Grave Danger of Riba:
Allah Wages War for the Liberation of the Economically Oppressed
The importance of this subject of the prohibition of riba can be discerned in yet another way. Allah, the Supreme, spoke with such forceful language concerning the sin of riba that it is, perhaps, the greatest sin (other than shirk) that exists in the realm of belief or conduct. Allah’s anger because of the oppression of riba is so great that the oppressors, who are already aware of their fate, will stand before Almighty Allah (SWT) after their resurrection as a people who appear to be driven to madness by the touch of Satan. Allah (SWT) will not simply punish such people, He will wage a war against them. That Almighty Allah (SWT) declared that He and His Messenger will wage war against those who persist in riba (Al-Baqarah 2:279), and that this statement should constitute the last word from Allah, i.e., it forms the part of the very last Revelation, is indicative of the supreme importance Allah (SWT) attaches to this subject.
In the entire history of Divine Revelation, to the best of my knowledge, Almighty Allah (SWT) has never used such extremely strong language for anything else besides riba. If there was any lingering doubt in the mind of anyone concerning the supreme importance of this subject, it should now be dispelled.
Allah, the Almighty, indeed gave a tremendous demonstration to Bani Israel of His capacity to wage war over riba. And in so doing He taught a lesson which all of mankind should recall with fear! After the death of Hadrat Sulaiman (AS) the Israelites corrupted the Torah by rewriting it several times in several different versions. The Harvard-trained American Biblical scholar, Richard Friedman, has conclusively demonstrated this in his very important work entitled “Who Wrote the Bible?” (New York: Harper and Row, 1989).
The Israelites removed all references in the Torah to the temple (or masjid) built by Hadrat Ibrahim (AS) and Hadrat Isma’il (AS) in Arabia. The Kaaba and the Hajj are no longer to be found in the Torah! They also substituted all references to Hadrat Isma’il (AS) as the son of the sacrifice with the name of his brother Hadrat Ishaq (AS), even though Ishaq (AS) was not even born when the trial of the sacrifice took place. They substituted Arabia with Palestine as the place of the sacrifice. Zam Zam, the miraculous spring of water which sprang from the desert sand when Jibra’il (AS) rubbed his heel on the sand, now became a well in Palestine. They demonized Hadrat Isma’il (AS) and excluded him from Allah’s covenant so that they could claim exclusive title to being the chosen people of Allah.
But most dangerous of all was their corruption and willful distortion of the Divine prohibition against riba. They rewrote the Torah to make it permissible for money to be lent on interest to non-Jews while yet maintaining the prohibition against riba in intra-Jewish transactions (Deuteronomy 23:20-21)
Allah the Almighty responded to this heinous crime by sending against them one of His creatures who possessed mighty prowess in making war. The Babylonian King, Nebuchadnezzar, overran Palestine, defeated the Israelites, enslaved all those whom he captured, destroyed the Masjid Al-Aqsa which had been built by Hadrat Sulaiman (AS), and transported the Israelites as slaves back to Babylon (Al-Isra 17:4,5).
This was most certainly a powerful demonstration of Allah’s capacity to wage war. There was a second demonstration when the Roman Emperor, Titus, ravaged Jerusalem and destroyed the temple (or masjid) a second time (Al-Israr 17:7 & 104). This, also, was related to riba. Allah sent three Prophets — Zakariah (AS), Yahya (AS), and Isa (AS) — to the Israelites. That part of the Israelites who rejected these Prophets became known as Jews (or Al-Yahood).
Jews murdered Hadrat Zakariah (AS) inside of Masjid Al-Aqsa (Matthew 24:35, 36; Luke 11:51). They secured the beheading of Hadrat Yahya (AS) by way of deception. And they boasted of how they had killed Hadrat Isa (AS).
In all three instances the Prophets of Allah had attacked them and denounced them for their wickedness. This included their denunciation of the Jews for the crime of changing the Torah and for consuming riba. Hadrat Isa (AS), for example, went into Masjid Al-Aqsa and found them engaging in riba. He cursed them, turned over their tables, chased them out of the masjid and declared: “You have taken the house of Allah and transformed it into a den of thieves.” Thus it was because the Prophets of Allah exposed their wickedness of consuming riba, among other crimes, that they killed them (except for Hadrat Isa, whom Allah saved miraculously). Almighty Allah (SWT) responded by sending a Roman army which ravaged them.
The warning of a declaration of war from Almighty Allah (SWT) for the consumption of riba assumes even greater importance when we reflect over the fact that Allah (SWT) intervened to protect the first masjid (i.e., Kaaba) when Abraha came with his army of elephants to destroy it. (Al-Feel 105:1-5). Even when the Kaaba was filled with idols, Almighty Allah (SWT) still intervened to save it from destruction. And yet, even though there were no idols in the second masjid (i.e., Masjid Al-Aqsa), Almighty Allah (SWT) twice sent armies to destroy it. Such is the state of Divine anger over the oppression caused by riba.
There appears to be another startling implication of this aspect of the last Revelation, i.e., Allah’s declaration of war in connection with riba. The Qur’anic Revelation also clearly indicates that the believers will have to wage war for their liberation from the oppression of riba. There will be no other way. No amount of lectures and sermons will shake the foundation of the oppressors, or penetrate their hearts. Only a demonstration of power and a willingness to use any means necessary for its destruction will earn the Divine assistance necessary for a successful effort to dismantle the system of riba.
The Strong Language of the Prophet (SAW) on Riba
Finally, the Prophet (SAW) himself echoed the extreme gravity and dire warning in the Divine language by using the strongest possible language in connection with riba:
Abu Hurairah (RAA) said that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said:
“Riba is of seventy different kinds, the least grave being equivalent to a man marrying (i.e., having sexual intercourse with) his own mother.” (Ibn Majah, Baihaqi)
Abdullah Ibn Hanzala (RAA) reported that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said:
“A dirham (silver coin) of riba, which a man receives knowingly, is worse than committing adultery thirty-six times.” (Ahmad) Baihaqi transmitted it, on the authority of Ibn Abbas (RAA), with the addition that the Prophet (SAW) continued to say: “Hell is more fitting for him whose flesh is nourished by what is haram.”
Abu Hurairah (RAA) reported Allah’s Messenger (SAW) as saying:
“On the night I was taken up to heaven I came upon people whose bellies were like houses which contained snakes which could be seen from outside their bellies. I asked Jibra’il who they were and he told me that they were people who had consumed riba.” (Ahmad, Ibn Majah)
Abu Hurairah (RAA) reported that the Prophet (SAW) said: “Allah would be justified in not allowing four persons to enter paradise or to taste its blessings: he who drinks habitually, he who takes riba, he who usurps an orphan’s property without right, and he who is unmindful to his parents.” (Mustadrak Al-Hakim, Kitab al-Buyu’)
Samura Ibn Jundab (RAA) reported that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “This night I dreamt that two men came and took me to a holy land whence we proceeded on till we reached a river of blood, where a man was standing, and on its bank was standing another man with stones in his hand. The man in the middle of the river tried to come out, but the other threw a stone in his mouth and forced him to go back to his original place. Whenever he tried to come out the other would throw a stone in his mouth and force him to go back. I asked, ‘Who is this?’ I was told, ‘The person in the river was one who consumed riba.'” (Bukhari)
The Prophet (SAW) also reaffirmed the declaration of war from Allah and His Messenger in connection with the prohibition of riba in the following hadith:
Jabir Ibn Abdullah (RAA) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (SAW) say:
“If any one of you does not leave mukhabara he should take notice of war from Allah and His Messenger.” Zaid Ibn Thabit said: I asked: What is mukhabarah? He replied: “That you have the land for cultivation for a half, a third, or a quarter (of the produce).” (Abu Daud) (The danger here is that it leads deceptively to slave labor.)
It should be clear from the material presented above that the subject of the prohibition of riba is of supreme importance. Riba poses the gravest of all dangers to which the Ummah of the Prophet (SAW) is exposed today. Nearly every other danger pales into insignificance when compared with it. What, then, should we do about it?