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Says “But God has permitted sale and forbidden the Riba;” (2: 275) and, “God destroys/eliminates the Riba;” (2: 276) and, “O ye who believe, fear God and quit what remains of the Riba if ye are indeed believers; but if ye do it not, take notice of war from God and His Messenger” (278-9). No other sin is prohibited in the Qur’an with a notice of war from God and His Messenger!

The Traditions of the Prophet Muhammad contains several statements that condemn Riba and consider its practices as one of the gravest sins that invoke a curse or wrath from God. In one of the Sayings, the Prophet mentions that: “The Wrath of God is on the taker of Riba, its giver, its writer and its two witnesses.

Definition of Riba

Riba is an Arabic word that means increment/increase. But the Qur’an did not mean any increment as it refers to an increment in a specific transaction that was common and known among the Arabs and other nations at the time of revelation. This is why the reference in the Qur’an came to “the” Riba. This transaction was done in either of two ways: 1) deferment of an already due debt to a new maturity provided the amount of debt is increased; and, 2) giving a loan that is due with an increment after a given period of time. The Qur’an itself implies this definition as it states: “But if ye repent ye shall have your principal, doing no injustice and no injustice is done against you” (2: 279). This part of Verse 2: 279 has two important indications: 1) it defines Riba as any increment above the principal of a debt or a loan; and 2) it describes such an increment as unjust.

To be exact, Riba is defined, in regard to financial transactions, as any contractual increment in a loan or debt due to the time element. This is exactly what we know today as interest. Obviously, the Shari’ah does not recognize a counterpart for this increment. Consequently, once a debt is created (notice that a loan creates a debt) any increment in the debt is Interest and it is the Prohibited Riba according to the Islamic religion.

To understand why interest is prohibited we need to revisit the basic concept of debts. What is a debt? A debt is an inter-personal relation that is a liability on one party and an abstract asset to the other. By its nature and in real life a debt is not liable to increase or decrease unless we make assumptions by creating a debt market and valuating or assessing debts in relation to time. Additionally the amount of an increment in a debt is also assumptive; it depends on the conditions and externalities in the imaginary market that we create for debts. Of course, this may sound astonishing to many of us who are accustomed to talking and hearing about debts’ markets and interest all their lives! Are debts able to increase or decrease? And how can this takes place except in our imagination that we illusion it to be true and real? Of course once a market is c本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。