Sunday 3 July 2016

Are there any injunctions against Riba/usury in religious texts other than Holy Quran?

The following references against the prohibition of Riba/usury are drawn from the old testament of the bible17: Deuteronomy 23:19: "Thou shall not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of anything that is lent upon usury." Psalms 15:1, 2, 5: "Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness and speaketh the truth in his heart. He that putteth not out of his money to usury, nor taketh reward against the innocent." Proverbs 28:8: "He that by usury and unjust gain increaseth his substance, he shall gather it for him that will pity the poor." Nehemiah 5:7: "Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and rules and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them." Ezekiel 18:8.9: "He that hath not given forth upon usury, neither hath taken any increase, that hath withdrawn his hand from iniguity, hath executed true judgment between man and man, hath walked in my statues, and hath kept my judgments, to deal truly; he is just. He shall surely live, said the Lord God." Ezekiel 22:12: "In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and though hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by extortion, and hast forgotten me, said the Lord God." In these excerpts of the Bible the word usury is used in the sense of any amount claimed by the creditor over and above the principal advanced by him to the debtor. The word riba used in the Holy Qur'an carries the same meaning because the verse of Surah An-Nisaa (4-161) explicitly mentions that riba was prohibited for the Jews also.

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