Overview (Verses 278 - 279)
 
Total War against the Usurers
 
Having evoked an atmosphere of calm and peace, the sūrah makes a final passionate appeal to the true believers to eradicate usury and rid their society of it completely, or face a relentless war waged against them by none other than God Almighty and His Messenger: “Believers, fear God and give up what remains outstanding of usury gains, if you are true believers. If you do not, then war is declared against you by God and His Messenger. If you repent, however, you shall remain entitled to your principal. Thus, you shall commit no wrong, nor suffer any wrong yourselves.” (Verses 278-279)
 
This passage makes the rejection of usury a condition of true faith; Muslims shall only become true believers when they fear God and reject any usury money they are owed. No faith could be claimed, even as a mere form of words, without total acceptance of, and submission to, God’s will and command. The Qur’ān is very explicit on this point and leaves no room for confusion. There is no chance for anyone wishing to declare their faith and belief in God verbally, only to adopt a way of life that is the antithesis of His laws and teachings. Those who separate religious belief from their daily affairs of life are deluding themselves if they think they are true believers, no matter how much they insist they are, or how regularly they observe religious rituals.
 
The sūrah exonerates Muslims of all previous dealings involving usury, making it clear that there would be no appropriation of property previously gained or acquired through usurious transactions. Islam has laid down an important rule that everything is permissible unless it is specifically declared otherwise, and no rules may be retroactively applied. Everything done previously would be suspended and left to God to judge and assess. Thus Islam ensured that the transition to a usury-free system was smooth and with little, if any, social or economic difficulty. Only very recently has this approach been incorporated into modern laws. Islamic legislation deals with practical human situations, while always aiming at purifying society and directing and promoting human progress and prosperity.
 
God also makes it a condition that Muslims, in order to be true believers, should accept this legislation and implement it in their daily life as soon as they become aware of it. The sūrah also stresses that fear of God and consciousness of Him are a necessary corollary to following His teachings and implementing His laws. This fear of God is an important safeguard for the enforcement of the laws and regulations, reinforcing the guarantees inherent in them. Thus, Islamic laws have a far better chance of being obeyed and adhered to than man-made laws. The enforcement of the latter is solely contingent upon the force of external authority which is easily evaded and circumvented in the absence of the inner incentives and convictions of a vigilant conscience.
 
The alternative is far more gloomy. “If you do not, then war is declared against you by God and His Messenger. If you repent, however, you shall remain entitled to your principal. Thus, you shall commit no wrong, nor suffer any wrong yourselves.” (Verse 279) What a terrifying prospect! How could the frail and powerless humans even contemplate going to war against God and His Messenger; the outcome is a foregone conclusion.
 
Following the revelation of these verses, the Prophet instructed his governor in Makkah to use force against the wealthy clan of al-Mughīrah if they refused to cease dealing with usury. In his farewell speech in `Arafāt, about three months before his death, the Prophet also declared that all usury originating in pre-Islamic times, and still due at the time, is written off, starting with that of his own uncle al- `Abbās. This crucial step in the transition into a fully-fledged, mature Islamic life came only many years after the start of the Islamic mission, when the ideological and ethical foundations of the society were firmly established.
 
In that speech, the Prophet said: “Every usury gain accrued according to the un- Islamic practices of jāhiliyyah is under my feet, and I start with that of al-`Abbās.” He did not, however, order repayment of any gains made during the pre-Islamic era.
 
Every Muslim ruler is required to combat usury and those who pursue it, even if they declare themselves to be Muslims. The Prophet’s successor, Abū Bakr, used force to crush groups of Muslims who, following the Prophet’s death, refused to pay the zakāt they owed to the Muslim treasury, without renouncing any other precepts or obligations of Islam. A person who refuses to implement God’s law, in daily life is certainly not a Muslim.
 
The war that God and His Messenger are ready to wage against the perpetrators of usury is much wider in concept than the use of armed force by a worldly ruler. It is a warning of a total condemnation of all societies adopting usury as a basis for their social and economic life. It is a war affecting the psychological, economic, and emotional aspects of life. It is the social strife, acrimony and antagonism brought about by the exploitative usurious system, as well as the regional and international conflict and instability suffered in consequence by all humanity. It is a war instigated, directly or indirectly, by moneylenders and international capitalists who, like sharks, prey on corporations, businesses, industries, commerce, governments and states. Their predatory activities are the root cause of runaway inflation, high taxation, crippling international debts, recession and poverty, all of which are capable of starting wars and fuelling bloodshed and destruction all over the world. The outcome of this vicious circle of misery is economic deprivation, moral degradation, social disintegration and the inevitable collapse of human civilization.
 
It is a relentless war that spares nothing, and it is currently eating into the very fabric of human society as a result of the domination of the usury-based capitalist system, even though this is registering astronomical levels of industrial production and material consumption. This unprecedented industrial and material success should have ensured man’s happiness, progress and well-being, but it has proved suffocating and destructive for all mankind, except for the small section of privileged financiers and capitalists, who are relatively unaffected by this misery and suffering.
 
Nevertheless, as it once called on that first community, Islam continues to call on every generation of mankind to desist from the evil of usury and adopt clean and wholesome monetary and commercial practices, assuring them that: “If you repent, however, you shall remain entitled to your principal. Thus, you shall commit no wrong nor suffer any wrong yourselves.” (Verse 279)
 
The objective of the persistent campaign against usury is to rid human society of this universal evil and take life back to God’s pristine way, that humanity may be spared the psychological, moral and social effects of the exploitation and injustice that inevitably set in under a usury-based socio-economic system.
 
Recovery of the principal capital in commercial dealings cannot be said to be unfair to either lender or borrower. There are countless legitimate ways and means for investment, growth and development of capital, employing one’s own entrepreneurial skills or by working in partnership with others, in which all parties proportionately share in the loss and profit of the enterprise. These would include many profitable and equitable forms of business such as trading in shares of companies whose profits are fairly distributed among the shareholders, cooperative banks that invest in commercial and industrial projects and share profits and losses among depositors, rather than give a fixed rate return on deposits — such banks would be entitled to charge appropriate service or management fees.