Abstract
    An important instruction found in narratatives of the Prophet of Islam (sws) regarding Riba (interest) is reported in the following way: ‘If you give gold, then receive back the same gold: the same weight and the same quality; and if you give silver, then receive back the same silver: the same weight and the same quality, because the one who gives more or expects more, then [he should know that] that is exactly Riba.’ (Muslim 1981, p. 211) In another narration he is reported to have said: ‘If you will sell gold for silver then there is a danger of interest in it. [Likewise, if you will sell] wheat for wheat, barley for barley and dates for dates, the result would be no different; [there is no way of avoiding the danger of Riba in a barter transaction] except that the exchange be spot’. (ibid., p. 208)
    The two narrations mentioned above along with many other similar ones have led many Muslim writers to conclude that apart from interest on credit transactions (called Riba al-Nasi’ah), the Prophet (sws) in these narrations, has prohibited another kind of Riba: Riba al-Fadl (interest in excess). In their opinion this kind of Riba is associated with spot exchange of dissimilar commodities. According to them, the Prophet (sws) had strongly emphasized that while exchanging the same commodities like gold for gold, silver for silver, wheat for wheat, barley for barley etc. on the spot it is extremely important that equal quantity and the very same quality of these goods should exchange hands. Many Muslim writers find themselves at a loss to appreciate the very suggestion that two individuals can ever contemplate the possibility of entering into an exercise of exchanging two identical commodities on spot. However, most of them still accept that Riba al-Fadl is another form of Riba prohibited in Islam by presenting one unconvincing rationale for their understanding of the concept or another.
    Javed Ahmad Ghamidi has pointed out that the narrations claimed to be condemning Riba al-Fadl have been incorrectly understood and that if their correct context is properly explained, they would appear to be clearly explaining the idea of the same concept of Riba that is mentioned in the Qur’an (Riba al-Nasi’ah). This clarification about Riba is extremely important for the academic world to acknowledge, because as it stands today, the literature on Islamic Finance and Economics is presenting very strange applications of the concept of Riba al-Fadl, which are not only unnecessarily confusing but are also being applied in areas of business and finance where their application was never intended. This article is an explication of Ghamidi’s views and an academic case for the unacceptability of Riba al-Fadl as an Islamic term.

1. Introduction
    The Qur’an, the primary book of guidance for Muslims, prohibits believers from entering into Riba-based financial arrangements.²
The understanding of a vast majority of Muslim scholars on this injunction is that it outlaws all forms of interest-based borrowing and lending (Siddiqi 1983, 9).³ However, most Muslim scholars include within the scope of the prohibition of Riba⁴ another type of it, which they call Riba al-Fadl. Since the entire understanding of the notion of Riba al-Fadl is based on the incidents from the life of the Prophet (sws), God’s mercy be on him,⁵ reported in Ahadith,⁶ and the Qur’an is completely silent on the subject, the alleged understanding of Riba is also called Riba al-Sunnah (Riba, whose understanding has been derived from the example of the Prophet (sws)).⁷ This article attempts to show that the Prophet (sws) clarified only the meanings of the Qur’anic concept of Riba. Furthermore, it also explains that some of the statements of the Prophet (sws) and incidents reported from his life relevant to this area have been erroneously construed as conveying the understanding of another category of Riba, the traditional Muslim understanding of which has caused unnecessary confusions.

2. What is Riba Al-Fadl
    Riba al-Fadl is described as an unlawful excess in the exchange of two counter-values where the excess is measurable through weight or measure. The concept is based on some Ahadith according to which if gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates, and salt are exchanged against themselves, they should be spot and equal and specified. If these conditions are not found, this transaction will become Riba al-Fadl. (Usmani, I. 2002, p. 253)

3. Ahadith mentioning Riba al-Fadl
Although there are myriad Ahadith on the subject of Riba al-Fadl mentioned in the books of Hadith literature, the following represent almost all of them, since those missed almost repeat what has been mentioned in these Ahadith⁸.

--Riba Al-Fadl in Gold, Silver, Wheat etc:

i.a.⁹ Narrated ‘Umar: The Prophet said, ‘The selling of wheat for wheat is Riba except if it is handed from hand to hand and equal in amount. Similarly the selling of barley for barley is Riba except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount, and dates for dates is Riba except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount.’ (Bukhari 1985, h. 2026)

ii.a. Narrated Ibn Shihab that Malik Ibn Aws said: ‘I was in need of change for one-hundred Dinars. Talhah Ibn ‘Ubaydullah called me and we discussed the matter, and he agreed to change (my Dinars). He took the gold pieces in his hands and fidgeted with them, and then said: ‘Wait till my storekeeper comes from the forest.’ ‘Umar was listening to that and said: ‘By Allah! You should not separate from Talhah till you get the money from him, for Allah’s Apostle said: ‘The selling of gold for gold is Riba except if the exchange is from hand to hand and equal in amount, and similarly, the selling of wheat for wheat is Riba unless it is from hand to hand and equal in amount, and the selling of barley for barley is Riba unless it is from hand to hand and equal in amount, and dates for dates, is Riba unless it is from hand to hand and equal in amount’. (ibid. h. 2029)

iii.a. Narrated Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet said: ‘If you give gold, then receive back the same gold: the same weight and the same quality; and if you give silver then receive back the same silver: the same weight and the same quality, because the one who gives more or expects more, then that is exactly Riba’. (Muslim 1981, p. 211)

iv.a. Narrated by Talhah Ibn ‘Ubaydullah: ‘Umar Ibn Khattab said that the Prophet said: ‘If you will sell gold for silver then there is a danger of interest in it. [Likewise, if you will sell] wheat for wheat, barley for barley and dates for dates, the result would be no different; except that the exchange be spot.’ (ibid., p. 208)

-- Riba Al-Fadl in the Trading of Dates:

i.b. Narrated Ibn ‘Abbas: The Prophet came to Madinah and the people used to pay in advance the price of dates to be delivered within two or three years. He said [to them]: ‘Whoever pays in advance the price of a thing to be delivered later should pay it for a specified measure at specified weight for a specified period.’ (Bukhari op. cit., h. 2086)

ii.b. Narrated Abu Sa‘id Al-Khudri and Abu Hurayrah: Allah’s Apostle employed someone as a governor at Khaybar. When the man came to Madinah, he brought with him dates called Janib. The Prophet asked him: ‘Are all the dates of Khaybar of this kind?’ The man replied: ‘(No), we exchange two Sa‘ of bad dates for one Sa‘ of this kind of dates (i.e. Janib), or exchange three Sa‘ for two’. On that, the Prophet said: ‘Don’t do so, but sell the dates of inferior quality for money, and then buy Janib with the money’. The Prophet said the same thing about dates sold by weight. (Muslim op. cit., p. 215)

iii.b. Narrated Abu Sa‘id Al-Khudri: Once Bilal brought Barni (i.e. a kind of dates) to the Prophet and the Prophet asked him: ‘From where have you brought these?’ Bilal replied: ‘I had some inferior type of dates and exchanged two Sa‘ of it for one Sa‘ of Barni dates in order to give it to the Prophet to eat.’ Thereupon the Prophet said: ‘Beware! Beware! This is definitely Riba! This is definitely Riba! Don’t do so, but if you want to buy [ superior kind of dates] sell the inferior dates for money and then buy the superior kind of dates with that money.’ (ibid.)

iv.b. Narrated Zaid bin Thabit: The Prophet permitted selling the dates of the ‘Araya for ready dates by estimating the amount of the former (as they are still on the trees). (Bukhari op. cit., h. 2044)

4. Consequences of accepting Riba al-Fadl?
    The following are some of the implications of Riba al-Fadl in the contemporary commercial dealings that have been imagined by some Muslim writers:

i) There should be a ban on money-changers trading the same currency (dollar for dollar for instance) on unequal terms.¹⁰
ii) Goldsmiths should be required to exchange old jewelry for the new on the basis of weight (after separating the precious stones) without applying a cut for any impurity in gold or making a claim for their manufacturing costs.
iii) Indirect means should be adopted to exchange goods belonging to the same category but having different qualities. (IIIE’s Blueprint 1999, p. 41)

5. Rational Justifications and Reasons for their Unacceptability
    There are numerous explanations attempted by scholars to offer rational justifications for the proscription of Riba al-Fadl. This section mentions only a few of them, with each mention followed by my comments.
    Hardie and Rabooy have suggested that the injunction on Riba al-Fadl had the effect of discouraging barter, unless it could fulfill very specific requirements, and encourage people to use cash transactions in business deals’ (Hardie and Rabooy, op. cit., p.58). Indeed if the Ahadith on Riba al-Fadl are accepted the way many of them appear in the books of the Hadith literature, then no barter trade can ever be undertaken by Muslims since the only barter that seems to have been allowed in these Ahadith is the exchange of similar goods on spot.¹¹ Muslims have, however, never considered barter trade illegitimate. Moreover, the ‘very specific requirements’ suggested in the explanation have not been clarified by the authors any further. The only type of barter that seems to be legitimate on the basis of these Ahadith would require the commodities to be identical in all respects, which is a condition that can fulfill no business requirements at all.
    Another explanation presented is this: ‘Debasing of currency was widely practiced; to protect ignorant people from deception and fraud [therefore,] it was necessary to establish certain measures to introduce well defined criteria’ (Kabbara 1988, 81). Without any supportive evidence, this argument cannot be accepted as valid. The onus of proving that at the time of the Prophet (sws), debasing of currency was actually widely practiced and that he condemned exchange of debased coins with the genuine ones is on those who have made that claim. Moreover, it is not just gold and silver which are mentioned in the Ahadith of Riba al-Fadl; wheat, barley, dates, and salt have also been included in the list of items prohibited in the exchange allegedly causing Riba al-Fadl. How do these commodities help remove the problem of debased currency?
    Mawdudi has attempted to rationalize Riba al-Fadl differently. He has argued that the commodities proposed to be exchanged in the Ahadith, although falling under the same category, are those with slight variations in quality. In other words, according to him, if one quality of gold is to be exchanged with another of a different quality, then the Ahadith require that the differences of quality be ignored and the very same quantity or weight of both should be exchanged on spot (Mawdudi 1992, p. 174). The difficulty one finds in accepting this explanation is that the Hadith of the Prophet (sws) quoted above does mention the same quality to be exchanged along with the same quantity.¹² Secondly, it looks even more unacceptable to imagine that a person would knowingly commit himself to a bargain whereby he is required to give a superior quality of his gold to another person for inferior quality gold of exactly the same weight. It would indeed be unfair to expect the former to agree to any such deal. Surprisingly, the same author allows the exchange of the same category of animals in dissimilar numbers because he believes that there can be huge variations in the quality of the same category of animals (ibid., 181-2).
    According to another explanation presented to rationalize Riba al-Fadl, it was a significant step to elevate trade from narrow regional and national limits to international horizons. This injunction was meant to discourage exchange of metallic coins with face values different from their real intrinsic values in international trade (Sioharvi 1984, p. 275). The same author, a few pages later, reveals another reason behind the apparent injunction: to discourage people from accumulating the commodities mentioned in the Hadith because ‘by prohibiting Riba al-Fadl, situation has been created whereby people do not sell gold, silver, and identical commodities, because exchanging a like commodity for another identical one is a futile exercise’ (ibid., p. 280). It seems as difficult to understand what these Ahadith have to do with the exchange of face value of coins with their intrinsic values as it is to appreciate how by banning unequal spot exchange of gold and silver their accumulation could be discouraged.
    Ghazali understood from the apparent restriction of Riba al-Fadl yet another purpose. According to him, since gold and silver were meant to be used as currency in the divine scheme, their sale for each other in dissimilar quantities was considered contrary to that purpose (Ghazali n.d., pp. 68-9). Use of gold and silver as currency is, however, now a thing of the past. Its use as a currency has become extinct because the two metals are available in far less volume than would be necessary to meet the growing needs of the world. It could not have been an unalterable part of the Divine Scheme. Moreover, if that is the explanation for prohibition of sale of gold for gold, silver for silver, and gold for silver then what about the other non-metallic commodities mentioned in the Ahadith in whose case similar exchange has likewise been prohibited?
    Ibn Qayyim, on the contrary, believes that Riba al-Fadl has been prohibited not for its own sake but because, if allowed, it could lead to the real Riba al-Nasi’ah¹³ (Ibn Qayyim 1374 H., Vol. 2 pp. 99-100). Although this explanation seems to be the least unacceptable of all, the trouble with accepting it is that, as mentioned in a Hadith quoted later, Riba is to be found in credit transactions alone and has nothing to do with spot exchange of commodities.¹⁴ Far from helping in consolidating the prohibition of Riba, the so-called Riba al-Fadl has helped in confusing the entire concept of it.¹⁵
    It is interesting to observe that some modern Muslim economists mention Riba al-Fadl but carefully omit to make any comments on it.¹⁶ I heard the late Shaikh Mahmud Ahmad, an enlightened Muslim economist, expressing his inability to appreciate the reasons behind the concept of Riba al-Fadl and its alleged prohibition.¹⁷Ibn Qayyim writes that many people in his days were oblivious of the real rationale behind the prohibition of Riba al-Fadl. So much so that some of the scholars did openly admit that they failed to appreciate the logic behind it. (Ibn Qayyim 1374 H., vol. 3., p. 204) Likewise, in the contemporary Muslim writings on the subject there is a strong need expressed to do something about this concept. The Report of the International Institute of Islamic Economics Workshop on Islamization of the Financial System says: ‘Riba is Riba. The traditional dichotomy between Riba al-Nasi’ah and Riba al-Fadl (sic.), in the Fiqh literature needs reconsideration. It does not serve any new purpose, to say the least.’ (IIIE’s Report 1999, p. 41)

6. The Correct Understanding
    It is my firm opinion that  Ahadith have not attempted to define Riba. The Qur’an has done that quite adequately.¹⁸ Any further attempt in a relatively less reliable source of knowledge would have been, at least, unnecessarily repetitive or, worse still, confusing because of the danger of misreporting. Hadith has, well within the jurisdiction given to it by the Qur’an¹⁹, clarified Qur’anic teachings about Riba by removing misunderstandings about it and explaining its application in certain areas of business.
    If the Ahadith of Riba al-Fadl are properly interpreted, they serve to clarify two important aspects relevant to the prohibition of Riba: one that Riba is only applicable to credit dealings and, two, that while dealing with loan transactions, it is absolutely essential that what is returned by the borrower should be identical to the item he borrowed, otherwise it is very likely to cause the transaction to be Riba-ridden.
    The following presentation of Ahadith would clarify the correct understanding on the subject. In order to properly understand the meanings of the Ahadith, the translations given below arrange to insert within brackets the words that either seem to have been implied when the Prophet (sws) made the statements or else were missed out in the process of communication between the individuals forming the chain of narrators during the two centuries when only the memories of the narrators were accommodating them.²⁰ Thus the correct understanding is that the following is a more correct presentation of Hadith iii.a:²¹. ‘If you give [on credit] gold, then receive back the same gold: the same weight and the same quality; and if you give silver [on credit], then receive back the same silver: the same weight and the same quality, because the one who gives more or expects more, then [he should know that,] that is exactly Riba.’ Likewise, a more correct translation of iv.a. is this: ‘If you will sell gold for silver [on credit] then there is a danger of interest in it. [Likewise, if you will sell] wheat for [another kind of] wheat, barley for [another kind of] barley and dates for [another kind of] dates, the result would be no different; [there is no way of avoiding the danger of Riba in a barter transaction involving the same commodity] except that the exchange be spot.’²²
    Likewise the Prophet (sws) has also been reported to have prohibited people from selling silver on credit to receive gold (Hadith iva). The Prophet (sws) categorically stated that the question of Riba relates to exchanges involving credit and has nothing to do with spot exchanges. He is reported to have said: ‘What is [exchanged] on spot, there is no problem [of Riba] in that but that which is [exchanged] on credit [and there is a variation in the value of commodities exchanged] then that is Riba’ (Muslim, op. cit., vol. 4, p. 211).²³
Likewise, the following two Ahadith can’t be accepted unless we accept that the question of time lag was implied in the statement. If that is not accepted then these Ahadith are in direct conflict with the Ahadith i.b and iv.b.
    ii.b. Narrated Abu Sa‘id Al-Khudri and Abu Hurayrah: Allah’s Apostle employed someone as a governor at Khaybar. When the man came to Madinah, he brought with him dates called Janib. The Prophet asked him: ‘Are all the dates of Khaybar of this kind?’ The man replied: ‘(No), we exchange two Sa‘ of bad dates for one Sa‘ of this kind of dates [on credit], or exchange three Sa‘ for two [on credit]’. On that, the Prophet said: ‘Don’t do so, but sell the dates of inferior quality for money, and then buy Janib with the money’. The Prophet said the same thing about dates sold by weight.
    iii.b. Narrated Abu Sa‘id Al-Khudri: Once Bilal brought Barni (i.e. a kind of dates) to the Prophet and the Prophet asked him, ‘From where have you brought these?’ Bilal replied, ‘I had some inferior type of dates and exchanged two Sa‘ of it for one Sa‘ of Barni dates in order to give it to the Prophet to eat.’ Thereupon the Prophet said, ‘Beware! Beware! This is definitely Riba! This is definitely Riba! Don’t do so, but if you want to buy (a superior kind of dates) sell the inferior dates for money and then buy the superior kind of dates with that money.’
    In the Hadith i.a,²⁴ the word selling should be read as ‘selling on credit’, which is clarified in the subsequent part of Hadith that allows selling them ‘hand to hand and equal in amount.’ This expression is clarifying only the unacceptability of a commodity on credit for an inflated return.²⁵  In other words, ‘except hand in hand’ is disallowing what is not ‘hand in hand’ i.e. credit. Likewise ‘except … equal in amount’ is disallowing what doesn’t fall into this category i.e. unequal amount.
    What proceeds from this explanation is the fact that it is allowed to go for a financial deal or a business transaction which involves any of the two conditions mentioned, but not both. Thus it is allowed to exchange identical commodities and therefore values on credit (the possibility of indexation in a loan agreement)²⁶ and it is allowed to exchange unequal weights and qualities of commodities on spot.²⁷

7. Consequences of this Understanding

i. Conceptual Clarity
    The correct understanding of Ahadith on the subject would enable the debate on Riba to be focused on the real issue of the prohibition of interest. Unnecessary references to an imagined notion would give rise to distractions which only serve to confuse. For instance, Vogel and Hayes have concluded after mentioning the complexities of issues emerging from the concept of Riba al-Fadl that it ‘vetoes a naïve understanding of Riba as simply a ban on compensation of credit.’ (Vogel and Hayes 1998, p. 76). What has emerged as a consequence of accepting the notion of Riba al-Fadl is a weird, quite often incomprehensible, set of rules of Riba and their moral and logical justifications that normally escape comprehension of a normal, intelligent mind.²⁸

ii. Freedom from Unnecessary Restrictions
    Although the difficulties posed by the concept of Riba al-Fadl are primarily conceptual, the few uncalled for restrictions mentioned in Section 4 above will become unnecessary.

iii. Prohibition of Certain Forms of Financial Arrangements
    Another consequence of this understanding would be that inflated price for credit sales (bay‘ murabahah) and cash purchases for deflated price (bay‘ salim) will have to be considered prohibited. The reason for this conclusion is that as a result of the proper placement of Ahadith that were hitherto alleged to be proscribing the imaginary notion of Riba al-Fadl it has become obvious that in a loan transaction the obligation a borrower must discharge is the return of the same value. In bay‘murabahah and bay‘ salim the borrower (euphemistically called the buyer in bay‘ murabahah and seller in bay‘ salim) returns more. A vast majority of the present-day Muslim scholars accept both as Islamically legitimate. In fact the contemporary banking in the name of Islam (the so-called Islamic Banking) is based on bay‘ murabahah to a great extent and on bay‘ salim to a lesser degree.²⁹

8. What are the Reasons of the Misunderstanding?

i. Sidelining the Qur’an
    The supporters of the concept of Riba al-Fadl don’t accept the Qur’an as the unchallengeable original text whose meanings can’t be altered by any external source.³⁰ As a result, they don’t have any problems in allowing Ahadith to insert meanings into the Qur’anic text that its unbiased understanding can’t accept. The fact of the matter is that the Qur’an cannot be altered in any manner by an external source.³¹ Alterations in the Qur’anic text allowed by Muslim scholars have taken many forms, like restricting meanings of its message, inserting into its text what it refuses to accept, or explaining a term used in the Qur’an in a manner that runs contrary to its own basic understanding. The notion of Riba al-Fadl attempts to alter the Qur’an in the last way. The Prophet’s obligation was to explain the Qur’an. The traditional understanding of Riba al-Fadl is not explaining it; instead, it is adding a dimension in the scope of its meanings which has nothing to do with the original injunction.³²
    The correct approach in pursuing to understand the meaning of Riba al-Fadl should involve, as has been attempted in section 6, an explanation of the meanings of the Ahadith on the subject that promise consistency with the Qur’an. In other words, instead of allowing Ahadith to dictate meanings to the Qur’an, it is the Qur’an that should have been allowed to give meanings to Ahadith.

ii. Elevating Hadith to the Status of Unchallengeable Source
    The reason why the simple and clear-cut guidance of the Prophet (sws) has been so badly misunderstood is that many Muslims have tended to be too credulous in the matter of Hadith. Although the Ahadith of the Prophet (sws) quoted above make it quite obvious that the arrangement condemned is relating to credit transactions alone, there are many other Ahadith in the books of Hadith literature on the same subject which do not make that point clear.³³ Some Muslim writers insist on accepting each word in the Ahadith as if they were the very words of the Prophet (sws) instead of trying to make sense out of them by carefully studying all the Ahadith relating to a subject. The result is that they find themselves in difficulty in understanding some of the concepts of Islam properly.³⁴
    The correct way of dealing with Hadith literature is to collect all Ahadith on a subject together in such a way that the ones promising to be consistent with the Qur’an should be accepted while others not in line with it should be explained away in some acceptable way. The following are some of the reports that clarify that Riba al-Fadl is unacceptable:
    Ibn ‘Abbas quotes Usamah Ibn Zayd who said that the Prophet of Allah, may Allah’s blessings be upon him, said: ‘There is no Riba in spot exchanges’ (Muslim op. cit., 219). He is also reported to have clarified that ‘There is no Riba except on credit.’ (Bukhari op. cit., h. 2023)³⁵ Moreover, the Prophet (sws) is reported to have bought a slave for two slaves in a spot transaction (Abu Da’ud 1985, p.954). It is reported that Ibn ‘Abbas, a companion of the Prophet (sws), did not accept Ribaal-Fadl because, as he said, the Prophet (sws) had clarified that there was no Riba except in credit (Nasi’ah) (Ibn Rushd 1983, p. 153). No wonder, then, that all differences of opinion among the earlier Muslim jurists with regard to Riba have been concerning Riba al-Fadl alone.³⁶

iii. Blind Acquiescence to the Views of Elders (Taqlid)
    The tendency amongst Muslim scholars of the later times to consider the views of earlier scholars as sacred has contributed greatly in perpetuating the concept of Riba al-Fadl. When the right of forming opinions is reserved exclusively for the people of the earlier generations and any inclination to critically review their understanding is considered almost a sin, it is quite understandable that a mistake like the incorrect understanding of Riba al-Fadl, once committed by the elders continues to pass on from generation to generation unchallenged.
    The present body of knowledge that has been conferred the title of Islamic Economics accepts the views expressed by the earlier jurists, especially in areas where they all tend to agree, as authentic beyond the scrutiny of all critical examination. When a concept becomes sacred through Taqlid, it hardly matters to the people of later generations whether it runs contrary to the Qur’anic understanding of Riba, or it clearly creates contradiction in the text of Hadith literature, or there is a strong disapproval expressed by a knowledgeable companion of the Prophet (sws) on it.³⁷ The very fact that it has been approved by the earlier people is considered enough reason to dispel all contesting arguments against it.³⁸

9. Conclusion
    The only Riba prohibited in Islam is the one mentioned in the Qur’an, which is, simply stated, interest charged by lender from the borrower, whether the loan is taken for commercial purposes or for personal needs. The Prophet (sws) applied the understanding of Riba in the practical life and taught his followers various aspects of its application.³⁹ His teachings and practices were later mentioned in books of Hadith. Since these Ahadith involved chains of narrators involving four or five individuals belonging to different generations spread over a period of more than two hundred years, the contents of some of these reports got altered in a way that the basic understanding of the message was affected. As a result, some Ahadith on the subject conflicted with the Qur’an and other Ahadith. Instead of finding consistency between the Qur’an and the Ahadith on the one hand and different Ahadith on the subject on the other, many Muslim scholars insisted that all Ahadith that satisfied the condition of reliability established by the doctors of Hadith called muhaddithun should be acknowledged as fully acceptable.
    As a result, the concept of Riba al-Fadl has come to be accepted by a vast majority of Muslim scholars, even though it is illogical and, as a result, apparently extremely complex when attempts are made to bring out a consistent law of Riba on the basis of it.⁴⁰
    This article has proposed to either do away with or modify those aspects of Ahadith on the subject that threaten to be inconsistent with the Qur’anic concept of Riba and read through them a message that promises to explain clearly the Qur’anic verses on the topic as a coherent message instead of confusing it. The most plausible explanation that emerges as result of the above-stated concern is that the Ahadith on Riba are clarifying two things: i) the Qur’anic prohibition of Riba is concerned with credit exchange. ii) In case of an arrangement of credit, when the loan period lapses, it is necessary that the borrower should return absolutely the same value to the lender otherwise the arrangement would be Riba-ridden.

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