Is a government loan to encourage national industry, with 5% interest paid after four years, considered an usurious loan? Is it permissible to take out an interest-free loan if it is repaid before interest becomes due? Is it permissible to take this loan to save a project threatened with bankruptcy, knowing that its interest is considered administrative expenses and not usurious profit?

Every loan that yields a benefit is usury (riba) and impermissible, whether the benefit is small or large. Good intentions do not make it permissible, for what is forbidden remains forbidden, and usury remains usury. It is not permissible to take an usurious loan, whether from an individual, an institution, or a state, even if the repayment is made before the interest is due; this is a void stratagem to circumvent usury. To complete the project, one should seek a benevolent loan with permissible guarantees, for "whoever fears Allah - He will make for him a way out." Completing a project and seeking profit are not necessities that permit what is forbidden. It is permissible to pay administrative fees provided they are specified and known, and they must not be a percentage; for in contracts, what matters are the meanings, not the words. Every loan that stipulates an increase is unanimously forbidden, and interest on all types of loans is usury, which is prohibited by scholarly consensus.