n37 31 The Major Sins Series- RibaInterestUsury
By Abu Usamah | 2026-01-15T15:38:13.76063+00:00 | Topic: Repentance
The Major Sins Series - Riba/Interest/Usury
Speaker: Abu Usamah
Opening
(بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ - bismillahir-rahmanir-rahim)(الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى رَسُولِ اللَّهِ - al-ḥamdu lillāhi waṣ-ṣalātu was-salāmu ʿalá rasūli-llāh)
Introduction to the Seventh Major Sin
The seventh major sin, which is devouring and taking and using and utilizing usury or interest. He brings a statement of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
First Evidence from Quran
"O you who believe, fear Allah and give up that which remains of your desire for reba, if you were truly believers. O you who believe, fear Allah and give up that which remains of your desire for reba, for usury, if you were truly believers. And if you refuse to give up your desire, then beware of a war with Allah and His messenger."
Allah and His messenger have declared war upon you. And then Imam Al-Dahabi stopped there as it relates to the ayah. And there's some more of the ayah.
Understanding the First Ayah
Concerning this ayah of the Quran, the first ayah shows that reba is a kabira from the kabair. This ayah was revealed to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, and it is speaking to the agniyat, the rich people of the Muslims during that time. Or any and everyone who was owed some money by other people, and the money that was owed was a result of reba.
Allah Azawajal told the rich people to give up what remains of your desire for reba, if you were truly believers. If you're not truly believers, then go ahead and do what you want to do, as we're going to do what we want to do. When a person hears about the danger of reba, and that it is bad, that is khatir, and the sharr of reba is mustatir.
But he continues to look at it as a small issue, Allah says, If you're truly believers. And the believers have been described in the Quran with a number of sifat. Too many.
The believers are those people who, when Allah is mentioned, it causes their hearts to become fearful. And when his ayat are rehearsed to them and recited to them, it increases them in iman. And they rely on Allah.
They're not afraid of the recompense and the penalty for not obeying what Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala ordered them to do. Something that Allah ordered them to do, they're not afraid of obeying Allah. Instead, they are afraid of disobeying Allah.
So when he advises and he commands the believers to give up what remains of their desire for reba, if they're really believers, they would do it. From the characteristics of the believers in the Quran:
"It is not acceptable, it is not befitting for a believing man or a believing woman, if Allah and his messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, decree an affair for them to have any say-so in that issue. So in this ayat, Allah is ordering those Muslims who are owed reba, leave what remains of your desire to get that money."
The Prophet's Example with His Uncle Abbas
Concerning this issue, there's a very important point that I want to mention here. And that is, we want to share with you an example of the adl, the justice and the fairness of Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, and how he was a qudwa. He was an example.
He wasn't an individual who used to just give a lot of kalam. He was an example. The example of him being an example is what happened in the fath of Mecca, when he conquered Mecca.
And this ayat was read to the people. It came out to the people and he said to them a number of things. One of the things he said to them, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was:
He got in front of the people and he said, from what he said, and all of the reba that is owed from the times of the Jahiliyyah are under my foot.
Rendered null and void. Not permissible from this point on. And the very first reba that I'm going to destroy and make it abrogated, and make it that people don't have to pay it.
The first reba is the reba of my rich, powerful uncle, al-Abbas. Whoever owes Abbas money from reba prior to this day, you don't have to pay him after that. That's the example where Rasulullah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, took one of the closest people to him to do what? To establish the hujjah, the argument, the delil on everyone else.
He was not like many of the people today. They order the people to do good, like the Yahud.
"Do you Yahud order the people and you forget to do it your own selves, and you read the book? Can't you and don't you reflect? Don't you use your aql? Rasulullah wasn't like that."
There are those people who want to tell us, the khilafa, the khilafa, the khilafa. But you do not see the khilafa in the way his wife dresses. You do not see the khilafa in his beard.
You do not see the khilafa in the isbad. You do not see the khilafa in him not being fair and just in the way he judges between people. الجهاد الجهاد الجهاد But you do not see him making jihad against his desires, judging that people are kufar based upon his desires.
You don't agree with me? So I say that you're kafir because you don't see jihad in a particular place in the world. So he says, you're from the munafiqeen, you're kafir. No.
Why don't you practice the jihad on yourself and judge between the people with al-adl and with the haqq. So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was an example for us.
Another Example of Being a Model
Another example that I want to give to you as a dhikr and nasiha to myself and to you.
When I was in Kithri, in my neighborhood there was the pir, he was a neighbor of mine. Over there was the sharif, the shah they used to call him, he was a neighbor of mine. Over there was the faqir, all of them had powerful positions in the masjid.
All of them were warning the people of the magic that we were putting on them, calling to the Quran and the sunnah, according to the way the salaf understood the Quran and the sunnah. But whenever you see the wife of the pir, and the daughter of the faqir, and the children of the shah, you will see that they're not ordering their children and they're not being examples for the congregation. So if we're going to give dawah to Allah, we have to make an attempt to be examples of that.
The Example of Badr
In the ghazwa of al-Badr, in the battle of Badr. When they were about to engage the enemy in the battle, those kuffar came out, three of them from the chiefs of the kuffar from Quraysh, and they challenged the Muslims. Upon hearing the challenge, the three people from the ansar, from the shabab, were quick to go out to meet them.
The Quraysh people said, we don't have a problem with you, send out those who are like us. So the kuffar of Quraysh recognized that the Muslims of Quraysh are better than the ansar. They recognized that the Muslims of Quraysh are the best of this ummah, and they have a special position in this ummah.
The Qurayshi is not like the non-Qurayshi. The Qurayshi is not like the non-Qurayshi, especially if he is from Ahlulbayt. They said, we don't have a problem with you, send out those people who are similar to us.
What did the prophet do? Upon hearing that, he himself stood up and he called his uncle Hamza. And along with Hamza, he called the nephew of Hamza, Ali ibn Abi Talib. And Hamza's other nephew, Ubaidullah ibn al-Harith.
Ali's father, Abu Talib, as well as Ubaidullah's father, al-Harith, were brothers to Hamza and Abbas. Rasulullah chose these three people, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, رضي الله عنهم to go out and to risk their lives before the battle started. As an example, in the dalil, he was a person who was the qudwa for us.
Not like today. The person in the position of leadership, if blood can spill and flow, and people can lose their property, their lives, and their money, they'll take their children and shield their children, and put someone else's child or someone else in front of harm's way. This was not the way of the prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.
So he made the riba of his uncle, Abbas, مَوْضُو it is left حَرَامٍ، مَطْرُوحٍ، تَحْتَ قَدَمَيَّ هَاتَيْنِ . It is below by two feet on this day.
The Remainder of the First Ayah
As for the riba that you took in the past, the rest of the ayat that Imam Al-Zahabi didn't bring, is that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said:
"If people make tawbah for this desire of having riba, if you make tawbah, you will get the original monies that you had in jahiliyya. You won't be responsible for the riba you took in jahiliyya."
الْإِسْلَامُ يَجُبُّ مَا كَانَ قَبْلَهُ
Al-Islam wipes away what went before. Anyone made any major sin prior to Al-Islam, Al-Islam wipes it away. So that's the first ayah that Imam Al-Zahabi brings.
Second Evidence from Quran
The second ayah is the statement of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala:
And then he stopped there. Those who utilize usury, they will not stand up Yawm al-Qiyamah except like the one who stands up who has been touched by the Shaytan. He's possessed. الشَّيْطَانُ مِنَ الْمَسِ مَصْرُوعٌ. So the one who's possessed when he stands up, there's no rhyme or reason to the way he's walking and the way he's acting.
The one who takes riba in the dunya will be raised up Yawm al-Qiyamah like that. He's going to be wandering to and fro without any rhyme or reason, and that's one of the punishments of ar-riba. Concerning this ayah, there are three waqafat that we want to make.
First Point: Possession is Real in Islam
The first point that we want to bring to your attention concerning this is, this ayah establishes something that Muslims have to believe in and that is, a person can become possessed. There is possession in the religion of al-Islam as Allah established it in this ayah. And it's been established in the authentic sunnah of Rasulullah as well, in so many ahadith, in Sahih al-Bukhari, in Sahih al-Muslim, and in other than that, the books of al-Hadith.
The Prophet was traveling, he came upon a group of people, and the lady brought her child, innocent, defenseless child, and said, Ya Rasulullah, my child is possessed. Rasulullah took the child, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, while he was on his riding beast, and he said to the child:
اخْرُجْ يَا عَدُوَّ اللَّهِ فَإِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ
Get out of him, O enemy of Allah, verily I am the Messenger of Allah. And then he gave the child back to the lady and went on his way.
He came back from that way. He passed by the lady, the lady was there with two sheeps that she slaughtered for Rasulullah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He took one of the sheeps and said, you can have the other one, and he kept going.
Which is a dalil, that the one who reads for the person to take the jinn out of him, to take the shaitan off of him, he can take money for that.
Also, Ikhwan, I want to bring to your attention as it relates to possession, being possessed, because some people reject it and they don't believe it. They say that it's khurafat.
It's established from the Quran and the Sunnah. They say that magic is not real. Established from the Quran and the Sunnah.
The Proper Method of Treatment
As it relates to being possessed, it is not authentic. For the one who's going to read to take the jinn out of the masra, where do the people get off slapping the man in the face, slapping him in his chest, beating him up,
telling him, get out jinn, get out jinn. You will not find that from the Sunnah of the Prophet, صلى الله عليه وسلم.
He read the Quran over people, he said things, but never did he beat the person up in trying to get to the jinn.
This is from the deviation of the people today.
The Story of Imam Ahmed (A Weak Narration)
There is a hikayah that Al-Imam Ahmed. Al-Imam Ahmed, it is said, was teaching his class. Someone came and said, Ya Imam, someone from my family, my relatives is possessed. Can you help?
Al-Imam Ahmed took off his shoe, told his student, take this shoe and go tell the jinn that Ahmed told you to get out, and if you don't get out, we're going to beat you.
The student went, said to the man or the jinn, get out. This is Al-Imam Ahmed's shoe, going to hit you if you don't get out. The jinn got out of that particular individual.
Time went on, Al-Imam Ahmed died. The one who took Al-Imam Ahmed's place was approached by someone else. Same incident, someone from my family has been possessed.
Can you help me? Yeah. Tell him to take this shoe and do this and this and this. I saw Ahmed do that.
The man went, told the jinn, get out, I'm going to hit you with this shoe. The jinn remained. And the jinn started talking with the lisan of that person, which is possible.
The jinn started talking with the lisan of that person, which is possible. And said, I'm not going to come out, because Ahmed used to obey Allah, so we obeyed him. You people don't obey Allah, so we're not going to obey you.
This narration is a hikayah, khurafat, never happened. No chain of, no authentic chain of narration. Not permissible to hit the person who has the jinn in him.
You're hurting the person, and who knows, Ikhwan? Maybe that human being who is possessed, there's something to the jinn. There's something to the jinn's children, killed the jinn's children, who were believers, and now the jinn is getting them back. That's possible.
So it's not permissible to hit people. We only read the Quran, and we follow the sunnah.
Second Point: Establishing the Hujjah (Proof)
The second thing, as it relates to this ayah. And this is critical, Ikhwan. Important. Is that the second ayah that Imam Al-Zahabi uses, and he brings to support, and to prove that riba is a kabira from the kabair.
It shows us an important principle that we have to hold on to in Al-Islam, when we judge other people. Our ummah is the ummah that's in the middle, and we are shuhada on the people, so we have to judge. We have to
say so-and-so is a deviant.
We have to say that group right there is dangerous. And in saying that, that doesn't mean that you're a spy. That doesn't mean that you don't know where al-wala wal-bara.
Of course, there's hikmah and issues like that, that have to be taken care of. But the Muslims are shuhada of Allah in this earth. But when we bear witness, we have to do so with justice, not based upon our desires.
In this ayah, Allah سبحانه وتعالى said to the Muslims:
They say, Verily trade is like Riba. Buying and selling commerce is like Riba. You wanna buy this, I tell you, 15 dollars, 15 pounds, you give it to me, I give it back to you. Riba is the same way, I give it to you for 15 pounds, but you have to pay me 5 pounds extra because you can't pay all of the money up front.
That's what the Kufar say. Allah said, anyone who the proof comes to him from his Lord after that and he stops, then his reward is with Allah. His reward is with Allah.
فَلَهُۥ مَا سَلَفَ وَأَمْرُهُۥٓ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ
He will get his reward from the past and his affairs from Allah. So this goes to show and it goes to prove. If a person doesn't know that Riba is Haram, and then the proof comes to him, and he realizes it is Haram and he stops, now the argument has been established upon him.
So the principle is, we do not judge people until the Hujjah or the Dalil has been established on those individuals. Someone doesn't judge by what Allah reveals, like the Hukam. It's wrong and it's Kufr.
Or it can be Dhulm. Or it can be Fisq. But we have some brothers who insist, when they don't judge by what Allah revealed, they're Kufar, just like that.
But turn around, that same person who's passing that ruling on the Hukam, you'll find him purchasing a home with Riba. You'll find him driving a car with insurance that has Riba. So do we say to him, you're in the hellfire forever? No, we have to say, what are the conditions that are going on in his particular, his life, so that we can say, he's excused, he's not excused.
People want us to work with them like that, but they don't want to work with the other people like that, with fairness and justice. So we want to remind you, Ikhwani, this is one of the many ayat of the Quran that show, before we can judge on people, the argument has to be established, the dalil has to be established.
وَمَا كُنَّا مُعَذِّبِينَ حَتَّىٰ نَبْعَثَ رَسُولًا
We will not punish a people until we send to them a messenger, establish upon them the hujjah.
وَمَن يُشَاقِقِ ٱلرَّسُولَ مِنۢ بَعْدِ مَا تَبَيَّنَ لَهُ ٱلْهُدَىٰ وَيَتَّبِعْ غَيْرَ سَبِيلِ ٱلْمُؤْمِنِينَ نُوَلِّهِۦ مَا تَوَلَّىٰ
Whoever goes against and he opposes the messenger, and he follows other than the way of the believers after the guidance has been made clear to him. So we have to establish the hujjah.
Third Point: The Statement of the Kuffar
The last thing that relates to this particular ayah, is that Allah mentions the statement of the kufar in this ayah.
قَالُوا إِنَّمَا ٱلْبَيْعُ مِثْلُ ٱلرِّبَا
Those kufar say, commerce is just like riba. Believe it or not, we have Muslims today, who say the same thing. They call riba by other than its name, they say that it is a profit or benefit.
And they say, why is riba haram when it is just like commerce? The person can't pay me up front, so why should I not penalize him for such an issue? This is the statement of the kufar, and it's not acceptable for the Muslim to fall into such an issue, especially after you see what's going to come of the hadith, describing the seriousness of riba.
Concerning the two ayahs, it is clear riba is a kabira from the kabair. The first ayah said, whoever takes the riba and doesn't give up his desire for it, then let him beware of a war with Allah and His messenger.
Allah will not go to war with His messenger, صلى الله عليه وسلم, with anyone, except that they're doing a kabira from the kabair. Also, the second ayah, the one who eats the riba will be raised up yawmul qiyamah, like the one who has been touched by shaitan and he's possessed, a kabira from the kabair.
Evidence from Hadith
As it relates to the ahadith, al-imam al-dhahabi brought only a few hadith, and this baab is pretty short.
First Hadith - The Seven Destructive Sins
The first hadith is a hadith that has already passed us, in the first chapter of the shirk. The hadith of Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه, that's in Bukhari and Muslim:
اجْتَنِبُوا السَّبْعَ الْمُوبِقَاتِ الشَّرْكَ بِاللَّهِ وَالسِّحْرَ وَقَتْلَ النَّفْسِ الَّتِي حَرَّمَ اللَّهُ وَأَكْلَ الرِّبَا وَأَكْلَ مَالِ الْيَتِيمِ وَالتَّوَلِّي يَوْمَ الزَّحْفِ وَقَذْفَ الْمُحْصَنَاتِ الْغَافِلَاتِ الْمُؤْمِنَاتِ
Reference: Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim
Beware and be careful and avoid the seven major sins that will destroy you.
And he mentioned from them, riba as number four.
Why Riba is a Major Sin
Beware and be careful and avoid the seven major sins that will destroy you. Riba ekhwani is from the major sins for a number of reasons.
One of the reasons is that the person who takes the riba and the people who take the riba and the financial institutions that are built upon the riba, they are in fact bloodsuckers. They are bloodsuckers. They suck the blood of the people and they oppress people.
Those people in our society who sell narcotics, they're criminals. But the biggest criminals are the financial institutions and the people who built them and who are behind them. They are bloodsuckers.
The Vision of Isra and Mi'raj
And for that reason, one of the things that happened when Rasulullah traveled from Mecca to Jerusalem, from Jerusalem to the seventh heaven is that when he was traveling from Mecca to Jerusalem, he saw a man in a lake, in the middle of the lake. And the lake was not a lake of fresh water, but it was a lake of blood. He was surrounded in blood.
Every time the man wanted to come out of the water to go to the shore, another man would take a big rock and throw it at him and hit him in his mouth and it would send him back into the water and he continued to do that over and over and over again. Rasulullah asked Jibril صلى الله عليه وسلم, who was that? He said, that man is the one who dealt with Riba. That's a man who used to take the riba.
He was a man who put on the people those conditions of riba. The scholars of Islam said, because he was in the blood, that is an ayah and an indication that the people who take riba are bloodsuckers.
Taking People's Money Without Right
Riba is also a major crime and sin because it's taking the people's money without the haq.
You want to get insurance and you pay the people for house insurance, car insurance, and nothing ever happens. A year goes by and you're paying 100 pounds every month, 600 pounds at the end of the year. By which haq did they get the money? By which haq did they get the money? They took the people's money without it being halal.
And we've been prohibited from that as we mentioned when we gave the class about the durriyatul khams. The five major things that Islam came to protect. One of them is the monies of the people.
Muslims and non-Muslims, haram to take a man's money.
يَا أَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ لَا تَأْكُلُوٓاْ أَمْوَٰلَكُم بَيْنَكُم بِٱلْبَٰطِلِ إِلَّآ أَن تَكُونَ تِجَٰرَةً عَن تَرَاضٍ مِّنكُم
Oh, you believe. Do not take each other's money with the way that it's not permissible. You can't steal his money. You can't take the riba.
You can't sell him a faulty product. The only way you can take his money is from a tijara. If you're in business or if the man gladly gives you the money as a gift, a hiba.
He gives it to you because he wants to give it to you. But you stealing his money is not permissible.
Prohibited Business Transactions
For that reason, Ikhwani, when we look at the sunnah of Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم, and what the kuffar used to do in Mecca, we will find he made a lot of business transactions haram.
Al-Muzanaba
For an example, Al-Muzanaba. Al-Muzanaba was a practice that the kuffar used to have in which a man he would sell the unknown ripe dates that are still on the tree. He would sell an unknown amount for some dry dates for a specific amount.
You give me 5 kilos and you can have those dates on the tree. Rasulullah made that haram. He doesn't know what's going to be the end result of those dates.
And those dates are not equal to those dates.
Al-Muhakila
There is another practice that he made haram called Al-Muhakila. Al-Muhakila is the individual who comes and he says, here is some grain still in the husk and I have some processed grain that I took off of the husk.
I'll sell you this processed grain, but you give me this grain that is still in the husk. He made that haram. You don't know what's going to happen to that.
The one who has grapes and raisins. The Arabs used to do that as well. I'll give you these raisins to give me those dates that are still on the tree.
He made it haram, not permissible.
The Story of Bilal
Bilal رضي الله عنه, he purchased some dates called Barni. Not Barni like Fred Flintstone's companion.
Barni, Barni dates. They're from the best dates of the Arabs. The succulent dates.
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Bilal is miskeen, faqeer. Doesn't have any money. He brought the dates to Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم). Rasulullah said, where did you get those dates? Kind of strange situation.
Did you get them as sadaqa? Where did you get those dates, ya Bilal? Bilal said, ya Rasulullah, I had some dates that were bad. So I took my bad dates and I sold two sa'a. A sa'a.
One sa'a is when you take a handful of dates and you make four of those. That's one sa'a. If you take a handful and you make four, that's one sa'a.
He took two sa'a of bad dates, gave it to a man, and took from that man one sa'a of the Barni dates. Rasulullah (صلى الله عليه وسلم): Oh! Oh!
Oh! Iyaka! Beware! Beware! Don't do that because that is riba.
He told Bilal, If you want to purchase those good dates, then take your bad dates, go to sell them, get the money, and then purchase with the money, whatever you can, from the good dates.
So he (صلى الله عليه وسلم) didn't allow these types of transactions because they are taking people's monies without what is permissible. He says (صلى الله عليه وسلم) showing the hikmah, the ilah behind this:
What if Allah destroys, and He doesn't allow, and He prevents the fruit from coming to fruitation.
He doesn't allow that particular date palm tree to render its produce. What if a hurricane comes? What if something happens that comes down in its back? In it are worms, beetles. And now you already took the man's money.
He said, with what right does one of you take his brother's money if Allah destroy that particular produce? So he made it not permissible. Those are from the reasons why ar-riba is a kabira from the kabair. It is zulm.
It is zulm, it's not adl. You're taking the people's money without that which is halal.
Second Hadith - The Curse on Those Involved in Riba
Concerning the hadith, there are only really one hadith that al-Imam al-Zahabi brought after the first hadith of Abu Huraira (radiallahu anhu). He brought the statement of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم):
Reference: Sahih Muslim
Allah has cursed the one who eats the riba, he takes it, also the one who gave it to him.
That's in Sahih Muslim. And al-Imam al-Tirmidhi added on to this narration, some other people:
And the two people who witnessed it, and the one who wrote the contract for the riba.
In another hadith he says:
All of them are equal in the crime.
All of them are equal in the sin. They're equal, all of them. The one who took it, the one who gave it, the two who witnessed it, the one who wrote the contract, the one who worked behind the tailor, all of them.
The tailor worked behind the counter. They're all equal in the sin. So it is not permissible.
I have a business in which I sell cars, no financing, just straight up, I sell you the car. Someone comes and he says, can you direct me to someone who can finance the car? I don't wanna give you finance, but I say, yeah, go over there, he'll do the financing. You're equal in that with the one who gives him the finance.
Riba is haram. To be an insurance man is sinning. To work in the bank is sinning.
All of that is haram to Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala). And it is a part of not cooperating on الْإِثْمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ To work in the bank is haram.
To be an insurance salesman is haram. Why? Because it is built on and predicated upon a Kabira from the Kabair, and you are bloodsucker, and you're helping to oppress the people, and that is not permissible in the deen of Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala).
Third Hadith - Knowledge is Required
The last hadith that Imam Al-Zahabi brings, Ikhwani, concerning riba. He says (صلى الله عليه وسلم):
The one who takes the riba, the one who gives the riba, the one who writes it, if they know, and have knowledge of a thing before you're held accountable. Before we judge people as being criminals, kafirs, munafiqeen, the argument, the delil has to be established upon them.
The Severity of One Dirham of Riba
He said about this point concerning riba, (صلى الله عليه وسلم):
One dirham, one dirham that a man takes from riba, one dirham. And he knows, if he doesn't know, he's not responsible. Money comes in from riba and he doesn't know.
But if he knows that this one dirham is from riba and he takes it, Rasulullah said, it is more severe in Allah's sight than that man making zina with 36 different people. That hadith is authentic.
So when the Muslim hears that, and he means the well-known hadith of Rasulullah, (صلى الله عليه وسلم):
The riba is 72 different branches, 72 different types of riba. The lowest type of riba is, like the man having relations with his wife as a Muslim, not as a kafir. In Islam, he has relations with his mother.
Who in his right mind, knowing those examples, taking one dirham of riba is like having 36 partners of zina.
The lowest branch of riba is like, having relationships with one's mother, a kabira from the kabair. No one's going to fall into it, knowingly, unless he's being compelled. As for the one who's doing it and he's desiring it, then this is clearly, akhwani, zulm on the person's self.
The Highest Form of Riba
Concerning riba, I want to make these two or three points. The lowest type of riba, is like a man having relationships with his mother in Islam. And he says, (صلى الله عليه وسلم):
And the highest form of riba, is for a person to talk unjustly about the honor of his brother.
The riba that we fall into, is the highest type of riba. So the man is trying his best to stay away from riba, from the bank, from the insurance, from the home, but he is a mukhtab, he's always making riba. So he's missing the point.
On one hand he's doing something good, but on the other hand he's making the worst type of riba, which is, istitalatul marr, talking about the honor of his brother unjustly. As for the one who deserves to be warned against, as for the one who deserves to be exposed:
Do what you have to do concerning that. But what the vast majority of Muslims preoccupy themselves with, about فُلَانٍ وَفُلَانٍ قَالَ كَذَا This is the worst type of riba.
Living with Riba in Non-Muslim Lands
Also concerning the issue of riba, and it being a kabira from the kabair, that need to be avoided in the religion of Al-Islam, is the fact that, khawani, that living here, many of us are forced and compelled to fall into riba.
There's nothing we can do about it. The dust of riba is going to almost touch everyone here no matter what.
In those kinds of situations, we hate it in our hearts, we make toba for it, but Allah Azawajal doesn't make people responsible for what is beyond their scope and their ability, what they're compelled to do.
Car Insurance
And we said it before and we'll say it again, I advise anyone from amongst you, to get car insurance, because it is a bigger fitna, to get into an accident and not to have car insurance. But when you get the haram car insurance, you should know it's haram.
And make toba that it's haram. And you should get the least amount. Don't go overboard in getting the insurance.
I have a son, he's a teenager, 18, 19, just learning how to drive, I'll insure him. I'll insure my wife, I'll insure myself. We'll get the lowest, least amount of insurance.
As for the one who goes overboard, he has to fear Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala), those people eat the monies of people, without that which is halal. Those car companies, they don't make their money, the rental car companies. They don't make their money from you renting a car.
They make their money from hundreds of people in a month's time renting a car, paying insurance and nothing happening. And then when you get into an accident and you have the insurance, they give you a hard time and try to get you to pay. Those are the unjust financial institutions that these people have.
So concerning the riba, ikhwani, we have to fear Allah (subhanahu wa ta'ala).
Questions and Answers Section
Question 1: Islamic Banks
Concerning the Islamic banks, wherever they are, the majority of the Islamic banks deal in riba. And it's almost impossible for them not to deal in riba. But we support the Islamic banks because we want good from them.
We want to support them. It's like Islamic schools. Yes, they are below the level of the kuffar schools that we want to send our children to in order for our child to compete.
But it's a vicious cycle. If we don't get Muslim teachers to make a sacrifice to work at a lower wage, and if we don't get Muslim members of the community to make the sacrifice and to send our children there anyway and do what you can do to raise the level of the school, then it's going to remain below par.
So the Islamic bank, for some reason, we have a hatred towards them more than the kuffar banks.
Yes, most of that is riba. One of the types of riba is al-'ina. And as Rasulullah said (صلى الله عليه وسلم) riba is 72 types.
There are many, many different types of riba. Many types of riba. Riba al-fadl, riba al-nasi'a.
So many types of riba. One of the ribas that the Islamic banks work on and with is al-'ina. What the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) says
If you people take this ayna, this type of usury, and you grab and take the tails of the cows and preoccupy yourselves with your animals and your agriculture, and you leave off jihad, Allah will make you low. And He won't take that lowliness off of you until you return to your deen. Making jihad, not being abnab the dunya.
Al-'ina is the deferred payment. And it has many examples. He wants to buy something from him.
So he agrees that he's going to pay 10 pounds a month. So he purchased from him the product. And he pays 10 pounds every month.
That guy comes back and he purchases what he sold to him. He purchases it for 100 pounds. He was going to spend 120 pounds.
He purchases it from him 100 pounds. He gives it back to him and he's still responsible for paying every month a payment until he gives him 20 more extra pounds. That's al-'ina.
And al-'ina can be with two people or it can be with three people. Deferred payment, like the bank. Someone needs something, me and him, and we go to the bank and they play games and try to hide it as riba.
So we support the Islamic banks. But it's going to require a level of sacrifice for us and a level of sacrifice for them. But don't be in doubt.
They're dealing riba. They're dealing riba. They can't get away from it.
What's the difference between the Islamic bank and the non-Islamic bank? The difference is just in the Islam and non-Islam. TCB, Loiza, NatWest. And maybe when you go to the Islamic bank, they say salamu alaykum and things like that.
There's a brother right here in our community, Somalian brother, I met him at the bank. I went in there, we gave salams. I didn't know him, he didn't know me.
When I wanted to open up an account in the bank, I said, let me go to the Islamic bank. I brought my passport, brought my information. They told me, well, you can't open up the account until you bring us the bill.
I said, here's the bill for the telephone. It's going to be installed soon, inshallah. They said, no, we need three bills, not the first bill.
I said, what's the difference between you and those other people? I'm not here to give you problems. The guy convinced me, no, this is the system. We'll get in trouble, this and that.
Okay, I brought him the bill. So the kalam that I heard from them both times, was the kalam, the same kalam of those other people. As a matter of fact, it was little less with the other people.
So I opened up the account, my account with the other people. You do what works for you. Maybe that bank is next to where you work, next to where you live, so you do it.
But we all have to do some sacrificing, and we all have to realize that the Islamic bank is not perfect, but no one told you you have to lose your money, or make a hardship on yourself that you can't handle.
Question 2: Student Loans
And second one is, what about the student loan? I lend them money from an institution, for my financial institution. And after that, I've seen that they put some charge on the bank, you know, like the riba.
And I don't want it, but I want it to pay back, but it's going more and more. Concerning the student loans that have riba on them, you can't get away from it. What we're going to tell the student, don't go to college, don't go to the university, because you're poor and you can't afford it.
So just get a job as the bank collector. Not that the bank collector is a bad job, but he has the ability to become an eye surgeon. She has the ability to become a gynecologist.
What we're going to tell them, no, no, don't go because you're going to have to take riba. Of course, we're not going to say something like that. If you take that loan out, ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to make a way for you to pay the loan.
And whoever fears Allah, Allah make a way out for him. And you are responsible, for the loans that we get from those kuffar. We are responsible.
Question 3: Credit and Debit Cards
Credit and debit cards are haram. They're backed by the concept and they play into the concept of riba.
Especially the credit card.
To get a credit card is haram. Even if you get a secured credit card. I put up 200 pounds and I can spend up to 200 pounds.
It's my own money. But you have agreed that if you don't pay whatever you purchased before the month is out, that you're going to pay the riba. And it's not permissible for you to agree on the condition that's haram.
Every condition that's not in the book of Allah is batil. Even if it is 100 conditions. So when you agree to that condition, if I don't pay, you're going to charge me 2.5% financing.
Haram. But again, we're living here. You may be forced, you may be compelled.
You may be forced, you may be compelled. In America, when you travel, if you live in the state of New York, you can take your debit card and rent a car. You can rent a car.
But if you travel anywhere else in the other states, you cannot rent a car with your debit card. They want to see a credit card. No matter what kind of credit card it is.
Gold, platinum, whatever it is. They want a credit card. So my business is driving, I travel and I drive.
So I'm compelled and I'm forced. I'm compelled and I'm forced. What is clearly away from Islam is the one who has a credit card and strangles himself by abusing the credit card, buying what he doesn't need, buying and spending, and getting things that are beyond his means.
That's not permissible. As for the one who is compelled, he hates it and he sees that he is much troubled. And we gave that dars before.
Whenever you have to fall into something that's haram, you do enough of it just to save yourself. And we gave some other principles that were vital to know.
Question 4: Card Machines in Islamic Bookstores
What was the second question, brother? Concerning the businesses that the people have, person has an Islamic bookstore that has books about Reba is haram, كِتَابُ الْكَبَائِرِ . But in the bookstore, there's the card to swipe.
Is it haram to have that card? That machine? That machine is helping to do the haram. But that is the culture of business here that you can't get away from. It is the culture of the business here that you can't get away from.
So the person again, he hates it and he makes Toba from it, and he seeks a way to get around it. But there are just certain issues because this is the lifestyle we're living. Wherever you go, you're not going to escape these issues.
Medina and Mecca, you're not going to escape these issues. The bookstores of Medina and Mecca, the bookstores that sell Islamic books, they have that machine where you swipe your credit card in it. Where you swipe your other card in it.
Does that make it halal? No, it doesn't make it halal. What people do in Mecca and Medina. The point is, that's the culture of the dunya today.
That the ma'ruf has become munkar, and the munkar has become ma'ruf, and the Muslims are below, and the ways of the kuffar are above.
Final Thoughts on Jihad and the Khilafa
And we agree with the jihadi people. And we agree with Hizbul Tahrir.
And we agree with the Ikhwan al-Muslimin about the importance of controlling and ruling, and the khilafa, and defending the deen. But, not the way those people go about it. Not the way they believe.
We believe in it inshallah, we have to believe in it in a way that is Islamic. Not the way some of these crazy people who say things like, what's going on in Palestine, they deserve it because they make shirk. What's going on in Afghanistan, they deserve it because they make shirk.
What's going on in Iraq, they deserve it because they were Shia. What is that? What is that kalam? What kind of nonsense is that type of statement?
If someone mentions something about jihad, we become and we say, oh, he's a jihadi. No, we say jihad is from the deen.
And jihad is something that we all should concern ourselves with. And we shouldn't be afraid of the kuffar that we say, jihad is from our deen. But what jihad? The jihad of Al-Islam, the real jihad.
The jihad that I make against myself, my lower base desires, and also the jihad of the lisan, and also the jihad of combat. All of that is with our religion, but with knowledge, with the sharia of our deen. Not what the people are calling jihad, the zarqawi, if there really is a zarqawi.
Wallahi, I doubt there's really a man, his name is Abu Musab Zarqawi. I doubt it. I doubt if he really lives.