Another example is the saying of Mālik ibn Dīnār:

“People say, ‘Mālik is an ascetic.’ The true ascetic is ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz, to whom worldly riches came, yet he renounced them.”

Similar expressions are used when people attach great importance, in their beliefs and aims, to something bearing a particular name. They desire either its presence or its absence, believing that it truly deserves that name. It is then explained to them that the reality of that meaning belongs to something else, not to it, and that their beliefs and aims ought instead to be directed toward that other thing.

An example of this is the saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“The Muslim is one from whose tongue and hand Muslims are safe. The emigrant is one who abandons what Allah has forbidden. The believer is one whom people trust with their lives and property. And the one who strives is one who personally strives for Allah’s sake.”

Another example is His saying, Most High:

“The believers are only those whose hearts tremble when Allah is mentioned,”

through to His words:

“Those are the believers in truth.”

These are the ones who truly deserve this name by fulfilling its obligatory requirements.

Other examples include the sayings, “There is no knowledge except that which benefits,” and “There is no city without sovereign authority.” Another is the saying of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace:

“There is no usury except in deferred exchange,”

or:

“Usury is only in deferred exchange.”

For usury in its general form, encompassing both exchanges between two different kinds and exchanges within a single kind whose qualities are identical, occurs only with deferment. As for usury involving unequal amounts, it occurs only within a single kind, and no one engages in it unless the qualities differ—as when exchanging coined metal for uncoined metal, or good quality for poor quality. But when the qualities are identical,