Question 2178: Has the recipient of an usurious loan and the usury payer also committed a haram act, or is it only the usury consumer and the giver of the usurious loan who are entangled in the major sin of usury?
Answer
✅ Answer: Pay attention to the following ahadith:
1 عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ قَیْسٍ عَنْ أَبِی جَعْفَرٍ قَالَ: قَالَ أَمِیرُ الْمُؤْمِنِینَ آکِلُ الرِّبَا وَ مُؤْکِلُهُ وَ کَاتِبُهُ وَ شَاهِدَاهُ فِیهِ سَوَاءٌ.
📚 Al-Kafi, Vol. 5, p. 144
Imam Baqir (peace be upon him) said: The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said: The consumer of usury, its feeder, its scribe, and its two witnesses are equal regarding it!
2 عَنْ زَیْدِ بْنِ عَلِیٍّ عَنْ آبَائِهِ عَنْ عَلِیٍّ قَالَ: لَعَنَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ الرِّبَا وَ آکِلَهُ وَ بَائِعَهُ وَ مُشْتَرِیَهُ وَ کَاتِبَهُ وَ شَاهِدَیْهِ.
📚 Al-Tahdhib, Vol. 7, p. 15
The Commander of the Faithful (peace be upon him) said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family) cursed usury, its consumer, its seller, its buyer, its scribe, and its two witnesses!
3 عَنِ الْحُسَیْنِ بْنِ زَیْدٍ عَنِ الصَّادِقِ عَنْ آبَائِهِ فِی مَنَاهِی النَّبِیِّ أَنَّهُ نَهَی عَنْ أَکْلِ الرِّبَا وَ شَهَادَةِ الزُّورِ وَ کِتَابَةِ الرِّبَا وَ قَالَ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَعَنَ آکِلَ الرِّبَا وَ مُؤْکِلَهُ وَ کَاتِبَهُ وَ شَاهِدَیْهِ.
📚 Al-Faqih, Vol. 4, p. 8
Imam Sadiq (peace be upon him) narrated from his ancestors that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him and his family), in the hadith of prohibitions, forbade usury, false testimony, and writing usury, and said: Indeed, Allah the Exalted has cursed the taker of usury, the giver of usury, its scribe, and its two witnesses!
✅ Based on the above ahadith and others, it is abundantly clear that the usury payer and the recipient of an usurious loan are equal in sin with the usury consumer and the giver of an usurious loan, and both, along with the scribe of usury and its two witnesses, are cursed!
✅ Therefore, although in the verses and ahadith the consumer of usury faces stricter conditions for repentance and suffers more consequences in this world and the Hereafter, the payer of usury and the recipient of an usurious loan are also guilty of the major sin of usury and are under curse!
✅ True traditionists (Muhaddithin), when expressing a ruling, must state its Quranic and textual basis so that the duty-bound person (Mukallaf) may base their actions on the texts of the Quran and ahadith. For the firm texts of the Quran and ahadith are the basis of action for the duty-bound person, not the reasoning behind a scholar's statement!
A scholar's statement in itself holds no divine authority (Hujjiyyah) and cannot be the basis for a duty-bound person's action, nor does it essentially have practical benefit for them. What is valuable and actionable are the textual ahadith of the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them), and a scholar should not expect his words to be acted upon without citing the textual ahadith.
Hence, a statement recently made by an individual without citing any text from the Ahl al-Bayt (peace be upon them)—claiming that taking an usurious loan and paying usury is permissible, and only taking usury and giving an usurious loan is problematic—contradicts the ahadith, lacks value, and has unfortunately caused confusion among a group of the faithful.
اللَّهُمَّ صَلِّ عَلَی مُحَمَّدٍ وَ آلِ مُحَمَّدٍ وَ عَجِّلْ لِوَلِیِّکَ الْفَرَجَ وَ الْعَافِیَةَ وَ النَّصْر