Ribā in The Qur’an and The Bible: Comparative Legal-Ethical Perspectives on Economic Justice
Abstract
Abstract: The prohibition of ribā is a classic issue across religious traditions and remains relevant in contemporary debates on financial practice. This study aims to reinterpret the prohibition of ribā in the Qur’an and the Bible in order to formulate ethical and legal criteria applicable to modern financial instruments. Ma’na-cum-maghza is used as an approach to reinterpret the meaning of riba.. The first stage reconstructs the textual and contextual meanings of key verses. The second stage builds an analytic bridge through classical and modern exegetical findings. The third stage articulates the substantive message (maghzā) as a basis for evaluating financial practices. The findings show that the ethical core of the prohibition of ribā lies in the principle of neither wronging others nor being wronged. This principle rejects forms of interest or gain that are exploitative and that unduly burden debtors, while preserving the specificity of ribā as an ethical and legal category that cannot be reduced to a flat equivalence with interest. The study proposes practical indicators for assessing the ethical validity of contracts, which include fairness in exchange, proportionality between risk and return, protection of vulnerable parties, prevention of burdensome debt spirals, and transparency of information and costs. These results reaffirm the orientation of maqāṣid al-sharīʿah, with particular emphasis on the protection of wealth, and offer a cross-scriptural evaluative framework that can be adopted in the design of contemporary Islamic financial contracts and policies.
Abstrak: Larangan riba merupakan isu klasik lintas tradisi agama yang tetap relevan dalam diskusrsus praktik keuangan modern. Penelitian ini bertujuan menafsirkan ulang larangan riba dalam Al-Qur’an dan Alkitab untuk merumuskan kriteria etik-legal yang relevan bagi instrumen keuangan kontemporer. Metode yang digunakan adalah pendekatan hermeneutik maʿna cum maghzā untuk menafsirkan ulang maksud riba. Tahap pertama berupa rekonstruksi makna tekstual dan kontekstual atas ayat kunci. Tahap kedua berupa jembatan analitik melalui temuan tafsir dan komentar klasik serta modern. Tahap ketiga berupa perumusan pesan substantif (maghzā) sebagai dasar evaluasi praktik keuangan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa inti etis larangan riba terletak pada prinsip tidak menzalimi dan tidak dizalimi. Prinsip ini menolak bentuk bunga atau keuntungan yang bersifat eksploitatif dan yang memperberat beban debitur, serta tetap menjaga kekhasan ribā sebagai kategori etika dan hukum yang tidak dapat disamakan secara sederhana dengan istilah bunga. Studi ini menghasilkan indikator praktis untuk menilai keabsahan etis suatu kontrak yang mencakup keadilan pertukaran, proporsionalitas antara risiko dan imbal hasil, perlindungan bagi pihak yang rentan, pencegahan penggandaan utang yang memberatkan, serta transparansi informasi dan biaya. Temuan ini menegaskan orientasi maqāṣid asy-syarīʿah dengan penekanan pada perlindungan harta serta menawarkan kerangka evaluatif lintas teks suci yang dapat diadopsi dalam perancangan kontrak dan kebijakan keuangan syariah masa kini.
Full text article
References
Adasi-Bekoe, Joseph. “Combating the Downward Spiral of Poverty: Lessons from Leviticus 25:35-22 and Its Implications for Modern Day Poverty Alleviation Efforts of the Church.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, November 29, 2024, 2658–71. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.202451416.
Ahmad, Shaikh Mahmud. “JUDAISM AND INTEREST.” Islamic Studies 20, no. 1 (1981): 47–82. JSTOR.
Akbar, Irwan Ahmad, Ahmad Izzuddin, and Jamilah Jamilah. “Women’s Menstruation Is a Dirt: The Application of Ma’na-Cum-Maghza Approach in Qur’an.” In Proceedings of the 4th Annual International Conference on Language, Literature and Media (AICOLLIM 2022), edited by Rohmani Nur Indah, Miftahul Huda, Irham Irham, Muzakki Afifuddin, Masrokhin Masrokhin, and Deny Efita Nur Rakhmawati, 725:642–51. Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research. Paris: Atlantis Press SARL, 2023. https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-002-2_60.
Al Baihaqi, Muhammad Dzilfikri. “Unveiling the Implicit Message: A Comprehensive Exploration of Qur’anic Democracy Using Ma’na-Cum-Maghza Approach.” Jurnal Studi Ilmu-Ilmu Al-Qur’an Dan Hadis 23, no. 2 (July 2022): 391–416. https://doi.org/10.14421/qh.v23i2.4616.
Albarrán, Javier. “The Battles of the Umayyads. Remembering War from West to East.” Der Islam 100, no. 2 (October 2023): 346–69. https://doi.org/10.1515/islam-2023-0019.
Ali, Zezen Zainul, Annisa Wulandari, and Anwar M Radiamoda. “Qardh Implementation in Islamic Financial Institutions (LKS) and Advantage in Enterprise World.” Az-Zarqa’: Jurnal Hukum Bisnis Islam 14, no. 2 (October 2022): 221–41. https://doi.org/10.14421/azzarqa.v14i2.2592.
Bailey, Lloyd R. “Exodus 22:21–27 [Hebrew: 20–26].” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 32, no. 3 (July 1978): 286–90. https://doi.org/10.1177/002096437803200305.
Baranowski, Michał, Kamil Biały, Kamila Swinarska, Piotr Briks, Małgorzata Cieśluk, Danuta Okoń, Jerzy R. Pachlowski, and Uniwersytet Szczeciński, eds. Elites in the Ancient World. Szczecińskie Studia Nad Starożytnością, vol. 2. Szczecin: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Wydziału Humanistycznego US Minerwa, 2015.
Bayindir, Servet, and Murat Ustaoglu. “The Issue of Interest (Riba) in the Abrahamic Religions.” International Journal of Ethics and Systems 34, no. 3 (August 2018): 282–303. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJOES-09-2017-0148.
Becking, Bob, Alex Cannegieter, and Wilfred Van Der Poll. From Babylon to Eternity. 0 ed. Routledge, 2016. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315541235.
Biddle, Mark E. “The Biblical Prohibition Against Usury.” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology 65, no. 2 (April 2011): 117–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/002096431106500203.
Bird, Phyllis. “Of Whores and Hounds: A New Interpretation of the Subject of Deuteronomy 23:19.” Vetus Testamentum 65, no. 3 (August 2015): 352–64. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685330-12301200.
Carmichael, Calum. “Biblical Law and Literature.” In The Cambridge Companion to the Bible and Literature, 1st ed., edited by Calum Carmichael, 63–79. Cambridge University Press, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108386081.005.
Dalton, Krista. “Rabbis, Money, and Jewish Solidarity in the Roman Empire.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Money, edited by Joseph J. Tinguely, 455–79. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54136-0_24.
DeBloois, Nanci. “Coins in the New Testament.” Brigham Young University Studies 36, no. 3 (1996): 239–51. JSTOR.
Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī. Mafātīḥ Al-Ghayb. Vol. 11. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Turāth al-‘Arabī, 1999.
Gamoran, Hillel. “The Biblical Law against Loans on Interest.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies 30, no. 2 (April 1971): 127–34. https://doi.org/10.1086/372105.
Gvaryahu, Amit. “Usury and Poverty: A Case Study of the Post-Rabbinic Moment in Midrash and Piyyut.” Harvard Theological Review 114, no. 1 (January 2021): 72–95. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816021000067.
Halaby, Muhammad. “Riba According to The Al-Quran View: Thematic Tafsir Study About Riba Verses.” International Journal of Islamic Thought and Humanities 1, no. 1 (March 2022): 17–26. https://doi.org/10.54298/ijith.v1i1.12.
Hana, Rima Rayhana, Akhmad Dasuki, Munirah, and Muhammad Hafiz Badarulzaman. “Contextual Reading of Surah Al-Baqarah [2]: 222 with the Ma’na Cum Maghza Approach.” QOF 7, no. 2 (December 2023): 281–300. https://doi.org/10.30762/qof.v7i2.1725.
Hendel, Ronald. “The Exodus in Biblical Memory.” Journal of Biblical Literature 120, no. 4 (2001): 601. https://doi.org/10.2307/3268262.
Iqbal, Muhammad Mazhar, and Anwar Shah. “A Probable Reason for Qur’ānic Prohibition of Ribā: Dissimilarity of Price and Interest Rate as Equilibrating Variables.” Islamic Studies 63, no. 2 (June 2024): 241–53. https://doi.org/10.52541/isiri.v63i2.2847.
Ismā‘īl ibn ‘Umar ibn Kathīr al-Qurashī al-Dimashqī. Tafsīr Al-Qur’ān al-‘Aẓīm. Vol. 1. Riyadh: Dār Ṭayba, 2002.
Jafri, Syed Hussain Ali, and Lawrence S. Margolis. “The Treatment of Usury in the Holy Scriptures.” Thunderbird International Business Review 41, nos. 4–5 (July 1999): 371–79. https://doi.org/10.1002/tie.4270410405.
Jason, Seymour. “The Geography of Deuteronomy: Evidence for Moses’ Authorship.” Aletheias 4, no. 1 (2019): 179.
Jian, Y. “Economic Ethics in the Old Testament.” Interdisciplinary Studies of Literature 6, no. 4 (2022): 691–704. Scopus.
Jonker, Louis, Gideon Kotzé, and Christl M. Maier. The Forest and the Trees: The Place of Pentateuchal Materials in Prophecy of the Late Seventh/Early Sixth Centuries BCE. BRILL, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004353893.
Joshua Buch. “Neshekh and Tarbit: Usury from Bible to Modern Finance.” Jewish Bible Quarterly Dor Le Dor 33, no. 1 (2025). https://jbqnew.jewishbible.org/assets/Uploads/331/331_Neshech3.pdf.
Kim, Yung Suk. “Lex Talionis in Exod 21:22–25:- Its Origin and Context.” The Journal of Hebrew Scriptures 6 (March 2009). https://doi.org/10.5508/jhs.2006.v6.a3.
Klaus D. Issler. “Lending and Interest in The Ot: Examining Three Interpretations to Explain The Deuteronomy 23: 19-20 Distinction in Light of The Historical Usury Debate.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 59, no. 4 (December 2016): 761–89.
Korzo, Margarita A. “Restitution in the Catholic Moral Theology Before the Early Modern Times: Main Contexts.” Ethical Thought 24, no. 2 (December 2024): 47. https://doi.org/10.21146/2074-4870-2024-24-2-47-60.
Kugler, Robert A. “Holiness, Purity, the Body, and Society: The Evidence for Theological Conflict in Leviticus.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 22, no. 76 (December 1997): 3–27. https://doi.org/10.1177/030908929702207601.
Lambert, David. “Biblical Narrative as Ethics?: The Limits of Exemplarity in Ancient Jewish Literature.” Dead Sea Discoveries 28, no. 3 (October 2021): 423–47. https://doi.org/10.1163/15685179-bja10029.
Leal, Jônatas Mattos. “Loans, Debts and Interest: A Study on the Relevance of Deut. 23:19-20 for Christians Today.” PRÁXIS TEOLÓGICA 14, no. 1 (December 2018): e1593. https://doi.org/10.25194/2317-0573.2018v14n1.e1593.
Lumban Gaol, Christopher Panal, Gregory Hansrainer, and Bennett Rainey. “Bank Interest in Islamic Law.” At-Tasyrih: Jurnal Pendidikan Dan Hukum Islam 9, no. 1 (May 2023): 34–43. https://doi.org/10.55849/attasyrih.v9i1.149.
Malik, Muhammad Zaid. “The Impact of Zakāh and Ribā on Society: A Comparative Study.” ISLAMIC STUDIES 61, no. 3 (September 2022): 321–30. https://doi.org/10.52541/isiri.v61i3.2108.
Markl. “No Future without Moses: The Disastrous End of 2 Kings 22–25 and the Chance of the Moab Covenant (Deuteronomy 29–30).” Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 4 (2014): 711. https://doi.org/10.15699/jbibllite.133.4.711.
Meislin, Bernard J., and Morris L. Cohen. “Backgrounds of the Biblical Law against Usury.” Comparative Studies in Society and History 6, no. 3 (April 1964): 250–67. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417500002152.
Mually, M. Ajril, and Naser Ali Abdulghani. “Deconstruction in the Maʿnā-Cum-Maghzā Method and Linguistic Hermeneutics: A Comparative Analysis of Qur’anic Interpretative Approaches.” Al-Karim: International Journal of Quranic and Islamic Studies 2, no. 2 (August 2024): 185–208. https://doi.org/10.33367/al-karim.v2i2.4261.
Muhammad ibn Jarīr al-Tabarī. Jāmi‘ al-Bayān ‘an Ta’Wīl Āy al-Qur’Ān. Vol. 3. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 1998.
Muḥammad Jamāl al-Dīn al-Qāsimī. Maḥāsin Al-Ta’wīl. Vol. 5. Beirut: Dār Iḥyā’ al-Kutub al-‘Arabiyya, 1957.
Ndekha, Louis. “Luke’s Gospel and Greco-Roman Panegyrics: The Sermon on the Plain (LK 6:20-49) in Its Social Context.” PhD, University of Gloucestershire, 2020. https://doi.org/10.46289/RP76BS28.
Niditch, Susan. Ethics in the Hebrew Bible and Beyond. 1st ed. Oxford University PressNew York, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197671979.001.0001.
Qurṭubī, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Anṣārī al-. Al-Jāmi‘ Li-Aḥkām al-Qur’Ān. Vol. 3. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr, 2010.
Regev, Eyal. “Why Did the Early Christians Care about the Temple after 70 CE? The Case of the Gospel of Matthew.” In Contextualizing Jewish Temples, edited by Tova Ganzel and Shalom E. Holtz, 157–71. BRILL, 2020. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004444799_011.
Riḍā, Muḥammad Rashīd ibn ʿAlī dan Muhammad Abduh. Tafsīr Al-Manār. Vol. 6. Cairo: Al-Hayʾah al-Miṣriyyah lil-Kitāb, 2010.
Saeed, Abdullah. “Adapting Understanding of Riba to Islamic Banking: Some Developments.” In The Foundations of Islamic Banking, edited by Mohamed Ariff and Munawar Iqbal. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781849807937.00010.
Schoon, Natalie, and Julinda Nuri. “Comparative Financial Systems in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: The Case of Interest.” SSRN Electronic Journal, ahead of print, 2012. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2126503.
Sedlacek, Tomas. “Economics, Religion, and Ethics: Economics of Good and Evil.” In Market, Ethics and Religion, edited by Niels Kærgård, 62:85–100. Ethical Economy. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08462-1_6.
Segal, M. H. “The Book of Deuteronomy.” The Jewish Quarterly Review 48, no. 4 (April 1958): 315. https://doi.org/10.2307/1452696.
Smith, Christopher R. “The Literary Structure of Leviticus.” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament 21, no. 70 (June 1996): 17–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/030908929602107002.
Solahuddin, Ahmad, and Muhamad Ulul Albab Musaffa. “Qaṭ’ī-Dzannī Keharaman Riba Dan Bunga Bank: Kajian Heuristik Terhadap Ayat-Ayat Riba.” Asy-Syir’ah: Jurnal Ilmu Syari’ah Dan Hukum 53, no. 1 (April 2019): 86–113. https://doi.org/10.14421/ajish.v53i1.1598.
Stanley E. Porter. “The Use of Greek in First-Century Palestine: A Diachronic and Synchronic Examination.” Journal of Greco-Roman Christianity and Judaism 12, no. 1 (2016): 203–28.
Stein, S. “THE LAWS ON INTEREST IN THE OLD TESTAMENT.” The Journal of Theological Studies 4, no. 2 (1953): 161–70. JSTOR.
Stenschke, Christoph W. “The Prophet like Moses (Dt 18:15–22): Some Trajectories in the History of Interpretation.” Verbum et Ecclesia 42, no. 1 (April 2021). https://doi.org/10.4102/ve.v42i1.1962.
Syamsuddin, Sahiron. “MA’NA-CUM- MAGHZA APROACH TO THE QUR’AN: INTERPRETATION OF Q. 5:51.” Paper presented at International Conference on Qur’an and Hadith Studies (ICQHS 2017), Jakarta, Indonesia. Proceedings of the International Conference on Qur’an and Hadith Studies (ICQHS 2017), Atlantis Press, 2018. https://doi.org/10.2991/icqhs-17.2018.21.
Taeusch, Carl F. “The Concept of ‘Usury’ the History of an Idea.” Journal of the History of Ideas 3, no. 3 (June 1942): 291. https://doi.org/10.2307/2707306.
Toosi, Javad Fakhkhar. “Ribā and Paying Off Non-Stipulated Interest: The Capability to Become a Prevalent Custom (ʿUrf) in Islamic Society.” Arab Law Quarterly 38, no. 5 (June 2022): 546–78. https://doi.org/10.1163/15730255-bja10118.
Van Der Watt, Jan G. “You Must Love Your Neighbour as Well as Your Enemy: Love in Luke 6: 27-38 and 10: 25-37.” In Die Skriflig / In Luce Verbi 55, no. 1 (July 2021). https://doi.org/10.4102/ids.v55i1.2744.
Visotzky, Burton L. “Exodus in Rabbinic Interpretation.” In The Book of Exodus, edited by Thomas Dozeman, Craig A. Evans, and Joel N. Lohr, 535–62. BRILL, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004282667_023.
Walsh, Adrian. “Usury in Medieval Christianity.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Money, edited by Joseph J. Tinguely, 595–615. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54136-0_31.
———. “Usury in Medieval Christianity.” In The Palgrave Handbook of Philosophy and Money, edited by Joseph J. Tinguely, 595–615. Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-54136-0_31.
Watts, James W. “The Historical Role of Leviticus 25 in Naturalizing Anti-Black Racism.” Religions 12, no. 8 (July 2021): 570. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12080570.
———. “THE RHETORIC OF RITUAL INSTRUCTION IN LEVITICUS 1-7.” In The Book of Leviticus, edited by Rolf Rendtorff and Robert Kugler, 79–100. BRILL, 2003. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789047401643_007.
Wright, David P. “The Origin, Development, and Context of the Covenant Code (Exodus 20:23–23:19).” In The Book of Exodus, edited by Thomas Dozeman, Craig A. Evans, and Joel N. Lohr, 220–44. BRILL, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004282667_010.
Yazida Ichsan, Sahiron Syamsudin, Zalik Nuryana, and Sukiman. “Realizing Islamic Education Based on Religious Moderation with the Wasathiyah Islamic Paradigm from the Perspective of the Qur’an.” Jurnal Pendidikan Agama Islam 21, no. 1 (June 2024): 247–63. https://doi.org/10.14421/jpai.v21i1.9944.
Zaman, M. Badruz, Itmam Aulia Rakhman, and Ahmad Mundzir. “The Meaning of Jilbāb and Khimār in Contextual Interpretation: Integrating Gadamer’s Hermeneutics and Ulūm al-Qur’ān.” QOF 8, no. 2 (December 2024): 301–20. https://doi.org/10.30762/qof.v8i2.1381.
Zvi, Ron. “What Is It? Interpreting Exodus 16: 15.” Jewish Bible Quarterly 38, no. 4 (2010): 229–36.
Authors
Copyright (c) 2025 Khulafaur Rosidin, Ahmad Solahuddin
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.