Surah Al-Baqara (2) — Ayah 275

(Ayah 275) ➊ { اَلَّذِيْنَ يَاْكُلُوْنَ الرِّبٰوا … :} means that the usurers will rise on the Day of Resurrection in a state of madness and insanity. Even in this world, due to excessive greed, this is their condition. The literal meaning of { ”الرِّبٰوا“ } is to increase, to become more, as He said: «فَاِذَاۤ اَنْزَلْنَا عَلَيْهَا الْمَآءَ اهْتَزَّتْ وَ رَبَتْ » [الحج : ۵ ] “Then when We send down water upon it, it stirs and swells.” In the terminology of the Shariah, to take more than the principal amount by giving a loan is called riba. (Raghib) That is, to obtain more on a loan merely due to an extension of time without any financial compensation. (Ibn al-Arabi: 1/290)
The current banking system is also clearly based on interest. Savings accounts and PLS are clearly interest-based; although no interest is given on current accounts, the bank uses that money further on interest. Nowadays, there is much talk about Islamic banking, but scholars, including Hanafi scholars, have declared it based on interest-based tricks. Insurance is also a mixture of interest and gambling. Similarly, prize bonds are also a mixture of interest and gambling. One form of interest is the difference between cash and deferred prices; the business of installments is running in this way, although this amount is interest. For example, if a person says, “I will give you a loan of one thousand rupees, but I will take eleven hundred rupees from you,” what doubt is there in this being interest? Similarly, if an item whose price everyone knows is one thousand, and both the seller and buyer know it, then he sells it on installments for eleven hundred, so why is this not interest? Whether interest is taken for personal need or for business, when Allah has declared it haram, then every kind of interest is haram. If someone wants to avoid it, he must avoid not only clear interest but also interest-based tricks and doubtful transactions. See also Al-Imran (130).
➋ { ذٰلِكَ بِاَنَّهُمْ قَالُوْۤا اِنَّمَا الْبَيْعُ مِثْلُ الرِّبٰوا:} means that their condition will be so because they considered sale (bay‘), i.e., trade, to be like interest, and declared interest so lawful that they made the permissibility of sale dependent on its similarity to interest. According to Zamakhshari: “They considered sale to be similar to interest, in exaggeration of the permissibility of interest.” In the view of these wrongdoers, there is no difference between sale and interest, because both bring profit. Nowadays, the new enlightened but dark-hearted class influenced by the culture of the disbelievers also considers interest to be a business, although there are many clear differences between the two, the greatest and fundamental of which is that Allah has declared sale lawful and interest unlawful—how can both be equal? Moreover, one difference is that in trade there is both profit and loss, whereas in an interest-based loan, whether the borrower profits or loses, the usurer (whether an individual or a bank) must in all cases recover the full amount with interest, which will only increase in the future. Therefore, interest is the worst form of oppression and eating without right.
➌ {يَتَخَبَّطُهُ الشَّيْطٰنُ مِنَ الْمَسِّ:} The harm caused by Satan to a person, especially attacking his mind, is proven by many verses and hadiths, such as causing lapses and inciting anger. He said: «مِنْ هَمَزٰتِ الشَّيٰطِيْنِ» [المؤمنون : ۹۷ ] “from the incitements of the devils.” Leading astray and leaving bewildered, He said: «كَالَّذِي اسْتَهْوَتْهُ الشَّيٰطِيْنُ فِي الْاَرْضِ حَيْرَانَ » [الأنعام : ۷۱ ] “Like the one whom the devils have driven to madness in the land, bewildered.” Afflicting with pain or illness, He said: « اَنِّيْ مَسَّنِيَ الشَّيْطٰنُ بِنُصْبٍ وَّ عَذَابٍ» [صٓ : ۴۱ ] “Indeed, Satan has caused me great distress and pain.” Causing forgetfulness, He said: « وَ مَاۤ اَنْسٰىنِيْهُ اِلَّا الشَّيْطٰنُ اَنْ اَذْكُرَهٗ » [الکہف : ۶۳ ] “And none made me forget it except Satan that I should mention it.” The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Satan circulates in the human being like the circulation of blood.” [بخاری، الاعتکاف، باب زیارۃ المرأۃ … : ۲۰۳۸ ] In short! To deny that Satan can touch a human and make him insane is to deny the Qur’an and Hadith. However, I have not yet found any hadith or incident from the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) in which it is mentioned that Satan or a jinn entered a person’s body and spoke on his tongue; mere observation is insufficient evidence, because {’’ اَلْجَنُوْنُ فُنُوْنٌ ‘‘} i.e., there are many forms of madness. And Allah knows best!
➍ {فَلَهٗ مَا سَلَفَ وَ اَمْرُهٗۤ اِلَى اللّٰهِ:} means that after the command of the prohibition of interest, whoever refrains from interest, what he has already taken as interest will not be demanded from him, but the matter is left to Allah; He will decide based on his future conduct, regret, and repentance. Remember, this was at the time when the command of the prohibition of interest had not been revealed; now, knowing the prohibition of interest, if a person spends his whole life consuming interest and leaves it at the end, that wealth will not become his, rather he must return it to its owners as much as possible, and if he cannot return it, he must repent and seek forgiveness.
➎ { وَ مَنْ عَادَ فَاُولٰٓىِٕكَ اَصْحٰبُ النَّارِ:} This is a severe warning for the usurers. Jabir (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) cursed the one who consumes interest, the one who gives it, the one who writes it, and the witnesses to the interest-based transaction, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “They are all equal (in sin).” [مسلم، المساقاۃ، باب لعن أکل الربا و موکلہ : ۱۵۹۸ ] Some have interpreted {”وَ مَنْ عَادَ“} to mean that after it has been declared unlawful, if anyone still equates sale and interest and consumes interest considering it lawful, then such a person, since he is a disbeliever, has been declared to be in Hell forever. (Shawkani)