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What are the situations in which dealing with usury becomes permissible?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Whoever is on the verge of perishing and finds no way to feed himself except through usury, or is in distress and hardship that cannot be alleviated except through it, then it is permissible for him to deal with it out of necessity; for Allah Almighty says: "And He has explained to you in detail what He has forbidden you, except that to which you are compelled," and His saying: "But whoever is compelled, neither desiring it nor transgressing, then there is no sin upon him." The limit of necessity is when one is overwhelmingly likely to fall into perishing because of it, or to suffer unbearable hardship because of it, or when one cannot achieve the minimum standard of living for the poor. Necessity is estimated according to its extent, and once the necessity ceases, dealing with usury is not permissible. Engaging in usurious transactions in various types of trades, loans, and deposits with interest is part of forbidden usury, and has nothing to do with necessity.

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

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