Article
What makes a loan riba
The prohibition is narrower and stranger than either its defenders or its critics usually describe. Knowing the actual definition is the whole of the matter.
Not simply interest
The category is defined by a structural feature — a guaranteed increase on a debt without assumed risk — rather than by whether a payment is called interest.
Why that matters practically
It is why profit-sharing is permitted while a fixed return on a loan is not, and why relabelling a fixed return does not change its ruling.
Editorial Team
Written and reviewed by the Mimangsha editorial team.