Tafseer of The Cow · Al-Baqara · 2:275
Those who consume interest cannot stand [on the Day of Resurrection] except as one stands who is being beaten by Satan into insanity. That is because they say, "Trade is [just] like interest." But Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest. So whoever has received an admonition from his Lord and desists may have what is past, and his affair rests with Allah. But whoever returns to [dealing in interest or usury] - those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide eternally therein.
Important: The Arabic source text is always authoritative. This translation is a study aid and has not been verified by scholars — do not use it as a basis for religious proof or for deriving rulings (ahkam). When in doubt, always consult the Arabic text and a qualified scholar.
The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ الرِّبَا لا يَقُومُونَ إِلا كَمَا يَقُومُ الَّذِي يَتَخَبَّطُهُ الشَّيْطَانُ مِنَ الْمَسِّ
(Those who consume usury (ribā) will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By this He, exalted is His praise, means: those who practice usury.
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And "al-irbāʾ" is the increasing of something. Of this one says: "so-and-so has exceeded so-and-so" when he has more than him; "yurbī irbāʾan," and the increase is "al-ribā." And "something has grown (rabā)" when it increases beyond what it was and becomes great; "fa-huwa yarbū rabwan." And the hill is called "rābiya" only because of its increase in size and its rising above the level land surrounding it, derived from their saying: "rabā yarbū." And from this comes the expression: "so-and-so is in the rabāwa of his people," by which is meant that he enjoys eminence and standing among them. The root meaning of "al-ribā" is therefore rising and increase. Then one says: "so-and-so has arbā," that is, he has made his wealth rise, when he made it increase. And the one who practices usury is called "murbin" only because of his doubling of the wealth that he was owed by his debtor at the due date, or because of his increase upon it in exchange for the postponement he grants him, by which he increases it until the term that he allows him before his debt upon him falls due. And for this reason He, exalted is His praise, said: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَأْكُلُوا الرِّبَا أَضْعَافًا مُضَاعَفَةً [Āl ʿImrān: 130]. (O you who believe, do not consume usury, multiplied in multiples.)
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
6235 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, who said concerning the usury that Allah has forbidden: In the time of ignorance (jāhiliyya) a man would be owed a debt by another, and then he would say: "For you is such-and-such if you grant me postponement!" And then he would be granted postponement.
* — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
6237 — Bishr related to me, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda: The usury of the people of the jāhiliyya was that a man would sell something for a fixed term, and when the term fell due and his debtor had nothing with which to pay, he would increase the amount and grant him postponement.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, therefore said: Those who practice the usury that we have described in the world — "they will not stand" in the hereafter from their graves — "except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness," by which He means: he who in the world is driven mad by the devil, and that is the one who is throttled and cast down by him — "min al-mass," by which is meant: by the insanity.
And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
6238 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to me, saying: Abū ʿĀṣim related to us, on the authority of ʿĪsā, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid concerning the saying of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: "Those who consume usury will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness" — on the Day of Resurrection, because of consuming usury in the world.
6239 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Abū Ḥudhayfa related to us, saying: Shibl related to us, on the authority of Ibn Abī Najīḥ, on the authority of Mujāhid, the like of it.
6240 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Al-Ḥajjāj ibn al-Minhāl related to us, saying: Rabīʿa ibn Kulthūm related to us, saying: My father related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās: "Those who consume usury will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness," he said: That is when he is raised up from his grave.
6241 — Al-Muthannā related to me, saying: Muslim ibn Ibrāhīm related to us, saying: Rabīʿa ibn Kulthūm related to us, saying: My father related to me, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr, on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, who said: On the Day of Resurrection it is said to the consumer of usury: "Take up your weapon for war," and he recited: "They will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness," he said: That is when he is raised up from his grave.
6242 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Jarīr related to us, on the authority of Ashʿath, on the authority of Jaʿfar, on the authority of Saʿīd ibn Jubayr: "Those who consume usury will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness," the verse; he said: The consumer of usury is raised up on the Day of Resurrection insane, throttled.
6243 — Bishr related to us, saying: Yazīd related to us, saying: Saʿīd related to us, on the authority of Qatāda, his saying: "Those who consume usury will not stand," the verse; and that is the mark of the people of usury on the Day of Resurrection: they are raised up with the madness of the devil in them.
6244 — Al-Ḥasan ibn Yaḥyā related to us, saying: ʿAbd al-Razzāq informed us, saying: Maʿmar informed us, on the authority of Qatāda concerning his saying: "They will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness," he said: It is the derangement of mind by which the devil drives him mad.
6245 — It was related to me on the authority of ʿAmmār, saying: Ibn Abī Jaʿfar related to us, on the authority of his father, on the authority of al-Rabīʿ concerning his saying: "Those who consume usury will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness," he said: They are raised up on the Day of Resurrection with the madness of the devil in them. And in a certain reading it stands as: (لا يَقُومُونَ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ) (They will not stand on the Day of Resurrection).
6246 — Al-Muthannā related to us, saying: Isḥāq related to us, saying: Abū Zuhayr related to us, on the authority of Juwaybir, on the authority of al-Ḍaḥḥāk concerning his saying: "Those who consume usury will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness," he said: Whoever dies while consuming usury is raised up on the Day of Resurrection staggering, like him whom the devil has struck down with madness.
6247 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Those who consume usury will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness," by which is meant: by the insanity.
6248 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: Ibn Zayd said concerning his saying: "Those who consume usury will not stand except as he stands whom the devil has struck down with madness," he said: This is their likeness on the Day of Resurrection: they will not stand together with the people on the Day of Resurrection, except as among the people there stands he who is throttled, as though he is throttled, as though he is insane.
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Abū Jaʿfar said: And the meaning of His saying: "whom the devil has struck down with madness through al-mass" is: whom He deranges in mind through his touch of him. Of this one says: "the man has been touched (mussa) and seized (uliqa), so he is mamsūs and maʾlūq," in all these cases when madness afflicts him and he becomes insane. And from this comes the saying of Allah, mighty and exalted is He: إِنَّ الَّذِينَ اتَّقَوْا إِذَا مَسَّهُمْ طَائِفٌ مِنَ الشَّيْطَانِ تَذَكَّرُوا [al-Aʿrāf: 201] (Indeed, those who are God-fearing, when an impulse from the devil touches them, they remember), and from this comes the saying of al-Aʿshā:
And she appears in the morning after the night journey, as though a madness (awlaq) from a roving jinn has afflicted her.
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If a speaker were to say to us: What is your judgment concerning one who practices in his trade the usury that Allah has forbidden, but does not consume it — does this one deserve the threat of Allah?
Then it is answered: Yes. And the intent of usury in this verse is not the consuming, except that those concerning whom these verses were revealed, on the day they were revealed, derived their food and their sustenance from usury. Therefore He named them by their characteristic, by which He presented the matter of usury among them as grave, and depicted the state in which they were regarding their sustenance as hideous. And in His saying, exalted is His praise: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ * فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا فَأْذَنُوا بِحَرْبٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ [Surah Al-Baqarah: 278-279], the verse (O you who believe, fear Allah and abandon what remains of usury, if you are believers. And if you do not do so, then know that there is war from Allah and His Messenger), there is that which announces the correctness of what we have said about this: that the prohibition of Allah herein applied to all the meanings of usury, and that practicing it, consuming it, taking it, and giving it are equal, as has been abundantly transmitted in the reports of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, in his saying:
6249 — "Allah has cursed the consumer of usury, the one who feeds it to others, the one who records it, and its two witnesses, when they are aware of it."
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The explanation of His saying: ذَلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا إِنَّمَا الْبَيْعُ مِثْلُ الرِّبَا
(That is because they said: Trade is only like usury.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: By "that" He, exalted is His praise, means: that with which He has described them, namely their standing on the Day of Resurrection from their graves, like the standing of him whom the devil has struck down with madness on account of the insanity. He, exalted is His mention, therefore said: This which We have mentioned will befall them on the Day of Resurrection of the hideousness of their state, and the terror of their standing up from their graves, and the evil that overtakes them — that is because in the world they used to lie and fabricate and say: "Trade" — which Allah has permitted for His servants — "is only like usury." And that is because those who used to consume usury among the people of the jāhiliyya, when the wealth of one of them fell due upon his debtor, the debtor would say to the creditor: "Grant me postponement in the term, and I will increase your wealth." And when they did that, it was said to the two of them: "This is usury which is not permitted." And when that was said to them, they said: "It makes no difference to us whether we increase at the start of the sale, or at the falling due of the wealth!" Thereupon Allah declared them liars in their saying and said: وَأَحَلَّ اللَّهُ الْبَيْعَ (And Allah has permitted trade).
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The explanation of the saying of the Exalted: وَأَحَلَّ اللَّهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا فَمَنْ جَاءَهُ مَوْعِظَةٌ مِنْ رَبِّهِ فَانْتَهَى فَلَهُ مَا سَلَفَ وَأَمْرُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَمَنْ عَادَ فَأُولَئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ (275)
(And Allah has permitted trade and forbidden usury. Whoever then a admonition from his Lord reaches and he ceases, for him is what is already past, and his affair rests with Allah. And whoever returns — these are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein they are abiding forever.)
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means: And Allah has permitted the profits in trade, buying and selling — "and He has forbidden usury," by which is meant: the increase that is granted to the owner of the wealth on account of his granting postponement to his debtor in the term, and his deferral of his debt upon him. He, mighty and exalted is He, says: The two increases, one of which is from the side of the sale and the other from the side of the deferral of the wealth and the increase in the term, are not equal. And that is because I have forbidden one of the two increases — and that is the one which is from the side of the deferral of the wealth and the increase in the term — and I have permitted the other of the two, and that is the one which is from the side of the increase above the capital with which the seller bought the merchandise that he sells, and the surplus of which he retains as profit. Allah, mighty and exalted is He, therefore said: The increase from the side of the sale is not the equal of the increase from the side of usury, for I have permitted sale and forbidden usury, and the command is My command and the creation is My creation; I dispose of them as I will and set them to servitude with what I desire. None of them has the right to oppose My judgment, nor to resist My command; upon them is only My obedience and submission to My judgment.
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Then He, exalted is His praise, said: "Whoever then an admonition from his Lord reaches and he ceases," by which He means by "the admonition": the reminder and the warning with which He admonished them and made them fearful in the verses of the Qurʾān, and with which He announced to them the punishment on account of their consuming usury. He, exalted is His praise, says: Whoever then that reaches, "and he ceases" from consuming usury and restrains himself from practicing it and lets himself be deterred from it — "for him is what is already past," by which is meant: what he has consumed and taken and what has passed, before the coming of the admonition and the prohibition of his Lord concerning it — "and his affair rests with Allah," by which is meant: and the affair of its consumer, after the coming of the admonition of his Lord and the prohibition, and after the cessation of the consumer from consuming it, rests with Allah in His protection and His guidance: if He wills, He protects him from consuming it and confirms him in his cessation from it, and if He wills, He forsakes him in that — "and whoever returns," He says: and whoever returns to consuming usury after the prohibition, and says what he used to say before the coming of the admonition of Allah with the prohibition, namely his saying: إِنَّمَا الْبَيْعُ مِثْلُ الرِّبَا (Trade is only like usury) — "these are the inhabitants of the Fire, therein they are abiding forever," by which is meant: those who do that and say it, they are the inhabitants of the Fire, that is, the Fire of Hell (jahannam), abiding therein forever.
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And in accordance with what we have said about this, the exegetes have spoken.
Mention of who said that:
6250 — Mūsā related to me, saying: ʿAmr related to us, saying: Asbāṭ related to us, on the authority of al-Suddī: "Whoever then an admonition from his Lord reaches and he ceases, for him is what is already past, and his affair rests with Allah" — as for "the admonition," that is the Qurʾān, and as for "what is already past": for him is what he has consumed of usury.
