of sprawling villages, towns, and cities. Larger commercial trading cara-
vans managed by money managers traded commodities and merchandise
products and manufactured goods. They needed money, not because they
were poor and needy, but because they wanted capital to help them grow
their business, finance the goods, and expand their commercial activities.
To resolve this demand for capital and to develop divine rules for financ-
ing without riba, Shari’aa, as prescribed in the Qur’aan and the tradition
of Prophet Muhammad (pp), expanded on the original teachings of the
Jewish and Christian Bibles. Prophet Muhammad (pp) was also a busi-
nessman and a money manager. He understood the need to finance trad-
ing and business activities. Islam presented an expanded Judeo-Christian-
Islamic set of rules concerning the financing of trade and business in the
seventh century. This expanded on the original teachings of Moses (pp)
and Jesus (pp) to develop a unique and complete Judeo-Christian-Islamic
law (Shari’aa) concerning finance. This law brought about a pioneering
new riba-free (RF) finance system that can be used for just, fair, and equi-
table RF banking and finance. The RF finance system makes credit avail-
able to all people without discrimination (to meet personal credit needs,
to finance commercial activities, and/or to finance business) and consid-
ers the ability to obtain credit to be a basic human right. This RF Judeo-
Christian-Islamic approach comes with an important goal in mind: to
bring about peace, justice, fairness, harmony, prosperity, peace of mind,
job opportunities, and mutual respect among all people of all faiths and
backgrounds, leading to a wonderful future of peace and happiness in the
whole world.
THE JUDAIC POSITION ON THE CHARGING
OF RIBIT (INTEREST): MONEY, LENDING,
AND INTEREST IN THE TORAH AND THE
JEWISH TRADITION^11
Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky leads a Jewish congregation in one of the suburbs of
Los Angeles, California. The Board of Directors of LARIBA contracted him
in March 2002 to author a paper that summarizes the prohibition of charg-
ing interest on loans in the Jewish tradition. The following is an abbreviated
summary of his work.^12
Loans to the Poor
Judaism’s teachings regarding lending money are all based upon the biblical
passage in Exodus, chapter 22, verses 24–26. The verses read as follows:
The Faith-Based Judeo-Christian-Islamic Foundation 21