sin and transgression. The Prophet ﷺ said, “Support your brother, whether he is an oppressor or an oppressed.” They asked, “O Messenger of Allah, we know how to support the oppressed, but how do we support the oppressor?” He replied, “Restrain him from his oppression—that is your support for him.”

So when a person needs cash, goes to a bank, and borrows ten thousand on the condition that he repay eleven thousand, the bank owner is accursed and the borrower is accursed upon the tongue of the noblest of creation, Muhammad ﷺ. And whose supplication is more likely to be granted than that of the Messenger? A curse (laʿn) is expulsion and banishment from the mercy of Allah. One who is cursed shares in Satan’s punishment, for Allah said to Iblis, “Indeed, the curse is upon you” [Q 15:35]. Likewise, the consumer of usury is cursed, and the one who facilitates it for him is cursed—both driven far from Allah’s mercy.

What he consumes, he consumes as illicit gain (suḥt), and any body nourished by illicit gain—Hellfire has the stronger claim to it. Moreover, the usury that enters your wealth strips it of blessing; Allah may keep visiting it with calamities until it is wiped out. Allah the Exalted says, “Whatever you give as usury to increase through people’s wealth will not increase with Allah” [Q 30:39].

As for the one who pays the usury, the reason he is cursed is that he helped bring it about. Should someone ask, “Is there repentance for a person who used to deal in usury and then Allah guided him?” we reply: Yes, repentance is open to him—who could stand between him and Allah’s forgiveness? But the repentance must be genuine and sincere: heartfelt regret for the sin and a firm resolve never to return to it.