faiths and philosophies.^9 Muslims are taught that participating in the
culture and practice of interest (charging interest on lending money, bor-
rowing with interest, and witnessing contracts that involve interest) is di-
vinely prohibited (haram) and is one of the worst sins by the Islamic—
that is, the Judeo-Christian-Islamic—laws (the term that will be used
throughout this book for Judeo-Christian-Islamic law is Shari’aa, ‘‘the
Law’’). The act of borrowing money with interest (riba) is not a socially
and religiously acceptable behavior. In a typical Muslim society, borrow-
ing money and paying interest is only reserved for meeting a dire need,
and it is socially considered a shameful act.
Charging interest is also divinely prohibited in Judaism and Christian-
ity. It is important to study, learn, and reflect upon the history of the prohi-
bition of interest from the original teachings of Moses (pp) in the Torah
(Jewish Bible) and the teachings of Jesus (pp) in the Christian Bible with an
eye toward how these attitudes developed into the more relaxed practices of
today. A more appropriate and credible approach to studying the charging
of interest in Judaism and Christianity is to ask an adherent to each faith
who is an expert in the financial field to summarize the position and the
original teachings of his/her faith on the charging of interest, and then to
discuss how these clear Judeo-Christian-Islamic injunctions that prohibited
the charging of interest were modified and reconstructed to become the cur-
rent acceptable practice of charging interest. In March 2002, the Board of
Directors of LARIBA in Pasadena, California invited a Jewish rabbi, a Cath-
olic professor, and a Protestant professor to author and present papers on
the subject.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE JUDEO-CHRISTIAN-
ISLAMIC FOUNDATIONS OF FAITH
The following is a brief summary of the building blocks needed to develop a
unified understanding of our approach and to study various religions and
their position on charging interest:
The Book
Jews: People of the Jewish faith abide by the Jewish Bible, which is
called the Torah and is referred to in the Qur’aan. The people of
the Jewish faith believe that it is the book revealed by God to
Prophet Moses (pp). It is considered to be the main source of the
Jewish law.16 THE ART OF ISLAMIC BANKING AND FINANCE