Tafseer of The Women · An-Nisaa · 4:161
And [for] their taking of usury while they had been forbidden from it, and their consuming of the people's wealth unjustly. And we have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment.
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.
And His statement: "and their taking of usury (ribā)" — that is their taking of what they demanded as a surplus above their principal capital, on account of the surplus for the deferral in the term after its expiration. And I have already expounded the meaning of "al-ribā" earlier, in a manner that makes it unnecessary to repeat it.
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= "though it was forbidden to them" — that means: from taking usury (ribā).
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And His statement: "and their devouring the wealth of the people wrongfully (bi-l-bāṭil)" — by that is meant what they used to take as bribes (al-rushā) for [rendering a] judgment, just as Allah has described them therewith in His statement: And you see many of them hastening into sin and transgression and their devouring of the forbidden (al-suḥt); truly evil is what they used to do [Surah al-Māʾida: 62]. And among their devouring the wealth of the people wrongfully was what they used to take as prices for the writings that they wrote with their own hands, and concerning which they would then say: This is from Allah, and the like thereof of contemptible, filthy devourings. Allah punished them for all of that with His prohibition upon them of what He forbade them of the good things that had previously been permitted to them.
And Allah described them therewith only as devouring what they devoured of the wealth of the people in that manner wrongfully (bi-l-bāṭil), because they devoured it without right and took their wealth from them without it being due to them.
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And His statement: "and We have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment (ʿadhāb alīm)" — that means: and We have made for those who disbelieve in Allah and in His Messenger Muḥammad ﷺ from among these Jews, the painful punishment = which is the agonizing one = of the punishment of Hell (jahannam) with Him, which they shall enter in the Hereafter when they arrive before their Lord, whereupon He shall punish them therewith.
