—with great concision (1). Had ribā applied to every commodity sold by measure or by weight, he would have said: “measure for measure and weight for weight,” for this would have been broader, briefer, and clearer. Since he specified particular commodities, we must not go beyond what he said or beyond what the sunnah has established. This is, in fact, a strong argument.

Ibn ʿAqīl, one of the followers of Imam Ahmad, who was not among the literalists but rather among those who relied on underlying meanings and analogy, said: Ribā applies only to the six categories, because the scholars differed over the effective cause. Once they differed, their views cancel one another out, and we must return to the decisive position: that ribā is restricted to these six categories. Thus, he held that ribā applies only to the six categories, though his basis differed from that of the Ẓāhirīs.

However, the sounder view is that the Sacred Law cannot, in general, distinguish between two like things, for it is a perfected law from One who is All-Wise, All-Aware, and analogy is established within it. What difference is there between wheat exchanged for wheat and rice exchanged for rice? Rice may not have existed during the time of the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, but the Lawgiver cannot distinguish between like things. Nevertheless, we restrict the effective cause to the narrowest possible scope, because the basic ruling is permissibility,