation to the charities like what is stated in 002:280.
The usury — or in Arabic الرِّبٰوا (= Ray-baa) — is the compounding of interest known as interest-on- interest that goes on multiplying itself as is practiced by the world-wide banking systems. It is the activity, business or demand for lending money to get compounded interest.
Various translators have defined the term usury in their own and different words such as the following.
Usury becomes unbearably painful for the borrowers when a default in loan kicks it in. Individuals can suffer personal misfortunes like death, disability or disaster by a natural element. Companies can be affected by a home or foreign governmental action or changed market trends.
The Holy Qor-aan exhorts a safety valve for a loan in default. “A debtor in a straightened situation be granted respite to catch-up with the repayments” [002:281]. But the current Banking System will collapse if this safety-valve was ever put in the loan documents.
One needs to just look at the ever-expanding loan agreements and appendices attached to them which contain secret provisions hidden in the verbose small prints. The simplest form used by private lenders as a personal I-owe-you promissory note still has about two hundred words.
But the usury-infected mortgage documents for even a personal residence have dozens of pages and appendices. The security for the loan can expand from the pin-pointed collateral to all that the borrowers own including an arm and a leg to even the first-born.
Commercial loans customarily require reams of paper and teams of well-versed lawyers to prepare, scrutinize and negotiate them. A hearsay told of US $40 million paid to a NY law firm in 2016 to represent one side of a loan negotiated by one company to settle claims against it.
The bankers including the philanthropic World Bank employees make out that collecting compounding interest is good business. Some Moslem bankers with the same bent of mind also justify interest by arguing that it is only the compounding interest that is prohibited.
The proponents credit the compounding interest as the key to the sky-high growth in all areas of human endeavor. Indeed all people in the world have in varying degrees benefited from the research and advancements in education, science, transportation, construction and medicine.
The opponents underscore the fallacy of the argument from the clear text. It addresses the Believers. It applies to man’s personal life. It guides man to become the best creature. It aims to make him the best possible child, sibling, parent, citizen, a social being and a world citizen.
Indeed a thriving society depends upon hard-working constructive producers. Human village can’t survive on lazy lay-about parasites draining the resources that must be reserved for only the needy, widows, orphans, sick, elderly and others who can’t fend for themselves.
The prohibition in just eight words denounces interest income. It nips the evil before it buds by preventing the multi-dimensional harm that ensues from living on interest income.
Banks promote the seekers, the givers and the exploiters of interest-income. Today bank employees’ sole job is to devise ways to steal others money.
Like the top of an iceberg with over 90% of it invisible under water, the following two reports illustrate how big and deep is the curse of living on interest income that has corrupted the well-being and endangered the future of mankind – and which God foretold will be abolished.
On Oct 8, 2016, a US Bank named Wells Fargo’s CEO John Stumf left his office in humiliation of a personal loss of US $41 million and forfeited severance package. The Bank itself was fined $185 million for fraud by its employees who had committed that just to meet their sales quota. The news channel ABC reported that another US $190 million were paid to settle the customer fraud cases against the bank
On July 2017, Indian Parliament was informed of 156 senior officials of state banks who were suspended, another 41 who were transferred, and another 26 criminal cases that were filed with the police. And all that was based upon one investigations by the Indian Law Enforcement.
Several arguments, explanations, interpretations and discussions can be found in other translations. But the proof lies in the pudding and the few events mentioned above show why, what and how the living upon compounded interest income is really bad for all.