Usury in Judaism and Islam

HILAL, Asrofi, Prof.Drs. H. Akh. Minhaji, MA.,Ph.D

2004 | Tesis | S2 Ilmu Perbandingan Agama

The concept of usury has a long historical life, throughout most of which it has been understood to refer to the practice of charging financial interest iii excess of the principal amount of a loan, although in some instances and more especially in more recent times, usury is interpreted as interest above the legal or socially acceptable rate. The problem is that usuiy practice is a phenomenon which has been like a cancer undennin trig society. Tue practice of usury always poses a problem. As we have seen, usury is now penetrating every sphere of the society we live in. hi addition, uswy is a topic which modem people almost entirely forget and not mentioned comprehensively in any books on Economics. This thesis aims at drawing the 1’act that since Judaism and islam stand fòr absolute justice, usury which is the result of exchange between money and money is defriiIely the root cause for ¡iijustice and hence Forbidden. To reach the ami is conducted through normative-Iiieological approach. It means the researcher tries to explain how the main scriptures of Judaism and Islam stipulate the usury supported by views of scholars of bot h religions. The method is libran’ research. The primary result of’ the thesis is, that based on the main sources of either Judaism or lslaiii, the criticism of usury in Judaism has its roots in several Biblical passages arid the criticism of usury was well-established during the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon liini) life and reinforced by various of his teachings in the Holy Quz’an. Usury is forbidden chiefly because of avoiding injustice. The reason for allowing exchange of goods for money is the basis of encouraging fair trade because it is the natural fòrces of demand and supply that detennines equilibrium or just price. Besides, this study find out the flicts that usury is exploitative and has resulted in increasing inequalities in the distribution of income and wealth among the people.

Kata Kunci : Hukum Bunga Uang,Ajaran Islam dan Yahudi, user, financia! interest, loan, justice, and injustice