economic thought in the qur"àn and sunnah 53explicitly in the New Testament, is prohibited. Early Christian
jurists were against it and any person obstinately declaring it was
not a sin was to be punished as a heretic (see for example Tawney,
1980). Luther also persistently condemned it; Calvin was the first
major Christian writer to accept interest as legitimate. In Calvin’s
view interest was lawful providing that it did not exceed a fixed
maximum and the terms to the poor were interest-free. Calvin’s
advocacy of interest is ruled out, in the view of Muslims, by the
teaching of early Christian jurists. Notably, Muslims believe in
Judaism and Christianity as two divinely inspired religions.Types of Ribà
Ribàcan be classified into two main types: Ribàal-Qur"àn, or loan
Ribà, and Ribàal-Sunnah, or commodity Ribà.
First: Loan Ribà
Loan Ribà is referred to in the Islamic literature in various terms
that are used interchangeably:
Ribàal-Jahiliyyah: referring to Jahiliyyahas being the period before
Islam, the period of ignorance,
Ribàal-Duyun, also Ribàal-Qurùd: duyunand qurùdmeans loans,
Ribàal-Nasì"a: meaning Ribàassociated with the payment period,
and
Ribàal-Qur"àn: Ribàthat has been stated in the Qur"àn.
All these terms refer to the same type of Ribà, which is stated in
the Qur"àn as discussed above with no need for repetition. The only
loan that is acceptable in Islam therefore is the free-interest loan, al-
qard al-Œassan, the benevolent loan, (qardin Arabic means loan, and
al-Œassan, in this context, means benevolent,)
Second: Commodity Ribà, or Ribàal-Buyù"
This is the Ribàthat has been stated in the Sunnah, not in the Qur"àn.
It might arise as a result of exchanging commodities: (a) with or (b)
without, a delayed period. This Ribàis divided into two types:
(a) Ribà that results from exchanging an object, or a commodity,
with another object of the same type, or same commodity, with
an immediate delivery for an increase in quantity. This type of