Book 11: Business Transactions

Usama b. Zaid reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, "Credit involves usury.” In a version he said, "There is no usury when payment is made on the spot.” (Bukhari and Muslim.)

‘Abdallah, son of Hanzala who was washed by the angels*, reported God's Messenger as saying, "A dirham which a man knowingly receives in usury is more serious than thirty-six acts of fornication”. Ahmad and Daraqutni transmitted it. * Hanzala was killed at the battle of Uhud. The dead were buried without being washed, and as Hanzala is reputed to have been in a state of ceremonial impurity at the time, his family were anxious; so the Prophet (ﷺ) told them he had been washed by the angels. He is commonly called al-ghasil. In the text above the phrase used is ghasil al-mala’ika. Baihaqi transmitted in Shu'ab al-iman on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas with the addition that he said, "Hell is more fitting for him whose flesh is nourished by what is unlawful.”

Abu Huraira reported God’s Messenger as saying, "Usury has seventy parts, the least important being that a man should marry his mother.” Ibn Majah and Baihaqi, in Shu'ab al-iman

Ibn Mas'ud reported God’s Messenger as saying, "Even though usury be much it leads in the end to penury.” Ibn Majah and Baihaqi, in Shu'ab al-iman, transmitted it, and Ahmad also transmitted it.

Abu Huraira reported God's Messenger as saying, "On the night when I was taken up to heaven I came upon people whose bellies were like houses and contained snakes which could be seen from outside their bellies. I asked Gabriel who they were and he told me that they were people who had practised usury.” Ahmad and Ibn Majah transmitted it.

‘Ali said he heard God’s Messenger curse those who took usury, those who paid it, those who recorded it, and those who refused to give sadaqa; and he used to prohibit wailing. Nasa’i transmitted it.

‘Umar b. al-Khattab said: The last verse to be sent down was that on usury (Al-Qur’an 2:275) but God's Messenger was taken without having expounded it to us; so leave aside usury and whatever is doubtful. Ibn Majah and Darimi transmitted it.

Anas reported God’s Messenger as saying, "When one of you makes a loan and the borrower sends him a present or provides an animal for him to ride, he must not ride the one or accept the other unless it is a practice they followed previously." Ibn Majah and Baihaqi, in Shu'ab al-iman, transmitted it.

He reported the Prophet (ﷺ) as saying, "When a man makes a loan to another he must not accept a present." Bukhari transmitted it in his Ta’rikh, as is said in al-Muntaqa.

Abu Burda b. Abu Musa said: I came to Medina and met 'Abdallah b. Salam who said, "You are in a land in which usury is common, so when anyone owes you anything and presents you with a load of straw, or a load of barley, or a rope of lucerne grass, do not accept it for it is usury." Bukhari transmitted it.