Riba and Hadith of Six Commodities

Abstract:     
The Islamic legal maxim "it is undeniable that rules of law vary with change in time" is moderately scientific in construct admitting the evolution process of human knowledge, concepts and practices. Although this broad-spectrum aphorism already existing among provisions of Islamic Jurisprudence, however more often than not, the Islamic legalists offer unjust attitudinal resistance for such a change even be considered let alone be happened by ignoring the reality of humans’ fallibility. The mortal beings of any period who might be extraordinarily intelligent and perceptive and who can anticipate or influence the progression of knowledge for several hundred years next to them, despite that they still face their own limitations, naturally imposed on them by the era they live in. The earlier Islamic scholars were aware of this possibility owing to their towering caliber and accordingly produced this broad rule for the real world. It is an essential part of muslims' belief that divine and prophetic sayings hold relevance for all times which implies - it is only human interpretation and analysis of holy sources that may transform in the course of evolution. This discourse attempts to comprehend the wisdom of subject hadith in context of evolved knowledge and transformed concepts primarily by the economic intellect of today and investigate the law derived from it. A much sought coherence in monetary matters within Islamic laws is the quest and driving force of the endeavor.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 48

Keywords: Riba, Hadith, Contract of Sarf, Forex, Loan, Qard, Endoview, Exoview

JEL Classification: D63, E42, K19, P19, Z10

working papers series