The Heifer (Al-Baqarah)
Verses 275-277 GROUP_74 2.275-277
275
الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ الرِّبَا لاَ يَقُومُونَ إِلاَّ كَمَا يَقُومُ الَّذِي يَتَخَبَّطُهُ الشَّيْطَانُ مِنَ الْمَسِّ ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُواْ إِنَّمَا الْبَيْعُ مِثْلُ الرِّبَا وَأَحَلَّ اللّهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا فَمَن جَاءهُ مَوْعِظَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِ فَانتَهَىَ فَلَهُ مَا سَلَفَ وَأَمْرُهُ إِلَى اللّهِ وَمَنْ عَادَ فَأُوْلَـئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ
Those who live on usury shall rise up before God like men whom Satan has demented by his touch; for they say, ‘Buying and selling is only a kind of usury.’ But God has made trade lawful and made usury unlawful. Therefore, he who desists because of the admonition that has come to him from his Lord may retain what he has received in the past; and it will be for God to judge him. Those who revert to it shall be the inmates of the Fire; they shall abide therein forever.
276
يَمْحَقُ اللّهُ الْرِّبَا وَيُرْبِي الصَّدَقَاتِ وَاللّهُ لاَ يُحِبُّ كُلَّ كَفَّارٍ أَثِيمٍ
God blights usury and blesses charitable deeds. God does not love the ungrateful wrongdoer.
277
إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ وَعَمِلُواْ الصَّالِحَاتِ وَأَقَامُواْ الصَّلاَةَ وَآتَوُاْ الزَّكَاةَ لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلاَ خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلاَ هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ
Those who believe,do good deeds, attend to their prayers and engage in almsgiving, shall be rewarded by their Lord and shall have no fear, nor shall they grieve.
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Commentary
(a) The word ‘riba’ in the original is translated here as ‘usury’, which means the practice of lending money to people at unfairly high rates of interest. (b) The injunction to give alms (zakat) symbolizes the economic relationship between God’s servants. Alms-giving means recognizing one another’s rights, and going to the extent of giving a share in one’s own income to one’s fellow men. A religion which aims at creating a worthwhile social set-up can never accept a money-loving society based on usury. In a well-ordered society, mutual exchanges take place according to the rules of business and not on the principle of usury. Business may be based on the principle of profit-making, but profit comes as a result of hard work and at the cost of taking risks. But profit coming from usury betokens selfishness and hoarding. One who deals in usury does so to increase his wealth without there being any risk of loss involved. The personality developed in this process is selfish and materially- minded. A believer, on the contrary, does not make a profit out of others’ needs. Rather he shares his wealth with them. The personality developed in such a person is totally different from that of the usurer, for the believer is a well-wisher of his fellow men and he rises above the sphere of his own interests.