– and that both counter-values be taken possession of by the two parties before they disperse.
• Ribā al-nasīʾah (usury through deferment) is: selling a commodity that is measured by volume for another commodity measured by volume on a deferred basis or without immediate possession—even when the two commodities are of different kinds; and likewise selling a commodity weighed by weight for another weighed commodity on a deferred basis or without immediate possession. The one exception to this rule is the salam (forward-sale) contract.
The gravest form of this category is the rolling-over of debts, which Allah condemned in His words: “Do not consume interest, doubled and multiplied” (Āl ʿImrān 3:130). The practice is that when the debt falls due, the creditor says to the debtor, “Either you pay what you owe me now, or you increase the amount you owe.” Thus the debt of the insolvent person is multiplied many times over with neither real benefit nor productive use—despite the fact that Allah has obliged the creditor to grant respite to the insolvent, as He says: “And if someone is in hardship, then deferment until ease [is required]” (al-Baqarah 2:280).
Whether this rolling-over is done openly or through some contrived device whose sole purpose is to enlarge what the debtor owes, the ruling is the same.
These are the people whom Allah has threatened with the severest warning: “Those who consume usury (1) will not stand [on the Day of Resurrection] except as one stands whom Satan has driven to madness by his touch” (al-Baqarah 2:275). They will rise from their graves panic-stricken and disoriented, their movements disturbed, because they know what lies ahead of them—alarming upheavals and punishing torments prepared for those who devour usury. Allah has proclaimed war against them along with His Messenger if they do not repent, and whoever is at war with Allah and His Messenger is bound to be humiliated. Even if such a person enjoys a period of respite, his ultimate fate is obliteration and ruin. Allah says, “Allah obliterates interest and causes charity to grow” (al-Baqarah 2:276), and He says, “Whatever you give as interest to increase the wealth of people, it will not increase with Allah” (al-Rūm 30:39).