He—may Allah have mercy on him—was asked:

A man holds a land grant that yields him four hundred irdabbs. He gives the farmers a cultivation advance of nearly two hundred irdabbs, which they record at seven hundred dirhams. Is this usury?

He replied:

Praise be to Allah. Every loan that brings a benefit is usury—for example, when someone enters into a sale or lease with the lender and gives him preferential terms because of his loan. The Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—said:

“It is not lawful to combine a loan with a sale.”

If someone lends another one hundred dirhams and sells him goods worth one hundred for one hundred and fifty, that increase is usury. The same applies if he lends him one hundred dirhams and employs him for two dirhams a day when his work merits three. Indeed, the practice of many master craftsmen, who lend money to their workers so that they will accept lower wages, is usury.

Likewise, if the fair rent for land, a house or a shop is one hundred dirhams, but he lets it for one hundred and fifty because of the one hundred he has lent the tenant, this is usury.

As for the “cultivation advance,” it is not purely a loan, for he stipulates as a condition of it that