Tradition

"شَرُّ الْمَكاسِبِ كَسْبُ الرِّبا"

The Prophet (S) is narrated to have said: “The worst wealth which one can gain is that of usury (Riba).”

"إذا أَرادَ اللّهُ بِقَوم هَلاكاً ظَهَرَ فِيْهِمُ الرِّبا"

Imam al-Sadiq (‘a) is narrated to have said: “Whenever God wishes to destroy a nation, usury becomes conspicuous amongst them.”1

Brief Commentary

In spite of the widespread prevalence of usury in our world today and the seemingly addictive dependence of the world economy upon it, there is no question that usury as a system ends up destroying the society in which it is allowed to exist. Usury causes wealth to accumulate in an unnatural way in the hands of a few individuals and this unjust division is the root of various societal and ethical ills.

• 1. Taken from the book: Wasa’il al-Shi’ah, vol. 12, pgs. 426 and 427.