Does riba (usury or interest) apply to current paper currency?

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. He says: Articles are written in some newspapers in which their authors claim that riba does not apply to current paper currency, and their writings on this issue continue from time to time. What is the ruling on this?

Answer:
It is what people write; one well-known person is the one who writes on this issue, and he has not visualized it, nor studied it, nor cited the words of others. Riba applies to gold and silver, and paper currency that serves as their equivalent takes the ruling of gold and silver. Yes. That is, no one pays zakah today because people’s money is all paper, so zakah has fallen away from the Muslims. Who says this? He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success. The One who made zakah obligatory knows that there will be paper, and He knows that with this, He made zakah obligatory and established it as one of the pillars of Islam. So how can one manipulate it in this manner? Yes.