Sadqa and Riba

Sadqa and Riba

People who follow the orders and way of arrangements of the Holy Qur’an are well aware of the fact that most of the times the Qur’an joins together two different and opposite things, presenting a far-reaching effect and suitability between different verses. Discussing with comparison the heaven with hell, Muslims with Kuffar, monotheism with polytheism, darkness with divine light, guidance and directives with deviation from the right path is a unique order of Holy Qur’an. Those who study the Qur’an and other religious books witness these facts in the Holy book and also in their real life. The combination of these different and opposite things gives an eloquent description of facts. Moreover, the warnings do not create hopelessness, and promises of reward do not create inaction and false hopes.

In Surah-e-Baqra of the Quran discusses both Sadaqa (charity) and Riba (interest) one after the other under the same order of Qur’an. The first verses deal with the importance and supremacy of Sadqa. Immediately after are mentioned the collective and individual losses caused by Riba, vicious reasoning of usurers, their mental and psychological state and the announcement of war against them by Allah and His Messenger. It is clearly defined that Allah decreases the wealth of one who takes interest and increases the wealth of one who gives Sadaqah. One who receives interest thinks that interest increases his wealth while Sadqa decreases. Many people who see only the apparent state of interest-takers are caught in their trap but they don’t know that Allah Almighty says that wealth is increased by Sadqa and decreased by interest. This reality is far away from the approach of interest-takers because their wisdom. When one’s wisdom is crippled then how can he understand these realities? It may be noted here that there are two types of wisdom or insight: One that only sees the quick result of something. Two, that sees the end and ultimate result of something. We are discussing here the second type of wisdom which is not enjoyed by those who have a lust for rupees and dollars. Wherever the Holy Quran addresses the people of wisdom, it actually means the people having the second type of wisdom.

Decrease in the interest and increase in Sadqaat happen in various ways:
1) The bank balance and lockers of the interest-takers is full of wealth but as soon as he meets the end of life, he sees that his account for the life hereafter is empty. There is no good deed in his account but there is a pile of sins. On the other hand, those who believed in Sadaqah and Khairaat and followed the divine orders during their life would see that Allah has changed their little amount Sadaqah into huge volume of good deeds in their account. They earned millions of good deeds against what they gave in shape of Sadaqa and Khairaat. This increase and decrease would be visible on the Last Day.

2) The interest-taker has a lot of money and wealth but without any blessing. Such wealth gives him no peace of mind and comfort in the life, but brings about restlessness, sleepless nights, disobedient wife, stubborn children, mismanagement in the house and a number of incurable physical, mental and psychological problems. Since such a person is Allah’s detested person, other human beings also hate him in his life.

On the contrary, those who give away part of their earnings as Sadqaat and Khairaat enjoy Allah’s blessings and love from other human being. It is claimed and believed that those who extend Sadqaat and Khairaat are never found poor and they never experience hard time in their life. Giving in the way of Allah gives unending luxury and wealth. Such a person is dear to Allah and human being as well. Hundreds of thousands of poor people pray for his well-being and long life.

3) Though, there is always a possibility or fear of profit and loss in any business, there has never been an incident that could prove that a person who had his bread buttered on both sides yesterday, nose-dived and lost everything. However, it is evident that those who borrowed/lent money with un-Islamic conditions, lost their wealth forever and become beggars. Capital earned through interest appears to be increasing but there is no blessing of Allah in it. Hazrat Muammar (radhi Allahu ‘anhu) says: “Our ancestors used to say that interest-taker does not see forty years of his interest business and experiences losses.”

Actually Sadaqa and Riba are two opposite systems. There is no similarity in these systems as far as morality and Shari‘ah are concerned. Sadaqah is a show of kindness, purity and cooperation while interest is a show of selfishness, corruption and miserliness.
There is never a thought of taking back the thing given in Sadqa while under interest-based system, one always thinks of taking back the money along with additional charge.
A person who are in the practice of giving Sadqah and Khairaat feels for others and in most cases he gives away his own morsel to the other person. But an interest-taker waits for such a situation that someone would face hard time and he would take benefit of it. Countries, which extend loans to the developing or poor countries facing difficult time due to war or famine, never miss the opportunity of taking benefit of the plight of the poor countries. They extend loans with heavy charge of interest.

Such people are worse than animals. Such countries are never desirous of pulling the poor or under-developed countries out of financial crisis but they want to turn the poor into poorer in order to increase their capital. Such countries make policies that bring every citizen, man, woman, elderly person and child under the burden of heavy debt. Regret to mention, we are witnessing such a situation in our beloved country. Under the Islamic system of finance the borrower is given time to repay the loan and the lender never puts pressure on the borrower, so long as he is not in a position to repay the loan. Islam directs to write off the loan if the debtor is not in a position to repay, as long as his financial state is not changed.

According to Abu Harira (radhiallahu ta‘ala ‘anhu), Muhammad (sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam) said that a Muslim who helps removes any other Muslim’s problem, Allah Almighty would remove any of his problem on the Last Day.”

Those who take/give interest would never understand such Ayaat and Hadiths because their hearts are sealed and they only see the lust of illegally earned wealth. They always wait for the bad time so that they could take benefit of people’s difficulties.

Today when almost the entire world is raising voice against the interest-based system of economy, it is the duty of our rulers and governments to come forward and help the oppressed come out of the curse of interest. The day the Muslims would implement the Riba-free system, they would get rid of hefty foreign debts which are a product of the interest system.


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