How do we respond to those who permit riba (usury or interest) based on the verse "fold upon fold"?
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The questioner : The saying of Allah the Exalted: [Ali 'Imran 3:130] How do we respond to those who permit consuming riba through this verse, arguing that they do not consume it in fold upon fold?
The Shaykh : The meaning of this noble verse is the prohibition of a practice they used to engage in during the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah). A man would sell a need to a person on credit, selling him a camel for one hundred dirhams due in one year. When the year arrived, he would say to the buyer, "Pay me." The buyer would say, "I have nothing." The seller would say, "Then let us make the one hundred how much?" For example, they would add ten. If six months had passed, he would say, "Give it to me." The buyer would say, "I have nothing." The seller would say, "Then let us add ten to it."
And so, every time the due date arrived, they would increase the riba. This is undoubtedly injustice. The obligation upon a person who has a debt owed by someone in financial difficulty is to grant them a respite until they are able to pay, as Allah the Exalted said:[Al-Baqarah 2:280] Therefore, we fear the immediate punishment before the deferred one for those people who are
O you who have believed, do not consume usury, doubled and multiplied
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَأْكُلُوا الرِّبَا أَضْعَافًا مُّضَاعَفَةًThe Shaykh : The meaning of this noble verse is the prohibition of a practice they used to engage in during the pre-Islamic age of ignorance (jahiliyyah). A man would sell a need to a person on credit, selling him a camel for one hundred dirhams due in one year. When the year arrived, he would say to the buyer, "Pay me." The buyer would say, "I have nothing." The seller would say, "Then let us make the one hundred how much?" For example, they would add ten. If six months had passed, he would say, "Give it to me." The buyer would say, "I have nothing." The seller would say, "Then let us add ten to it."
And so, every time the due date arrived, they would increase the riba. This is undoubtedly injustice. The obligation upon a person who has a debt owed by someone in financial difficulty is to grant them a respite until they are able to pay, as Allah the Exalted said:
And if someone is in hardship, then [let there be] postponement until [a time of] ease.
وَإِن كَانَ ذُو عُسْرَةٍ فَنَظِرَةٌ إِلَىٰ مَيْسَرَةٍ
Source
دروس وفتاوى المسجد الحرام لعام 1417هـ - 43 — binothaimeen.net (52:20)
The Arabic text is a machine transcription of the audio recording.