How can one respond to those who cite the Almighty's saying: {O you who have believed, do not consume interest, doubled and multiplied} as evidence for the permissibility of a small amount of interest, and who see the hadith: "A dirham of interest consumed knowingly by a man is worse than thirty-six acts of fornication" as indicating the enormity of the sin of interest, not its complete prohibition?

Muslims have unanimously agreed on the prohibition of usury, whether small or large, based on the general import of the Quranic verses and Prophetic traditions. Any increase in a loan is usury, even if it is a single grain. The Hadith that states, "Eating a dirham of usury is worse in the sight of Allah than committing thirty-six acts of zina (fornication/adultery)," explicitly prohibits it. As for Allah's saying: {O you who have believed, do not consume usury, doubled and multiplied} (Quran 3:130), it does not indicate the permissibility of a small amount. The verse came in accordance with the reality at the time, where usury would multiply, and the description "doubled and multiplied" describes a reality, not a condition upon which the ruling depends. The text in Surat Al-Baqarah is decisive in prohibiting the essence of usury without any specification or restriction.