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Are Muslims today punished for dealing with usury when it is impossible to avoid, and does the Almighty’s saying apply to them: "Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity"?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Usury (riba) is a grave sin, and texts have been successively transmitted clarifying the enormity of its sin, such as the Almighty's saying: "So be informed of a war from Allah and His Messenger," and the Prophet's (peace be upon him) saying: "Avoid the seven destructive sins," among which he mentioned "consuming usury." Furthermore, the Prophet (peace be upon him) cursed the consumer of usury, its payer, its scribe, and its two witnesses. A Muslim must avoid consuming usury and assisting in it, except in a state of necessity that permits only what removes the necessity. It is incorrect to claim that all transactions in Islamic banks are forbidden; rather, the principle is that they are valid unless proven otherwise, and if the prohibition of a certain transaction is proven, then one who undertakes it out of necessity is not sinful.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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