entirely abolished.” (1)
Muqatil said: It was revealed concerning four brothers from Thaqif: Mas‘ud, ‘Abd Yalayl, Habib, and Rabi‘ah, the sons of ‘Amr ibn ‘Umayr ibn ‘Awf al-Thaqafi. They used to extend interest-bearing loans to Banu al-Mughirah ibn ‘Abd Allah ibn ‘Umayr ibn Makhzum. When the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, prevailed over al-Ta’if, these brothers embraced Islam and demanded their ribā from Banu al-Mughirah. Banu al-Mughirah said, “By Allah, we will not pay ribā in Islam, for Allah Most High has removed it from the believers.” They brought their dispute before ‘Attab ibn Usayd, who was the Messenger of Allah’s governor over Makkah. ‘Attab ibn Usayd wrote to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with the account of the two parties. Since the sum involved was substantial, Allah Most High revealed: “O you who believe, fear Allah and give up what remains of ribā.” (2)
“If you are believers.”
“And if you do not do so”—that is, if you do not give up what remains of ribā—“then be warned of war from Allah and His Messenger.” Hamzah and ‘Asim, in the transmission of Abu Bakr, recited it with a lengthened vowel, fa-adhinu, on the pattern of aminu: that is, inform others that you are at war with Allah and His Messenger. Its origin is from udhun (ear), meaning, make it heard. The other reciters read fa’dhanu, without lengthening and with a fathah on the dhal: that is, know and be certain that there will be war from Allah and His Messenger.
Sa‘id ibn Jubayr related from Ibn ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with them: On the Day of Resurrection, the consumer of ribā will be told, “Take up your weapon for battle.” The scholars of interpretation said: Allah’s war is the Fire, and the Messenger of Allah’s war is the sword.
“And if you repent”—that is, if you cease to deem ribā lawful and turn back from it—“then you may keep your principal amounts: neither shall you wrong”—by demanding an increase—“nor be wronged”—by having anything deducted from the principal.
When the verse was revealed, Banu ‘Amr al-Thaqafi and others who had dealt in ribā said, “Rather, we repent to Allah, for we have no power to wage war against Allah and His Messenger.” Thus, they accepted the principal amounts. Banu al-Mughirah then complained of hardship and said, “Grant us a delay until the crops are ready.” But they refused to grant them a delay, so Allah Most High revealed: “And if the debtor is in hardship...”
That is, if the one who owes the debt is insolvent. The phrase is put in the nominative as the noun of kana, while its predicate is omitted; this is permissible with an indefinite noun. Thus, one may say, “If there is a righteous man, then honor him.” It was also said that kana here means “occurred,” in which case it requires no predicate. Abu Ja‘far recited “hardship” with a dammah on the sin.
“Then grant him respite”: this is a command expressed in the form of a statement; its meaning is, he must be granted a respite “until ease.” Nafi‘ recited “ease” with a dammah on the sin, while the others recited it with a fathah. Mujahid recited it in the construct form, with a dammah on the sin; its meaning is ease and abundance. “But if you remit it as charity”—that is, if you forgo your principal amounts for the insolvent debtor—“that is better for you, if only you knew.” ‘Asim recited “if you remit it as charity” with a lightened sad, while the others recited it with a doubled sad.
The Imam Abu ‘Ali al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Qadi informed us; Abu al-Tayyib Sahl ibn Muhammad ibn Sulayman informed us; Abu al-‘Abbas Isma‘il ibn ‘Abd Allah al-Mikali informed us; ‘Abd Allah ibn Ahmad ibn Musa ibn ‘Abdan, the hadith master, informed us; Abu Tahir Ahmad ibn ‘Amr ibn al-Sarh informed us; Ibn Wahb informed us from Jarir, from Hazim, from Ayyub, from Yahya.