Forty Gems of Beauty — Page 103
103 “it shall be as if he had killed all mankind. ” 23 For murder without just cause not only leads to a long and offensive cycle of mutual vendetta but, at the same time, undermines feelings of respect for the law in the country. As a result of incidents of this kind, human conscience is frightened into a slow death. It was essential that murder should be listed among the most heinous crimes. The fourth evil to which the Hadith under reference points is usury. No doubt because of a centuries-long period of a non-Islamic environment, usury has become an inalienable part of the economic system in vogue in almost the whole of the modern world, and a substantial number of Muslims are also indirectly involved in this filth. But there is little gainsaying the fact that usury is a great curse, destructive not only of the human impulses of sympathy and fellow- service, but also a great cause of fanning the fires of disputes and wars in the world. Usury leads to: 1. Destruction of the fine impulses of human nature, 2. Encouragement to contract debts far heavier than one can afford, and 3. Undue prolongation of conflicts and wars, for people in the heat of animosity rush into debts headlong, and thereby add fuel to the fire of war. Islam has therefore declared usury unlawful, and confines lending and borrowing to the following three forms: 23 The Holy Quran, Ch: 5 (Al Mā’idah), V: 33