Introduction
Interest is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary
as, “Money paid for the use of money lent (the principal), or for forbearance
of a debt, according to a fixed ratio.”
Actually, individuals and the world as a whole probably
know too well the burden of interest, such that no one truly needs the above
definition. Interest is something that is known to anyone living in a
capitalist country. It has become so completely institutionalized and accepted
in modern economies that it is almost impossible to conceive that there are
some who completely oppose it and refuse any transactions that involve interest.
But there are devout Muslims who refuse to deal in interest.
The actual reason why such Muslims do not deal with
interest is that interest has been forbidden by the Islamic religion, as shall
be detailed shortly. At the same time, though, Muslims believe that God’s
guidance is based on His knowledge, wisdom and justice. In other words, God
does not forbid something from humans for no reason whatsoever. Hence, there
are definitely sound reasons—some of which we may be able to clearly
recognize—why God has forbidden this practice.
In today’s world, Muslims are constantly being bombarded
with arguments in support of dealing with interest. Many Muslims have succumbed
to such pressure and supposedly rational arguments, leading them to accept the
concept of interest.
Therefore, this short article is intended to discuss the
Islamic stance on interest as based on the basic texts of the faith as well as
enter into a rational discussion of interest to determine if the arguments
given in favor of interest are truly valid.
God’s Guidance for Mankind
Islam teaches that God has mercifully given guidance to
humankind for all aspects of life. This guidance covers not just acts of
worship but everything from economics and business ethics to marital relations,
international relations, ethics of warfare and so forth. It is one of the
distinguishing traits of Muslims today that they still believe in such guidance
from God while so many among humankind have discarded or preempted their
religious teachings when it comes to “secular” issues.
There are a number of reasons why many Muslims have not
followed the same path that, for example, numerous secular Jews and Christians
have followed. One of the most important reasons is that the Muslim can be
confident that the revelation which forms the basis of the Islamic religion has
not been tampered with or distorted since the time of its revelation. In other
words, there has been no human interference or distortion in the revelation.
Hence, there is no need for humans to come along now and fix the mistakes of
earlier humans, as secular Jews or Christians would argue. Indeed, the only
result for Muslims would be humans, by their interference, damaging the
revelation that has come from God.
Second, many Muslims believe that they have not been
shown any strong or convincing evidence that somehow their religion is out of
touch with reality or impractical in modern times. In Islam, for example, there
has never been a conflict between religion and science, leading to a breakdown
of trust in the church and a virtual revolt against the authority of religion
as experienced in the West. Many people,
even some Muslims, have called for many changes within Islam but, in reality,
the arguments that they have presented have been faulty and flimsy, to say the
least. The case of interest, this article’s topic, can be taken as an excellent
example of this nature.
Interestingly, although Islam has been in the media
quite often lately, it has been this author’s experience that many non-Muslims
are not aware of Islam’s stance on interest. Hence, this article also sheds
light on this important topic—a topic which is not a dead “medieval” topic but one
which has extreme relevance for the world today.
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