Tafseer of The Family of Imraan · Aal-i-Imraan · 3:131
And fear the Fire, which has been prepared for the disbelievers.
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 His word: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لا تَأْكُلُوا الرِّبَا أَضْعَافًا مُضَاعَفَةً وَاتَّقُوا اللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ (130) (O you who believe, do not consume usury (ribā), multiplied manifold, and fear Allah, that you may be successful) (130).
Abū Jaʿfar said: He, exalted is His praise, means by this: O you who believe in Allah and His Messenger, do not consume usury (ribā) in your Islam, after He has guided you to it, as you used to consume it in your time of ignorance (jāhiliyya).
Their consuming of it in their time of ignorance was as follows: a man among them would have a debt owed to him by another up to a fixed term, and when the term expired, he would demand it from the debtor; then the one who owed the debt would say to him: defer my debt and I will give you more above your original amount. And the two of them would do that. That, then, is the "usury multiplied manifold," and Allah, mighty and exalted, forbade it to them in their Islam. As:
7823 — Muḥammad ibn Sinān related to us, saying: Muʾammal related to us, saying: Sufyān related to us, on the authority of Ibn Jurayj, on the authority of ʿAṭāʾ, who said: Thaqīf used to lend money to the Banū al-Mughīra in the time of ignorance, and when the term expired, they would say: we will give you more and you defer? Then it was revealed: "Do not consume usury, multiplied manifold."
7824 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq, who said: "O you who believe, do not consume usury, multiplied manifold," that is to say: do not consume in Islam, now that Allah has guided you to it, what you used to consume when you were still following another path — of that which is not permitted to you in your religion.
7825 — Muḥammad ibn ʿAmr related to us, 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 word of Allah, mighty and exalted: "O you who believe, do not consume usury, multiplied manifold," he said: the usury of the time of ignorance.
7826 — Yūnus related to me, saying: Ibn Wahb informed us, saying: I heard Ibn Zayd saying concerning His word: "Do not consume usury, multiplied manifold," he said: my father said: usury in the time of ignorance consisted in multiplication and in the age (of the livestock). A man would have an outstanding debt, and when the term expired he would come to the debtor and say to him: pay me or give me more? If the latter had something with which to pay, he would pay; and if not, then he would shift it to the age above — if it was a one-year-old she-camel (ibnat makhāḍ), he would in the second year make it a two-year-old (ibnat labūn), then a three-year-old (ḥiqqa), then a four-year-old (jadhaʿa), then a five-year-old (rabāʿī), and so on upward; and in the case of ready money (al-ʿayn) he would come to him, and if he had nothing he would double it for him in the following year; and if he then had nothing he would double it again, so that it became a hundred and he would make it two hundred for the following year; and if he had nothing he would make it four hundred — each year he would double it for him, or the other would pay him. He said: that, then, is His word: "Do not consume usury, multiplied manifold."
As for His word "and fear Allah, that you may be successful," by it He means: and fear Allah, O believers, in the matter of usury, so that you do not consume it, and also in everything else that He has commanded you or forbidden you, and obey Him therein; "that you may be successful," that is to say: that you may succeed and thereby escape His punishment, and attain that to which He has urged you of His reward and the eternal abode in His gardens. As:
7827 — Ibn Ḥumayd related to us, saying: Salama related to us, on the authority of Ibn Isḥāq: "And fear Allah, that you may be successful," that is to say: so obey Allah, that you may perhaps escape that against which He has warned you of His punishment, and attain that to which He has urged you of His reward.