The Tenth Call: Giving Up What Remains of Riba

Occasion: A transcription of a lecture after the ʿIshāʾ prayer delivered at AIA on April 28, 2026, as part of the series "Calls to Faith in the Qur'an" (Episode 10) Source: A transcription of a video lecture by Dr. Ahmed Abouseif — Watch the original video on YouTube

Dr. Ahmed opened the lecture with a supplication: «اللهم بارك لنا فيما رزقتنا، وقنا عذاب النار، واصرف عنا أسباب العذاب في الدنيا والآخرة، برحمة منك ورضوان وكرم ولطف وبرّ يا أرحم الراحمين» ("O Allah, bless us in what You have provided us, protect us from the punishment of the Fire, and turn away from us the causes of punishment in this world and the next, through Your mercy, pleasure, generosity, gentleness and kindness, O Most Merciful of the merciful"). Then he welcomed those present, asked Allah to bless them and to preserve for them the well-being of faith, to fix faith firmly in the roots of their hearts, and he sought refuge in Allah from deviation, misguidance, wickedness, disbelief and polytheism, and from our changing what He has entrusted to souls and hearts of taqwā.

Then he said: This is the tenth call in the Noble Qur'an to the people of faith:

﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ﴾ (O you who believe, fear Allah and give up what remains of riba, if you are believers)^[1]

A call to those for whom trade has been made lawful

He reminded us that Allah had said shortly before: ﴿وَأَحَلَّ اللَّهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا﴾ (Allah has permitted trade and forbidden riba). So here the Lord of Might addresses the people of faith to whom He had just spoken, telling them that He has made trade lawful for them and riba forbidden to them.

After the call to spend, and after a system of training

This call came after His words, glory be to Him:

﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَنفِقُوا مِن طَيِّبَاتِ مَا كَسَبْتُمْ وَمِمَّا أَخْرَجْنَا لَكُم مِّنَ الْأَرْضِ ۖ وَلَا تَيَمَّمُوا الْخَبِيثَ مِنْهُ تُنفِقُونَ﴾ (O you who believe, spend from the good things you have earned and from what We have brought forth for you from the earth, and do not aim at the bad of it to spend)

He said: It is as though the Lord of Might, after teaching the human soul how to listen to His calls regarding spending, made wealth light on the soul, so that it parts with it easily, the human being having given up the selfishness that was in him before, after a system of exercises.^[2]

And he explained what those exercises were. The first exercise was in the first call of faith in the sūrah:

﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَقُولُوا رَاعِنَا وَقُولُوا انظُرْنَا وَاسْمَعُوا ۗ وَلِلْكَافِرِينَ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ﴾ (O you who believe, do not say "Rāʿinā" but say "Unẓurnā," and listen; and for the disbelievers is a painful punishment)

It is as though He, glory be to Him, was training people to stand before the Source of authority, embodying what comes to them from it, rejecting everything their selves, their whims and their desires dictate to them. It is as though they freed themselves from everything they were attached to, and surrendered themselves to Allah, blessed and exalted.

Then came the command:

﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ مَعَ الصَّابِرِينَ﴾ (O you who believe, seek help through patience and prayer; indeed Allah is with the patient)

They had begun the road and walked on it, and when they had walked, the Lord of the worlds commanded them to greater steadfastness and endurance in facing all the trials that were coming upon them one after another. Then the commands come from the Lord of the worlds as they appear in His Book, each of them raising the people of faith to a level higher and loftier than that from which they could ever fall back to where they were. Then the verses in the noble sūrah conclude with His words, glory be to Him: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا﴾ (O you who believe, fear Allah and give up what remains of riba).

﴿مَا بَقِيَ﴾ ("What remains")

When we say: ﴿ذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا﴾ (give up what remains of riba), it is as though they had wanted to pull themselves out of this matter, but a remainder was left. Then the Lord of the worlds says: ﴿اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا﴾ (fear Allah and give up what remains of riba). Had it been a matter of beginning, had they been about to start giving it up, He would have said: Fear Allah and give up riba entirely, in whole and in detail. But my Lord says: ﴿وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا﴾ (and give up what remains of riba).

Then he pointed to the conflict that takes place within the human soul, between earning a greater amount of wealth and earning a greater amount of good deeds. This conflict makes the Muslim take at one time and leave at another, incline to his desire at one time and keep himself pure of taking at another. So the Lord of the worlds brings an address that befits the psychology and dignity of this believing soul, saying: ﴿اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ﴾ (fear Allah and give up what remains of riba, if you are believers).

﴿إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ﴾ ("If you are believers")

And when I look at this condition that the Lord of the worlds set: ﴿إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ﴾ (if you are believers) — he said, and he asked the one beside him to help him recall another place where this condition occurs, and then mentioned what came to him: ﴿وَأَنتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ﴾ (and you will be the superior), and then His words, the Exalted: ﴿إِن يَمْسَسْكُمْ قَرْحٌ فَقَدْ مَسَّ الْقَوْمَ قَرْحٌ مِّثْلُهُ ۚ وَتِلْكَ الْأَيَّامُ نُدَاوِلُهَا بَيْنَ النَّاسِ﴾ (If a wound touches you, a similar wound has touched the others; and these days We rotate among the people). Then he said: The verse says: ﴿وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ﴾ (Do not weaken and do not grieve, for you will be superior, if you are believers).^[3]

There, the condition of faith was the cause for the fulfillment of the promise of Allah, blessed and exalted. But in this verse our Lord says: ﴿اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ﴾ (fear Allah and give up what remains of riba, if you are believers). So at one time He makes faith a condition for an action to proceed from the Lord of Might, glory be to Him, and at another time He makes it a condition for the soul's response and its embodying the command of Allah, blessed and exalted. Faith is the regulator; indeed it almost is the dividing line between the decisions of servants: whether they will be at the lower level or at the higher.

The faith that is sought

And when you read the words of the Lord of Might, glory be to Him:

﴿وَلَن يَجْعَلَ اللَّهُ لِلْكَافِرِينَ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ سَبِيلًا﴾ (And never will Allah give the disbelievers a way against the believers)

we have reflected on it much, and we have dealt with this Qur'anic text many times, and we mentioned that before the reality we live in there are three possibilities. What we live is that the disbelievers have over the believers not one way but a thousand ways; they are given power over them everywhere, and make them taste evil punishment in some places, indeed in most of them. So how do we believe the Qur'an? Either our Lord did not speak truly, and far be it from Him, exalted is Allah above such a thing. Or they are not disbelievers. Or we are not upon the faith that the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, demanded. So which of them is more fitting for me to accept? The shortcoming is with me, and I have not reached that faith.

Then he said: That is the faith that is sought in the psychology of that servant who leaves behind hundreds of thousands and millions that bring him easy, effortless profits in simple financial transactions, giving five and getting back seven, or ten, or fifteen, or even a hundred, in rapid succession, while he sits in his place exerting no toil and tiring himself in nothing. But Allah, blessed and exalted, speaks of believers: ﴿يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ﴾ (O you who believe, fear Allah and give up what remains of riba, if you are believers).

Warning and encouragement

Then comes the warning that expresses the gravity of the act and the immensity of what is forbidden:

﴿فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُوا فَأْذَنُوا بِحَرْبٍ مِّنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ ۖ وَإِن تُبْتُمْ فَلَكُمْ رُءُوسُ أَمْوَالِكُمْ لَا تَظْلِمُونَ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ﴾ (And if you do not, then be informed of a war from Allah and His Messenger; but if you repent, you shall have your principal, wronging not and being wronged not)^[4]

Between pulling and drawing, between warning and encouragement, the Lord of the worlds, glory be to Him, warns of a war that He, mighty and majestic, Himself wages against those who fell short of the command, and also deals justly with them: We will return your principal to you, so We touch nothing of yours, and We have no need of your wealth; so be mindful of what the life in your hands stands upon.

In sum: uprightness

In sum: Allah the Exalted has commanded His servants to uprightness, and uprightness has many aspects. Some relate to fasting, for example; some to eating the good things of the provision that Allah, blessed and exalted, has prepared for the people of faith; some to the matter of blood and retaliation; and some likewise to wealth and its acquisition, and to the welfare of the whole society as well. Allah, mighty and majestic, did not forbid riba except out of concern for, protection of, and security for the whole Muslim society.

And he said: And Allah, blessed and exalted, is Most High and Most Knowing. And he closed with a supplication: «أسأل الله تبارك وتعالى أن يبارك لنا ولكم، وأن يحفظ علينا وعليكم عافية الإيمان، وأن يبصّرنا بما اكتسبته قلوبنا ونفوسنا من المعاصي، وأن يصلح لنا ما أفسدته أيدينا، اللهم آمين يا رب العالمين» ("I ask Allah, blessed and exalted, to bless us and you, to preserve for us and for you the well-being of faith, to make us see the sins that our hearts and souls have earned, and to repair for us what our hands have spoiled. O Allah, amen, Lord of the worlds").

--- ^[1]: Editor's documentation: The lecturer did not mention the locations of the verses recited; these are their locations in the order they appear in the article: al-Baqarah 278; al-Baqarah 275; al-Baqarah 267; al-Baqarah 104; al-Baqarah 153; Āl ʿImrān 140; Āl ʿImrān 139; al-Nisāʾ 141; al-Baqarah 279. ^[2]: Editor's documentation: The wording in the transcript is not entirely clear («فتخرج منه بسهولة الأثرة التي كانت موجودة قبل ذلك تخلى الإنسان عنها»), and it has been rendered as closely as the words allow. ^[3]: Editor's documentation: The lecturer mentioned that he asked one of those present to help him recall the location of the condition, and he began with «وأنتم الأعلون» and then recited the whole verse. The two verses are from Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, in the context of Uḥud. The name of the person he asked has been removed. ^[4]: Editor's documentation: The verse's context is in Sūrat al-Baqarah after the verses on riba, and the lecturer recited it in full in the transcript.