Consuming usury and what is reported on it

Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The one who consumes usury (riba) and the one who feeds it to others are equal in sin.

Ka'b al-Ahbar said: That I commit fornication thirty-three times is dearer to me than that I consume a single dirham of usury. When I consume that usury, my Allah knows that I am consuming usury.

Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The one who consumes usury (riba) and the one who feeds it to others are equal in sin, as are the one who writes down usurious dealings and the one who stands witness to them, when they know about it; and the woman who tattoos and the woman who has herself tattooed for beautification, and the one who delays paying the charity due, and the one who reverts to Bedouin life after his emigration: all of them have been cursed by the blessed tongue of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him).

Sayyiduna Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: All the doors of usury (riba) have been shut upon you. Yet you desire the things it has forbidden. (You seek them.)

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The one who consumes usury (riba), the one who feeds it to others, the one who writes its transactions and the witnesses have been cursed."

Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: If the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) had explained three things for us, that would have been dearer to me than the world and everything in it: first, the caliphate; second, kalalah (that is, a deceased person who has neither children nor parents); and the third thing is usury (riba).

Amir said: I heard Sayyiduna al-Nu'man bin Bashir (may Allah be pleased with him) delivering a sermon, as he pointed with his finger to his ears. He said: I heard the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) (with these very ears); he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "The lawful is clear and the unlawful is clear, and between them are some doubtful matters. Whoever guards himself from the doubtful matters has kept his religion and his honour clean and free of blame. And whoever falls into the doubtful matters falls into the unlawful, just like a shepherd who grazes his animals around a protected pasture: sooner or later they will enter the pasture. Beware, every king has a protected pasture, and Allah's protected pasture is the things He has forbidden. Beware, in the body there is a piece of flesh; if it becomes sound, the whole body becomes sound, and if it becomes corrupt, the whole body becomes corrupt. Listen, it is the human heart."

Sayyiduna Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) said: A single dirham of usury (riba) is worse before Allah Almighty than committing fornication thirty-six times.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "Usury (riba) has seventy sins, the least of which is that a man commits fornication with (marries) his own mother, and the greatest usury is that a man assaults the honour of his brother."

Amir said: I read in the letter of the people of Najran; it was written in it: "If you consume usury (riba), there will be no peace treaty between you and us." And the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not make peace with those who consume usury.

Sa'id bin Jubayr (may Allah have mercy on him) said, in the explanation of the Qur'anic verse "Those who consume usury (riba) will not stand except as one stands whom Satan has driven to madness by his touch" [Al-Baqarah: 275]: These people will be raised on the Day of Resurrection insane, and they will be choked.

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Abu Juhayfah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the one who consumes usury (riba) and the one who feeds it to others.

Al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) said: Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) delivered a sermon. He praised and glorified Allah Almighty and then said: I command you to do certain things that may perhaps not be beneficial for you, and I forbid you certain things that may perhaps be beneficial for you. Indeed, the last covenant that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took from us concerned the verse of usury (riba). The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) departed from this world without explaining its details to us. Indeed, this is usury and it is also doubtful. So leave what is doubtful and take up what is not doubtful.

Whenever al-Sha'bi (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about something, he would say: "This is usury (riba) and it is also doubtful, so leave usury and the things that cause doubt."

Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: I fear that, in trying to keep away from usury (riba), we may go ten times further into it.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Yazid al-Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) gave four thousand dirhams to a slave of his and sent him off. He went to Isfahan and traded until he had twenty thousand dirhams. Then the slave died. Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) was told that the slave used to mix usury (riba) into his trade, so he took back only four thousand and left the rest of the money, not taking it.

Sayyiduna Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: Usury (riba) has more than seventy doors, and polytheism (shirk) is likewise.