The first thing one notes about the common, traditional, definition of riba is that it is not based on any explicit text in the Qur`an or on any authentic hadith. By going through the nine Qur`anic verses (2:275-280, 3:130, 4:161, 30:39) about riba, one sees that they prohibit riba in very strong language, but do not define it. The situation is similar in the case of the Hadith, if we duly bring into consideration the question of authenticity of the ahadith considered.
There is massive evidence, some of which may be found in this book, that many even of the ahadith found in the generally trusted books are not authentic. But even if for the sake of simplicity we accept ahadith in these books without further discussion, we would in vain search for a hadith defining riba, much less in the traditional sense that equates riba with interest of every type. The ahadith on riba in the generally trusted books are mostly concerned with introducing the concept of riba al-fadl, which, apart from being a problematic concept (see Chapters VII-IX), is considered a less serious (makruh?) type of riba different from the one prohibited in the Qur`an. To find a hadith defining the riba prohibited in the Qur`an, some writers such as Usmani[2], are obliged to go to late or isolated sources. But, as we illustrate in Section B below, the authenticity of such ahadith is called into question not only by their absence from a vast majority of Hadith collections -- especially the earlier ones -- but also by other more specific considerations.
That the ahadith reliably coming from the Holy Prophet did not explicitly define or clarify the concept of riba is also supported by a saying attributed to Sayyidna ‘Umar (radiy allah ‘an hu):
“Indeed the last of what was revealed in the Qur`an is the ayah of al-riba and indeed the Messenger did not explain it before he died.”
This may not be an authentic saying of ‘Umar (see Section C for a detailed discussion), but it, nevertheless, shows an early perception among Muslims that the Holy Prophet had not explained the meaning of riba before his departure from this world.
The question now arises how do we explain the fact that the Qur`an and the authentic ahadith do not explicitly define riba. In regard to this question, we need to note that lack of definition does not mean lack of clarity. The meaning of riba understood among the Arabs in the time of the Prophet plus the clear statements of the Qur`an made the meaning perfectly clear to the Companions, making it unnecessary to define the term. Indeed, we cannot expect otherwise: God and his Messenger would not condemn and prohibit in a very forceful way an action without making it sufficiently clear what they are prohibiting[3]. Thus we agree with the following conclusion by Usmani, even though some of his arguments leading to it are not quite sound (see Section C below):
“The Holy Qur'an did not give any definition for the term for the simple reason that it was well known to its immediate audience. It is like the prohibition of pork, liquor, gambling, adultery etc, which were imposed without giving any hard and fast definition because all these terms were well known and there was no ambiguity in their meaning. Similar was the case of riba. It was not a term foreign to Arabs.” (Usmani, para 36)
There is massive evidence, some of which may be found in this book, that many even of the ahadith found in the generally trusted books are not authentic. But even if for the sake of simplicity we accept ahadith in these books without further discussion, we would in vain search for a hadith defining riba, much less in the traditional sense that equates riba with interest of every type. The ahadith on riba in the generally trusted books are mostly concerned with introducing the concept of riba al-fadl, which, apart from being a problematic concept (see Chapters VII-IX), is considered a less serious (makruh?) type of riba different from the one prohibited in the Qur`an. To find a hadith defining the riba prohibited in the Qur`an, some writers such as Usmani[2], are obliged to go to late or isolated sources. But, as we illustrate in Section B below, the authenticity of such ahadith is called into question not only by their absence from a vast majority of Hadith collections -- especially the earlier ones -- but also by other more specific considerations.
That the ahadith reliably coming from the Holy Prophet did not explicitly define or clarify the concept of riba is also supported by a saying attributed to Sayyidna ‘Umar (radiy allah ‘an hu):
“Indeed the last of what was revealed in the Qur`an is the ayah of al-riba and indeed the Messenger did not explain it before he died.”
This may not be an authentic saying of ‘Umar (see Section C for a detailed discussion), but it, nevertheless, shows an early perception among Muslims that the Holy Prophet had not explained the meaning of riba before his departure from this world.
The question now arises how do we explain the fact that the Qur`an and the authentic ahadith do not explicitly define riba. In regard to this question, we need to note that lack of definition does not mean lack of clarity. The meaning of riba understood among the Arabs in the time of the Prophet plus the clear statements of the Qur`an made the meaning perfectly clear to the Companions, making it unnecessary to define the term. Indeed, we cannot expect otherwise: God and his Messenger would not condemn and prohibit in a very forceful way an action without making it sufficiently clear what they are prohibiting[3]. Thus we agree with the following conclusion by Usmani, even though some of his arguments leading to it are not quite sound (see Section C below):
“The Holy Qur'an did not give any definition for the term for the simple reason that it was well known to its immediate audience. It is like the prohibition of pork, liquor, gambling, adultery etc, which were imposed without giving any hard and fast definition because all these terms were well known and there was no ambiguity in their meaning. Similar was the case of riba. It was not a term foreign to Arabs.” (Usmani, para 36)
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