Tafsir of Al-Baqarah 2:276

"Allah destroys usury" (i.e., He removes its blessing and ruins the wealth into which it enters). Ahmad, Ibn Majah, Ibn Jurayj, and Al-Hakim (who authenticated it) recorded from Ibn Mas'ud that the Prophet (may Allah exalt his mention and grant him peace) said: "Even if usury increases, its end leads to scarcity."

Abdur-Razzaq recorded from Ma'mar, who said: "We have heard that forty years will not pass for the person of usury until he is destroyed." Perhaps this refers to the most common outcome. Al-Dahhak said: "This destruction occurs in the Hereafter, by nullifying whatever benefit was expected from it, so that nothing of it remains for its people."

"And increases charities" (He increases them, multiplies their reward, and increases the wealth from which the charity was taken). Al-Bukhari and Muslim recorded from Abu Hurayrah that the Messenger of Allah (may Allah exalt his mention and grant him peace) said: "Whoever gives in charity the equivalent of a date from pure earnings—and Allah does not accept anything but what is pure—Allah accepts it with His Right Hand, then He rears it for its owner just as one of you rears his foal, until it becomes like a mountain." Al-Shafi'i and Ahmad recorded the same.

The subtle point in the verse is that the usurer seeks an increase in wealth through usury, and the one who withholds charity does so out of a desire to increase his wealth. Thus, the Glorified One explained that usury is a cause of decrease rather than growth, and that charity is a cause of growth rather than decrease. This has been stated, and they have made it a reason for following the verses of spending with the verse of usury.

"And Allah does not love" (does not approve of) "every sinning disbeliever." (One who holds fast to disbelief, persists in it, and is accustomed to it. "Sinning" meaning one who is deeply immersed in committing sins). The verse denotes a general negation, not the negation of the general, as there is no difference between one individual and another. The choice of the intensive form (the hyperbolized noun) is to alert us to the hideousness of the usury-eater and the one who deems it lawful.

Regarding usury alone, such reports have come; so how is the state of one who deems it lawful? May Allah the Exalted protect us from that.

Al-Tabarani and Al-Bayhaqi recorded from Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) from the Prophet (may Allah exalt his mention and grant him peace) that he said: "A single dirham of usury is more severe to Allah the Exalted than thirty-six acts of adultery." And he said: "Whoever has flesh grow from ill-gotten gains, the Fire is more appropriate for him."

Ibn Majah and others recorded from Abu Hurayrah that he said: The Messenger of Allah (may Allah exalt his mention and grant him peace) said: "Usury has seventy doors, the least of which is like a man having intercourse with his own mother; and the most severe of usury is a man slandering the honor of his brother."

Jamil bin Darraj recorded from the Imami tradition from Abu Abdillah Al-Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: "A single dirham of usury is greater in the sight of Allah the Exalted than seventy acts of adultery, all of which are with a forbidden relative (mahram) inside the Sacred House of Allah."

Abdur-Razzaq and others recorded from Ali (may Allah ennoble his countenance) that he said: "The Messenger of Allah (may Allah exalt his mention and grant him peace) cursed five in regard to usury: its eater, its provider, its two witnesses, and its scribe."