"And because of their charging riba while they were prohibited from it.

" [An-Nisaa 4:161]

Riba means interest and in islam interest is prohibited and in quran it is mentioned clearly. The taqi
usmani mentioned the quran verses regarding riba in there book to provide the relevant
informations to the readers and to guide the muslims and other people who read this book about
the riba and the words of allah and prophet regariding riba with the help of quran and sunnah.

On 14 November 1991, the Federal Shariah Court (FSC) of Pakistan gave its judgement that interest
in all its forms is riba and strictly prohibited by the holy Quran and Sunnah. The Supreme Court (SC)
of Pakistan gave the verdict on 23 December 1999 to uphold the FSC judgement confirming the
rejection of the interest-based economy of Pakistan. The SC suggested some measures and
parameters to the government for expunging interest from the economy and financial sector of
Pakistan by 30 June 2001. The Text of the Historic Judgment on Interest Given by the Supreme Court
of Pakistan is a book to provide an overview on prohibition of riba and it is a landmark verdict given
to uphold the above mentioned principle.

Generally, the prohibition of riba is commonly known among many people. However, not everyone
has a clear understanding on how it started and why is it prohibited. Most people know that riba is
prohibited and the practice of it will not lead in favor of Allah SWT. However, the implementation of
non-riba transactions is hardly practiced in our modern financial system. In general, this book will
answer the earlier questions by providing the reader with evidences as well as relevant examples
which are associated with the current practice in our modern financial era.

On the whole, the book provides the reader an insight into the interpretation of riba according to
the Al-Quran and Sunnah. Firstly, as this book is supported by relevant Quranic verses and evidence,
therefore, it delivers clear understanding on riba based on the several Quranic verses. The first
Quranic verse that mentions riba is Surah Al-Rum verse 39. It was took place in Makkah and the
verse stated that when people practice riba, even though it (riba) will increase their wealth, in sight
of Allah SWT it (riba) did not change anything. In contrast, if they pay for Zakah, it will be rewarded
by Allah SWT. The book mentions that this simply means that the practice of riba is not in favor of
Allah SWT. Despite this, there are a few comments from other scholars that the riba stated in the
verse is referring to usury or interest. It said that it is meant as gift offered by someone with the
intention of having greater returns later. After that, the next verse in regards to riba is Surah Al-Nisaa
verse 161, however, the exact time of the verse is difficult to ascertain. The previous verse before
Surah Al-Nisaa verse 161 mentioned about the list of evil deeds of Jews. They used to take riba
which was prohibited for them. Most of the Jews had left Madinah after 4th year from Hijrah. It is
believed that riba in the verse was referring to usury or interest because it was really prohibited for
the Jews. This prohibition is still contained in Old Testament of the Bible and among the verses are
Deuteronomy 23:19, Psalms 15:1, 2, 5, Proverbs 28:8, Nehemiah 5:7, Ezekiel18:8.9, and Ezekiel
22:12.

Next is Surah Ali Imran verse 130, the verse was revealed sometime in the 2nd year after Hijrah
because the context of it refers to the battle of Uhud. This verse contained a clear prohibition for
Muslim and it is said to be the first verse in express terms to forbid the practice of riba for Muslims.
In the event of Uhud battle, the invaders of Makkah had to finance their army by taking usurious
loans and this may induce Muslims to do the same thing too. It was may induce the Muslims to
arrange for arms on the same pattern by taking usurious loans from the people. In order to prevent
them from this approach the verse was revealed containing a clear-cut prohibition of riba.

Another point that has been discussed in this book is on the meaning of riba. Actually, there is no
specific elaboration on riba that had been recorded, however, according to Imam Abubakar al-
Jassas, riba that is known and practiced by the Arabs was that they used to advance loan for a
certain term with an agreed increase on the amount of the principal advanced. He also mentioned
that riba al-jahiliyyah is a loan given for stipulated period with a stipulated increase on principal
payable by the loanee.

In the other hand, according to Imam Fakhruddin al-Raazi, riba al-nasiah is also one type of riba
practiced by the people of Jahiliyyah when they used to give money with a condition that they will
charge a particular amount monthly and the principal will remain due as it is. Then on maturity date,
they demanded the debtor to pay the principal. If he failed, they would increase the term and
payable amount.

There is an argument about riba al-jahiliyyah on whether the practice of Arabs is the riba stipulated
in Quran or not. The riba stipulated in Quran is the transaction in which no increase used to be
stipulated at the time of advancing a loan. However, if the debtor could not pay the principal
amount at the time of maintaining, the creditor used to offer two options either to pay principle or
to increase the amount in exchange of additional terms. Here, we can conclude that riba al-jahiliyyah
is the riba related to loan or debt transaction.

Another type of riba that occurs during commercial transactions is called riba al-fadl. Riba al-fadl is
referring to certain barter transactions which might lead the people to indulge in riba. This was
illustrate in the hadith, “Gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley, 3 date for
date, salt for salt, must be equal on both sides and hand to hand. Whoever pays more or demands
more (on either side) indulges in riba”. Here, we can identify that the Prophet (pbuh) mentioned
about the six ribawi items which are gold, silver, wheat, barley, date and salt together with the
conditions to transact it. The Prophet (pbuh) felt that, given the commercial atmosphere at that
time, the Arabs used the mentioned ribawi items as a medium of exchange to purchase other things.
Therefore, the Prophet (pbuh) foresaw that certain deal might lead to riba and hence to be in line
with Islamic teaching, certain conditions on transaction involving the ribawi items must be met.

There are certain criteria expounded by the Muslim jurists in the light of the Quran and Sunnah to
determine the magnitude of necessity and the extent to which a Quranic command can be relaxed
on the basis of an emergent situation. Therefore, before deciding an issue on the basis of necessity
one must make sure that the necessity is real and not exaggerated by imaginary apprehensions and
that the necessity cannot be met with by any other means than committing an impermissible act.
When analyzing the case of riba in the light of the above principles, there is a great deal of
exaggeration in the apprehension that the elimination of interest will lead the economy to collapse.
For a realistic analysis the consideration of domestic transactions and the foreign transactions must
be done separately. On top of that, the alternatives of riba financing through profit and loss sharing
and musharakah financing has also been mentioned in the book. Therefore, to position the practice
of riba in line with eating pork during the case of extreme hungry under the flagship of necessity is
not acceptable
By taking everything into account, the book is a must-read book to know the basis about riba in
detail. The case that was brought into the Supreme Court of Pakistan definitely had brought lots of
wisdom to enable further research and write up in regards to riba. This book, for instance, serves
many people in providing better understanding by providing interpretation of ‘riba’ term according
to Quran and Sunnah, basis of riba, consumption loan and commercial loans, classification and types
of riba, elaboration about riba al-jahiliyyah and riba al-fadhl, modern financial system and the
necessity of it and riba in modern financial system. These perhaps can benefit the ummah at large in
understanding and practicing the right order.

In the end, in islam the interest and the extra amount with demand or any agreements are not
allowed and those people who do this are not friend of allah and prophet. That’s why in Pakistan the
Islamic banking are introduced for those who are weird about this. in Islamic concept the money will
be offered either on humanitarian grounds to achieve a reward in the Hereafter, or merely to save
their money through a safer hand. As far as investment is concerned, there are several other modes
of investment like partnership which may be used for that purpose. The transactions of loan are not
meant for earning income.