الرِّبا

USURY

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2– The Prophet (SAWA) said, 'During my Night-Journey up to the heavens, I was taken to a people whose bellies were as large as houses and contained serpents that could be seen from outside their bellies. I asked, 'Who are these people, O Gabriel?' He replied, 'They are the usurers.’
[Kanz al-`Ummal, no. 31857]

3– Imam al-Baqir (AS) said, 'The most despicable of profits is the profit earned from usury.’
[al-Kafi, v. 5, p. 147, no. 12]

4– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, 'The usurer only leaves this world after Satan has thrown him to the ground in defeat.’
[Tafsir al-`Ayyashi, v. 1, p. 152, no. 503]

5– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) said, 'A dirham earned by usury is worse in the sight of Allah than seventy counts of incest in the Holy Sanctuary of Allah.’
[Nur al-Thaqalayn, v. 1, p. 295, no. 1177]

6– Imam al-Sadiq (AS), when asked by Hisham b. al-Hakam about the reason behind the prohibition of usury, replied, 'Were usury to be permissible, people would abandon their trading and other necessities, so Allah prohibited usury in order that man may flee from the unlawful
[means of earning] to trade, and resort to buying and selling, and this in turn facilitates borrowing from each other.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 103, p. 119,no. 24]

7– When Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was asked the reason behind the prohibition of usury, he replied, 'So that people may not withhold common courtesy from each other.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 78, p. 201, no. 32]

8- Imam Ali (AS) said, 'Engage yourself firstly in communal relations with people, then the law, and subsequently trading, for by Allah, usury creeps into this community more discreetly than an ant creeps onto a rock.’
[Bihar al-Anwar, v. 103, p. 117, no. 16]

9– Imam Ali (AS) said, 'Whoever trades without knowledge of legal rulings gets involved in usury.’
[Nahj al-Balagha, Saying 447]

10– Imam al-Sadiq (AS) was once informed of a man who was extorting usury and calling it liba’ instead of riba (usury) to justify his actions, with regards to whom Imam said, 'If Allah gave me the power to, I would have him beheaded.’
[al-Kafi, v. 5, p. 147, no. 11]