Usury is lending money at interest. In the Russian language, there was once another name for this term - covetousness.
How does Christianity view usury?
In the Christian understanding, profit that is obtained without labor is called sinful. That is why usury, as well as profit from rent, was previously perceived negatively. The usurers make people voluntary slaves, as a result of which the course of our evolution is delayed. The usurers prevent God from speeding up our progress.
Historical sources show that most religious leaders at various times wanted to eliminate the social injustice that interest charges provoke, and offered advice or announced a ban on receiving such interest. The people understood that it was shameful to profit from the misfortune of others. By lending, according to Christianity, the usurer gets richer, giving in return the wealth of his soul (kills the soul). Anger, cruelty grows in the soul. A person who gives a loan is sick, and represents only the appearance of a person, in fact, he kills himself, his conscience, closes his ears and eyes.
Making such a profit negatively affects the usurer himself, since he sins against God. He makes a profit on time, and God created him. Disposing of what he did not create, and at the same time accumulating material wealth, the usurer takes away the privileges of higher powers, turning them against people.
What is Islam's view of usury?
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Usury is strictly prohibited by Islam. The Qur'an says that whoever violates this prohibition starts a war against Allah.
The lexical meaning of the word usury (riba) is multiplication, increase. The Islamic code of laws designates riba as a person's borrowing of property or money, an increase in his capital at the expense of the debtor (not only the borrowed amount, but also interest). This additional income can be expressed in money, property, opportunities and services.
Even Islamic banks do not provide interest rates on borrowed money. Share the profit with the client. To do this, use two options for making a profit: non-fixed and fixed income.
Types of usury:
- postponed growth (riba - an - nasia);
- growth on the margin (riba - al - fadl).
The reason for the prohibition of usury in Islam is related to the fact that usurers cause social, economic and moral harm to their people:
- because of him, enmity flares up between people, relations of cooperation and mutual assistance are broken;
- the emergence of a stratum of the population parasitizing on someone else's grief, which enriches itself without laboring - like parasites and weeds that live at the expense of others;
- usury is similar to colonialism;
- Taking money from people without providing compensation is a sin.
How does Judaism view it?
In Judaism, lending money at interest to fellow believers and compatriots is prohibited: "If you lend money to the poor of my people, then do not oppress him and do not impose growth on him." There are no such restrictions for foreigners of other faiths: “exact from a foreigner, but forgive what your brother will have”, “you will lend to many nations, but you yourself will not borrow; and you will rule over many nations, but they will not rule over you. " However, these verses were subsequently interpreted by authoritative Jewish sages, such as Maimonides, as allowing a percentage to be charged from non-Jews in case of dire need.