Riba

Wealth lent out to extract value from the property of others appears to multiply, but the Quran states that it "will not increase in God’s eyes" (30:39). The text places usury (riba) in direct opposition to charity. While usury systematically demands a guaranteed return from other people's wealth, charity is given away freely out of a desire for God's approval. According to the Quran, it is this charitable giving, not the lending of money at interest, that "will earn multiple rewards" (30:39).

How does the Quran distinguish usury from trade?

Those who consumed usury defended the practice by arguing, "Trade and usury are the same" (2:275). As Al-Zamakhshari observes regarding this defense, the phrasing is deliberately inverted: because usury was the contested practice, they logically should have argued that usury is like trade (تفسير الكشاف - ومعه الانتصاف ومشاهد الإنصاف والكافي الشاف, 1/ 320). By instead making trade the subject of the comparison, they attempted to normalize the extraction of interest as the baseline standard of commerce itself.

Abu Bakr al-Jaza'iri notes the underlying economic logic of their claim: they viewed both transactions as merely yielding an increase, with legitimate trade generating profit at the beginning of an exchange and usury generating its profit at the end of a deferred term (أيسر التفاسير للجزائري, 1/ 269). The Quran dismantles this justification. It does not offer a technical economic rebuttal, but rather separates the two acts by absolute divine decree: "God has allowed trade and forbidden usury" (2:275).

What happens to those who consume Riba?

The Quran describes the physical resurrection of the usurer in visceral, unsettling terms. On the Day of Resurrection, those who take usury will rise up "like someone tormented by Satan’s touch" (2:275). The text explicitly links the practice to "wrongfully devouring other people’s property" and warns that an agonizing torment is prepared for those who reject the truth by continuing to extract interest after it was expressly forbidden (4:161).

The prohibition was revealed as a rigid, uncompromising boundary. As Ibn Kathir records, when the final verses of Surah Al-Baqarah concerning usury were revealed, the Messenger of God went out to the mosque, recited them to the people, and subsequently forbade the trade in alcohol (تفسير ابن كثير - ط ابن الجوزي, 2/ 282). This decisive moment underscored that the ban on usury was a total structural change to the community's finances. Believers are commanded not to consume interest "doubled and redoubled," a practice that exponentially trapped debtors, and are told that their prosperity depends entirely on remaining mindful of God instead (3:130).

For individuals already engaged in interest-bearing contracts when the warning arrived, the text provides a clear standard of transition. A person who stops taking usury upon hearing the prohibition "may keep his past gains," leaving his prior actions to God's judgment rather than facing retroactive confiscation (2:275). However, returning to the practice deliberately guarantees a permanent punishment, marking them as an inhabitant of the Fire. The command requires a total break from pending exploitation: believers must fear God and "give up any outstanding dues from usury, if you are true believers" (2:278).