Riba, and the line this course does not cross

The prohibition on riba is serious and the report below is stark about it. It is in the text and this course is not going to pretend otherwise.

Here is what this platform will not do with it. It will not tell you whether your mortgage, your student loan, your overdraft, your credit card or a deferred payment arrangement falls under it. Which modern instruments do and do not is a large, live and genuinely contested field among qualified scholars, and it is not a question a course can answer for your situation.

There is a real pastoral point here too. Somebody sitting on an overdraft they cannot currently escape does not need this report fired at them in the middle of a crisis. Knowing the ruling is good. Being frightened out of dealing with the problem is not, and it is the avoidance in lesson five that does the actual damage.

So the honest instruction is a boring one. Ask a scholar you trust, once, about your actual situation, and take their answer. And note the other half of the same passage, which almost nobody quotes at anybody: if the debtor is in hardship, there must be postponement until ease.

The same applies to bankruptcy and formal insolvency arrangements. A great many Muslims assume those are impermissible and therefore never use remedies that exist for exactly their situation. Whether a given remedy is permitted is a scholar's question. Ask it rather than assuming the answer.

Qur’an and Sunnah

ٱلَّذِينَ يَأۡكُلُونَ ٱلرِّبَوٰاْ لَا يَقُومُونَ إِلَّا كَمَا يَقُومُ ٱلَّذِي يَتَخَبَّطُهُ ٱلشَّيۡطَٰنُ مِنَ ٱلۡمَسِّۚ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمۡ قَالُوٓاْ إِنَّمَا ٱلۡبَيۡعُ مِثۡلُ ٱلرِّبَوٰاْۗ وَأَحَلَّ ٱللَّهُ ٱلۡبَيۡعَ وَحَرَّمَ ٱلرِّبَوٰاْۚ فَمَن جَآءَهُۥ مَوۡعِظَةࣱ مِّن رَّبِّهِۦ فَٱنتَهَىٰ فَلَهُۥ مَا سَلَفَ وَأَمۡرُهُۥٓ إِلَى ٱللَّهِۖ وَمَنۡ عَادَ فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ أَصۡحَٰبُ ٱلنَّارِۖ هُمۡ فِيهَا خَٰلِدُونَ

But those who take usury will rise up on the Day of Resurrection like someone tormented by Satan’s touch. That is because they say, ‘Trade and usury are the same,’

Qur’an 2:275

يَٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُواْ ٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ وَذَرُواْ مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ ٱلرِّبَوٰٓاْ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤۡمِنِينَ

You who believe, beware of God: give up any outstanding dues from usury, if you are true believers

Qur’an 2:278

فَإِن لَّمۡ تَفۡعَلُواْ فَأۡذَنُواْ بِحَرۡبࣲ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦۖ وَإِن تُبۡتُمۡ فَلَكُمۡ رُءُوسُ أَمۡوَٰلِكُمۡ لَا تَظۡلِمُونَ وَلَا تُظۡلَمُونَ

If you do not, then be warned of war from God and His Messenger. You shall have your capital if you repent, and without suffering loss or causing others to suffer loss

Qur’an 2:279

وَإِن كَانَ ذُو عُسۡرَةࣲ فَنَظِرَةٌ إِلَىٰ مَيۡسَرَةࣲۚ وَأَن تَصَدَّقُواْ خَيۡرࣱ لَّكُمۡ إِن كُنتُمۡ تَعۡلَمُونَ

If the debtor is in difficulty, then delay things until matters become easier for him; still, if you were to write it off as an act of charity, that would be better for you, if only you knew

Qur’an 2:280

Jabir said that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) cursed the accepter of interest and its payer, and one who records it, and the two witnesses, and he said:They are all equal

Sahih Muslim 1598graded sound, sahihaynfull report

Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.