Rejoinder to Muhammad Ayub’s 'Qur’an, Hadith and Riba Connotation: A Critique of the Paper by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq'

Abstract

Riba-Interest equation, where riba is blanketly equated with interest, is a major issue in Islamic economics and finance. To justify this equation, hadiths or prophetic narrations as one of the primary sources are invoked. Farooq wrote a paper "Riba, Interest and Six Hadiths: Do We Have a Definition or a Conundrum?" in which it was examined whether a clear definition of Riba can be arrived at based on hadith. Ayub wrote a critique of that paper in "Qur’an, Hadith and Riba Connotation: A Critique of the Paper by Dr. Mohammad Omar Farooq.”

This paper is a rejoinder to Ayub's critique, shedding further light on the subject and making the case that Ayub's critique broadly missed the fundamental issues, especially due to the difference of premise regarding hadith.

Keywords: Riba, Hadith, Islamic finance, Muhammad Ayub, Interest, Riba-interest equation, Islamic Banking

JEL Classification: B19