Muwatta Imam Malik (Riwayat Yahya)

Imam Malik (may Allah have mercy on him) was informed that someone said to Sayyiduna Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him): A person lends grain to someone on the condition that it will be repaid in such-and-such city. He considered this disliked and said: Where will the cost of transportation go?

A man came to Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) and said: I lent a man some money and stipulated that he return it with something better. Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: This is riba (usury). He said: Then what do you command? Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) said: There are three types of loans: one is for the sake of Allah, in which there is Allah’s pleasure; one is for the happiness of your friend, in which there is your friend’s pleasure; and one is a loan in which you give lawful wealth and take unlawful wealth in return, and this is usury. Then the man said: Now what do you command me, O Abu Abdur Rahman? He said: In my view, it is appropriate that you tear up the document. If the person to whom you lent the money gives you back the same as you gave, then take it. If he gives you something worse and you take it, you will have a reward. If he, of his own accord, gives you something better, then he has thanked you, and you will have the reward for the time you gave him respite.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) used to say: Whoever gives someone a loan should not stipulate any condition except the repayment of the loan.

Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) used to say: Whoever gives a loan to someone, let him not stipulate anything extra from him, even if it is a handful of grass, for that is riba.

Imam Malik, may Allah have mercy on him, said: In our view, it is unanimously agreed that if a person lends an animal whose appearance and characteristics are known, there is no objection; the debtor should return an animal of the same kind. However, it is not permissible to lend a slave-girl, because this is a means of making the unlawful lawful. People would borrow each other's slave-girls, then have intercourse with them as long as they wished, and then return them to the owner. This is not lawful. The people of knowledge have always prohibited this and have never permitted it to anyone.