On the Payment of Riba' Assalamo-alaykum: I am trying to catch up with the responses after returning from Pakistan and sincerely commend your efforts. In responding to this issue you stated that "taking interest" is totally prohibited in Islam and that Prophet also condemned "giving interest" but only later. You also wrote that given the state of affairs it may be difficult to totally avoid giving interest in the current economic system.... I disagree with this approach and having lived in US for almost ten years, would like to put this scenario in context for you. There is almost never a situation where your rent is more than the monthly or yearly mortgage you have to pay on a property. This would thus mean that it is a very exceptional and extremely rare situation where there may be an extreme hardship if one chooses not to buy. In Islamic gatherings here in USA this question is probably more common than the one about "the beard". People would go Fatwa shopping anywhere until they get the desirable response. The organizations who lend you money are the same ones who are responsible for propagating this interest-based sickness worldwide. The former president of World Bank has written a book that explains how these large banks in the west are the ones partly responsible for the demise of third world economies. Just because we have this desire to "own" and not live or do business in a rented or leased property, we would even go to the extreme of loaning money form these institutions so that we can pay them interest for next 25 to 50 years. Don't you think this is very much against the primary purpose of Islam i.e. Tazkia-e- Nafs? Muslim groups in North America have come up with interest-free home buying system and may be one should look for something like this if so overcome with "the desire to own". Qur'an and Sunnah are clear about "Riba" as you stated. There may be a rare situation where it might be necessary for someone to engage in this "dhallalah" when there is extreme hardship, but otherwise this practice should be as strictly discouraged as recommended by our Prophet (PBUH). One who is living in the west may already be considered privileged given all these physical benefits; can't we just suppress this "desire to own" just a little bit? Reply I do appreciate that all these points that you have mentioned provide strong reasons to avoid taking Riba -based loans. But the fact remains that nothing can be termed as prohibited on the basis of logical reasoning alone. We need clear directions in the Qur'an or the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh) to term something prohibited. It is quite clear that taking Riba , in contrast to, for instance, lying is a two-way transaction. That is, one cannot take Riba , unless somebody is willing [or forced] to pay Riba . It is this transactional aspect of Riba , due to which, payment of Riba is brought under the scope of Islamic discussion. Keeping this explanation in perspective, it should be clear that payment of Riba or, in other words, securing a Riba -based loan can sometimes come under the scope of "co-operating in a sin". This is so because every case of payment of Riba shall consequently mean taking Riba by the other party of the transaction. And taking Riba , according to the Qur'an, is a major sin. In view of this fact, it is my opinion that securing a Riba based loan should be avoided as much as possible, as this might in many cases result in "co-operating in a sin". Furthermore, I also believe that when providing for a necessity of life is only possible through a loan, a person may not be left with any option besides securing that loan and thereby providing for this necessity. In such a situation, it may be hoped that such an action will, inshallah , not be considered "co-operating in a sin". Because of the lack of feasible options available to the individual, in question. As far as the question regarding whether a particular expenditure may or may not be considered a necessity of life is concerned, it is only the particular individual who can answer this question. A guiding principle in this respect may be that the provision of all the "needs" be considered expenditures on necessities. On the other hand, all expenditures on luxuries or on items that only make life "more comfortable" be considered expenditures on "non-necessities", for which, Riba -based (or for that matter, even non- Riba -based) loans should be avoided. I hope this helps. In case any aspect remains unclear, please feel free in writing back to me at your convenience. Regards The Learner