Translation:
O people of faith, mind your responsibility to God and give up what remains of usury, if you truly believe. But if you do not give up, then be ready for a war from God and His Messenger. But if you repent, then you can have your capital. Do not do any wrong, then you shall not be wronged.153 If the (debtor) is in difficulty, there should be post- ponement until (he is) in ease. But if you were to give it up as alms, that is even better, only if you knew! 154
Be conscious of the day when you will return to God. Then every soul will be paid back in full what it has earned and none will be treated unfairly.
Interpretation:
153 This is a very powerful message about usury, and God makes a demand that those who truly believe in God and His guidance should voluntarily give up any claim on usury in whatever form it may be. Refusal to give up usury is considered a serious enough moral and social crime that God and His Messenger will declare war with such individuals. There are only a few places or instances where the Qur’an has used such strong language, such as with those who not only disbelieve but also openly show hostility to the faithful. Here, Muslims are threatened with such a consequence not because they disbelieve but because they lay claim to immoral and inhuman social practices such as usury, which is contrary to the lofty goals and ideals that God has ascribed to us.
But God is always there to forgive if we truly repent and turn back from such prac- tices that are disliked by God and that are harmful to us. God also lays out the golden rule of retaliation that if we do not wrong someone, then we will not be wronged, implying that we should not harm someone unless that person has harmed us; in a similar vein, God also said that it is better that we return a good for an evil rather
than an evil, even if it is morally okay to do so.
154 Here, God goes even further to show the true spirit of a believer. First of all, any form of usury is unacceptable and hated by God. Second, if the debtor is in difficulty, then one should show compassion and not demand the capital right away, even if he has a right to do so and would be justified in doing so. Giving time to ease a debtor’s situation is encouraged, and forgiving the loan as a gesture of charity is even better. These are wonderful teachings to bring people together and to create a compassionate and just society, but unfortunately we are far from practicing these today.
Reflection:
The subject of usury is continued here and shows how strongly God dislikes usury given its impact on society at the individual and collective level. Usury is likened to an evil act, an act with such significant moral implications that God
uses the strongest term to discourage its practice. Usury is a systemic channeling of wealth to those who are wealthy from those who are not to begin with, and it creates a sharp divide among the haves and the have-nots, something we have been witnessing in many industrialized countries as well as in newly emerging economies. Wealth needs to be widely shared by allowing those who deploy the capital the ability to keep a fair share of the labor of capital. Usury also creates an artificial sense of security and a false chain of secure returns when we bring in asset-based security instruments, instruments that brought about the meltdown of Wall Street in the U.S. in 2008. In addition, the perverse and short-term nature of financial incentives and risk perception manipulation through institutional frameworks such as AIG and conflicted credit rating agencies created a self-fulfilling spiral never before seen in human history.
Action:
As verses such as these were revealed during the time of the Prophet, they immediately formed the standard by which early Muslims formed their social and financial systems. These rules and guidelines created a system of financial transac- tions and dealings superior to what existed at the time and led to the success of the Muslims. The same differentiated and merit-based systems can continue to ensure our success in the contemporary world, not empty rituals and clinging to past practices.