and the other one is heavy, while the reverse is true of this one. So she says, “Let us not calculate the difference between us: take my bracelet, and I will take yours, and I waive the difference.” For example, her bracelet weighs ten ounces, whereas this one weighs fifteen ounces. The jurists say that a sale is an exchange of property for property, and what occurs in this case is an exchange. If they say, “But she waived the difference,” we reply: a waiver is not permissible when it results in committing something prohibited, and this results in something prohibited. If she wishes to give the jewelry to her sister free of charge, there is no objection. But when it is in return for compensation, and there is a disparity between them, it is prohibited; calling it a “waiver” does not make it permissible. Realities do not change when they are given different names. Otherwise, the disbelievers call wine “spiritual drink.” The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) referred to people who would drink wine while calling it by another name (1). Names do not alter the realities of the things they denote.

Thus, riba applies between all relatives. No one may engage in a usurious transaction with another, and there is no riba between any two people except between a master and his slave. In reality, transactions between a master and his slave are not genuine transactions; they merely take the form of a transaction, since the slave’s property belongs to his master.

His statement: “If someone is owed dinars by another person, and the latter pays them off in dirhams little by little” (2).