Is it permissible to call riba (usury or interest) profits? And the Shaykh’s clarification of the correct meaning of the verse “There is no compulsion in religion.”

The Shaykh : The other point is that I advise you, and I advise everyone sitting with us, not to exchange that which is lesser for that which is better, because this is from the deeds of the Jews, as you know. Do not say “profit” or “profits” instead of riba (usury or interest). This is a common term today, even in the Islamic bank; it is written “Islamic Bank,” yet they call riba (usury or interest) profit. Who is it that calls riba (usury or interest) profit? It is those about whom Allah said:

Another questioner : Professor in

The Shaykh : Now I remember a joke. I say: It is like those who want to establish the Muslim state through these twisted ways, from one night to the next. Like those who want to apply this verse, wanting to take the jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims) from the disbelievers while they are humbled. Is this possible? It is possible, but when? When the Muslim state is established, its rule is secure, and this Muslim ruler begins to call to Islam. At that time, we can demand that the surrounding countries of disbelief pay the jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims) by hand while they are humbled. How is this? They are in their lands upon disbelief. We send, for example, to Russia and America, saying, “You are disbelievers,” and to France and Germany, and the countries close to us, like Greece, for example, saying, “You are disbelievers, you must pay the jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims) by hand.” No, the call must emanate from the land of Islam to its neighbors. If the town bordering the Islamic lands is disbelieving, and the Muslim caller goes to that land to call to Islam, and they permit him, and he calls and resides in the land of disbelief calling to Islam, and they do not prevent him from calling to Islam, and the disbelievers there enter into the religion of Allah in droves, no jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims) is taken from them. But if they prevent the Muslim callers from calling to Islam in their lands, meaning the lands of disbelief, then the Muslim army deploys to carry the call by the force of the sword, after the disbelievers have prevented the Islamic call in the best manner. If the Muslim army occupies those disbelieving lands and prevails over them, then they are given the choice of one of three: either Islam, or paying the jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims) by hand while they are humbled, or killing. That is what they choose. This is from the details of the verse that is confusing for some people: The meaning of “There is no compulsion in religion” is not, as some writers today say, who have doubt in their hearts about Islam, that it is not permissible to fight the disbelievers for Islam, but only that you fight in defense of your land. They divide jihad (struggle in the path of Allah) into defensive jihad and offensive jihad, saying that offensive jihad is not commanded by Islam, and they ignore all these Islamic conquests, without which our country would still be in the hands of the Romans. They permit jihad (struggle in the path of Allah) for the sake of defense, meaning we remain in our homeland and call to Islam in the midst of our home, but it is not permissible to launch the call to the lands of disbelief. And if we launch it and they prevent us, it is not permissible for us to fight them. This is contrary to Islam. The point is His saying, the Exalted: Meaning, there is not in Islam either you submit or I kill you; there is no middle ground, no compromise, which is either you submit, or you pay the jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims), or killing. You do not live like this, you do not live in the system of Islam. The proof that you have accepted this system, while retaining your disbelieving belief, is that you pay the jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims) by hand while you are humbled. So you do not accept this, nor do you rule by Islam, nor do you profess Islam. Therefore, before you is killing. So the disbeliever is given the choice between entering Islam and paying the jizyah (the tax on protected non-Muslims) by hand while he is humbled. This is the meaning of and not as they interpret it, that it is not permissible for the Islamic army, if the Islamic callers are attacked in a disbelieving country, to fight that disbelieving country. No, this is from Islam and from the Shari'ah (Islamic sacred law) of Islam. The point is that it is not permissible to call riba (usury or interest) profit, because names have effects on the hearts of people. And one of the causes of the spread of riba (usury or interest) among people is misleading the masses from the legal truths with soft names. So they do not call riba (usury or interest) riba (usury or interest), because if it were called riba (usury or interest), the body of the Muslim would recoil merely from hearing this name, because he knows with certainty that riba (usury or interest) is forbidden. But this “profit,” profit, and finally they brought us the Islamic bank with a new innovation: murabahah (a cost-plus sale). We used to complain before that they call riba (usury or interest) by a name other than its name, calling it profit. Now they call riba (usury or interest) by a name other than the word profit, calling it murabahah (a cost-plus sale). And it is riba (usury or interest) itself. So we hope from all our brothers that they use the legal terms and avoid the innovative terms, because names have their effect on the hearts of people. And among that is calling riba (usury or interest) profit; it is harm. How do they call it profit?