Al-Baqarah 2:275–279 constitutes the definitive Qur'anic legislation on ribā, revealed in Madīnah among the latest verses of the Qur'an (many exegetes, including al-Ṭabarī and Ibn Kathīr, place 2:278–281 among the final revealed āyāt). Verse 275 opens with the declaration that those who consume ribā will rise on the Day of Judgement like one driven to madness by Satan's touch, and pointedly rebuts the Jāhiliyya claim that "trade (bayʿ) is just like ribā" with the categorical "wa aḥalla'llāhu al-bayʿa wa ḥarrama al-ribā" — "God has permitted trade and forbidden usury." Verse 276 states that God erases (yamḥaqu) ribā and causes charity (ṣadaqāt) to grow. Verse 278 commands believers to fear God and relinquish outstanding ribā if they are true believers; verse 279, uniquely in the Qur'an, threatens "ḥarbin mina'llāhi wa rasūlih" — war from God and His Messenger — against those who refuse, while affirming the equitable principle: "lakum ruʾūsu amwālikum, lā taẓlimūna wa lā tuẓlamūn" — you are entitled to your principal, neither wronging nor being wronged.
The passage establishes the juristic architecture of the prohibition. Ribā al-nasīʾa (the usury of delay, i.e., interest on loans) is the form directly targeted here, distinguished from ribā al-faḍl (excess in barter of like commodities) elaborated through the Prophetic hadith of the six items (gold, silver, wheat, barley, dates, salt). Verse 279's permission to recover only the capital sum became the textual basis for the rule that interest charges are void and only the principal is recoverable. Classical jurists across the Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī and Ḥanbalī schools treat the prohibition as qaṭʿī (definitive and absolute), admitting no necessity exception save the narrow doctrine of ḍarūra.
These verses underpin the entire modern edifice of Islamic finance and the contemporary debate over interest-based banking. In Pakistan, the Federal Shariat Court in Mahmood-ur-Rahman Faisal v. Government of Pakistan and the Shariat Appellate Bench of the Supreme Court (the 1999 Riba judgment, later remanded in 2002) treated 2:275–279 as the constitutional touchstone under Article 38(f) of the 1973 Constitution, which directs the State to eliminate ribā "as early as possible." In April 2022 the Federal Shariat Court again ruled the interest-based system un-Islamic and directed conversion to a ribā-free economy, a decision under appeal as of 2026. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has repeatedly cited these verses in its recommendations.
For CSS Islamic Studies, this passage is examined in the sections on the Qur'anic economic system, the prohibition of ribā, and the principles of Islamic finance. Typical question angles ask candidates to translate and explain the verses, distinguish ribā from legitimate bayʿ and profit, contrast ribā al-nasīʾa with ribā al-faḍl, and assess Pakistan's constitutional and judicial efforts (Article 38(f), the FSC's 1991 and 2022 judgments) to abolish interest. Cite the exact phrase "aḥalla'llāhu al-bayʿa wa ḥarrama al-ribā" and the "war from God" warning of 2:279 to anchor the answer.
Example
In April 2022, Pakistan's Federal Shariat Court invoked al-Baqarah 2:275–279 to declare the interest-based banking system un-Islamic and ordered its abolition, a ruling appealed before the Supreme Court's Shariat Appellate Bench.
Frequently asked questions
Ribā al-nasīʾa is interest charged for deferment on loans; ribā al-faḍl is unequal exchange of like commodities. Al-Baqarah 2:275–279 directly prohibits ribā al-nasīʾa, while ribā al-faḍl is established mainly through the Prophetic hadith of the six items.