Anwar Al-Quran

Verses 275–281

2. Al-Baqara · The Cow

Madinan286 verses

ٱلَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ ٱلرِّبَوٰا۟ لَا يَقُومُونَ إِلَّا كَمَا يَقُومُ ٱلَّذِى يَتَخَبَّطُهُ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنُ مِنَ ٱلْمَسِّ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُوٓا۟ إِنَّمَا ٱلْبَيْعُ مِثْلُ ٱلرِّبَوٰا۟ ۗ وَأَحَلَّ ٱللَّهُ ٱلْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ ٱلرِّبَوٰا۟ ۚ فَمَن جَآءَهُۥ مَوْعِظَةٌۭ مِّن رَّبِّهِۦ فَٱنتَهَىٰ فَلَهُۥ مَا سَلَفَ وَأَمْرُهُۥٓ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ ۖ وَمَنْ عَادَ فَأُو۟لَٰٓئِكَ أَصْحَٰبُ ٱلنَّارِ ۖ هُمْ فِيهَا خَٰلِدُونَ

2:275Those who exact usury will not stand but like one deranged by the Devil’s touch. That is because they say, ‘Trade is just like usury.’ While Allah has allowed trade and forbidden usury. Whoever relinquishes [usury] on receiving advice from his Lord shall keep [the gains of] what is past, and his matter will rest with Allah. As for those who resume, they shall be the inmates of the Fire and they shall remain in it [forever].1

يَمْحَقُ ٱللَّهُ ٱلرِّبَوٰا۟ وَيُرْبِى ٱلصَّدَقَٰتِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ لَا يُحِبُّ كُلَّ كَفَّارٍ أَثِيمٍ

2:276Allah brings usury to naught, but He makes charities flourish. Allah does not like any sinful ingrate.2

إِنَّ ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ وَعَمِلُوا۟ ٱلصَّٰلِحَٰتِ وَأَقَامُوا۟ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتَوُا۟ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ لَهُمْ أَجْرُهُمْ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ وَلَا خَوْفٌ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا هُمْ يَحْزَنُونَ

2:277Indeed those who have faith, do righteous deeds, maintain the prayer and give the zakat, they shall have their reward near their Lord, and they will have no fear, nor will they grieve.

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَذَرُوا۟ مَا بَقِىَ مِنَ ٱلرِّبَوٰٓا۟ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ

2:278O you who have faith! Be wary of Allah and abandon [all claims to] what remains of usury, should you be faithful.

فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُوا۟ فَأْذَنُوا۟ بِحَرْبٍۢ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ ۖ وَإِن تُبْتُمْ فَلَكُمْ رُءُوسُ أَمْوَٰلِكُمْ لَا تَظْلِمُونَ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ

2:279And if you do not, then be informed of a war from Allah and His apostle. And if you repent, then you will have your principal, neither harming others, nor suffering harm.3

وَإِن كَانَ ذُو عُسْرَةٍۢ فَنَظِرَةٌ إِلَىٰ مَيْسَرَةٍۢ ۚ وَأَن تَصَدَّقُوا۟ خَيْرٌۭ لَّكُمْ ۖ إِن كُنتُمْ تَعْلَمُونَ

2:280If [the debtor] is in straits, let there be a respite until the time of ease; and if you remit [the debt] as charity, it will be better for you, should you know.4

وَٱتَّقُوا۟ يَوْمًۭا تُرْجَعُونَ فِيهِ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ ۖ ثُمَّ تُوَفَّىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍۢ مَّا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ

2:281And beware of a day in which you will be brought back to Allah. Then every soul shall be recompensed fully for what it has earned, and they will not be wronged.5

Tafsir

Commentary on this passage

Verse 275

1.After the mention of the benefits of charity the Quran now mentions the opposite of this. That is usury which was an invention of Jews in the world of economics. Whose one and only god is wealth. In order to swallow the property of others they invented usury and justified it saying that there is profit in usury just as money is invested in business so the command for both of them is the same. The Holy Quran has explained the difference between the two by comparing them to lawful and unlawful and said that trading is lawful and usury unlawful. The philosophy behind this is that in trade the goods put to risk, on renting the house or a shop is risked but in usury the capital remains safe. Therefore there is no substitute for increase and thus where there is no substitute of the returns it is unlawful. Remember there are two kinds of usury. (i) Usury of debt which is unlawful in every case. (ii) Usury of trade, in which similar goods are exchanged and the things are weighed or measured. Other than this any increase in the returns are not haraam. Just as increase of non-Muslim bank and non-Muslim person is lawful because actually the property is not held by the rightful owner that it can be given on interest. It is actually the property of the God of Muslims that have gone into the hands of a disbeliever and it is being recovered in the name of interest. Since the infidel is a denier of Allah how can religion sanction ownership to him. The holy verses have mentioned the following directions regarding interest. (i) Usury is madness and a Usurer forgets everything and is all the time worried about money. (ii) Usury makes a man less inclined to charity as one who is always worried about increase cannot be expected to spend his wealth in charity (iii) All matters before the prohibition of interest are condoned. (iv) Those who consider usury lawful and say it is trade shall abide in hell forever. (v) Usury is apparently profitable but the barakat goes away while in Sadaqah there is apparently decrease but actually it multiplies ten, hundred, thousand and lakh times. (vi) To be firm on taking usury is like fighting a war with Allah and his Apostles. (vii) After revelation of the Ayat those who repent have the right to take back their original capital. (viii) Usurer is like an infidel and a sinner. (ix) Leave alone the interest component the usurer does even have the right to use force for recovering his capital from the helpless person. (x) The accounting of the usurer on the day of judgement will be very severe. When he would be under the influence of Shaitan and he will not even be able to give the correct replies.

Footnotes

Explanations of words and phrases in these verses

  1. 1

    Khabbato - To commit insane acts and lose sanity.

  2. 2

    Maheq - Loss or going away of the blessing.

  3. 3

    That is you must have certainty that in a way war will be fought against God and Prophet.

  4. 4

    Usrat - Poverty and straitened circumstances.

  5. 5

    It is mentioned in Majmaul Bayan that this ayat is from the last period of the Prophet’s (s.a.) life after which he remained in the world for only 21 days.

  6. Benefit

    Muss Shaitan is an idiom for madness in Arabic and it is also possible that in particular circumstances the Shaitan may interfere in the thoughts of man and dominate him.

    Benefit: It should be clear that 278th ayat begins with Faith and ends with warring against God and Prophet (a.s.) whose clear aim is that interest taking is actually a announcement of war against God and the Prophet (a.s.) and in this way the demands of both Tawhid and Prophethood are injured. God is Beneficent and Merciful and He has sent the Holy Prophet (a.s.) as the Mercy for all the worlds. Before everything interest takes away the feelings of mercy and kindness from the man’s heart. After this it takes away his reliance from the sustaining of Allah and fixes it on the earnings of interest. Interest is a social evil which results in bearing injustice and when everyone gets accustomed to bear injustice the oppressor also has to bear the oppression of others.