different papers on contemporary banking dealings, and—after reflecting on what had been presented and holding a focused discussion that exposed the harmful effects of those practices on the stability of the world economy, especially in the countries of the Third World—it resolved that: every increment (“interest”) demanded from a debtor whose term has fallen due but is unable to pay, in exchange for granting him additional time, and likewise every increment (“interest”) stipulated on a loan from the very outset of the contract, are two forms of ribā unequivocally forbidden by the Sharia.

The Islamic Research Academy in Cairo likewise issued a collective legal opinion, as did the First World Conference on Islamic Economics in Makkah and the Conference on Islamic Jurisprudence in Riyadh. Jurists, economists, and legal experts participating in all these gatherings agreed that such interest is the prohibited ribā.

There are also fatwas from leading Muslim scholars—among them Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ibrahim Āl al-Shaykh, Shaykh ʿAbd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn Humayd, Shaykh ʿAbd al-Aziz ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Baz, Shaykh Abu al-Aʿla al-Mawdudi, Shaykh Muhammad ʿAbd Allah Daraz, Shaykh Abu Zahrah, and Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. All of these, and many others, have written and clarified that bank interest is forbidden and is nothing but the very ribā prohibited by the Law.

None but a willful opponent—someone seeking to undermine Islam and its rulings, whether out of personal inclination or for some fleeting worldly gain for which he has sold his religion—contests or argues about this. We ask Allah for well-being.

3. The two hadiths show that anyone who helps facilitate usury—such as the one who records the contract or the one who witnesses it—shares the same sin and guilt as the person who actually concludes the usurious deal and benefits from it. Allah the Exalted says: “And do not cooperate in sin and aggression” (al-Maʾidah 5:2).

4. They further demonstrate that engaging in usury and assisting in it are among the gravest sins, for a curse is only pronounced upon a major offense.