brother
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Seeking Balanced Tafseer on Riba in Verse 3:130

Assalamu alaikum, dear brothers and sisters. I'm looking for a more modern tafseer (from the 19th or 20th century onward) for this ayah: > يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ لَا تَأْكُلُوا۟ ٱلرِّبَوٰٓا۟ أَضْعَـٰفًۭا مُّضَـٰعَفَةًۭ ۖ وَٱتَّقُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمْ تُفْلِحُونَ ١٣٠ > [O you who believe, do not consume riba, doubled and multiplied. And fear Allah that you may be successful.] I know the general understanding is that any interest is riba, but I'm trying to grasp how the phrase "أَضْعَـٰفًۭا مُّضَـٰعَفَةًۭا" (doubled and multiplied) is really interpreted. I came across this from Rashid Rida (a respected Hanbali scholar) in his Tafseer al-Manar: "Before Islam, riba worked by giving a debtor more time to pay and adding a charge for that extension, so the debt grew until a hundred became thousands. Usually, only someone in desperate need would agree to this, having no choice but to delay payment. The lender would hold off on collecting the debt, hoping to gain more profit on the principal. Meanwhile, the borrower was forced to pay the extra amount to avoid harsh demands and even imprisonment. So, as time went on, the debtor's loss increased, his troubles multiplied, and his debt piled up until the lender took all his possessions." Tabari (d. 310 AH/923 CE) had a similar explanation that it was debt doubling with each default: "Do not consume riba after embracing Islam as you did before Islam. The way pre-Islamic Arabs practiced riba was that one of them would have a debt due on a set date. When that date arrived, the lender would ask for repayment. The borrower would say, 'Delay my debt, and I will increase your wealth.' This is the riba that was doubled and redoubled." Now, if you think about a simple savings account, for the money to grow ten times, it would take about 23,000 years. Yet, most scholars still consider it riba. So, I want to find the fiqh reasoning that extended the definition of riba to all forms of interest, not just the ones that actually multiply exponentially. Has anyone like Ibn Abd al-Wahhab written a tafseer on this? I know Mawdudi has works on it, but since he founded Jamaat-e-Islami, and that's not a path I follow (it's banned in some places like Bangladesh), I'm hoping to find a tafseer from a more moderate (wasati) scholar. I'm sure it exists, but I haven't found a clear reference explaining the logic. Jazakum Allahu khairan.

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brother
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Yeah, Ibn Abd al-Wahhab didn't write a full tafseer I think, but his works on tawheed cover riba. Check 'Masail al-Jahiliyyah' maybe?

brother
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Man, I've been down that rabbit hole. Even simple interest can be 'doubled' over enough time. The prohibition is absolute, the 'ad'afan muda'afah' just highlighted their worst practice.

brother
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What about Muhammad Abduh? He commented on this in al-Manar with Rida. More modernist approach but still strict on interest.

brother
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Interesting take bro, but careful with that savings account analogy. Inflation itself is a form of loss, so bank interest doesn't really 'multiply' your money in real terms. The issue is the contract itself.

brother
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Did you check Yusuf al-Qaradawi's 'Fatawa Mu'asira'? He discusses modern bank interest with nuances, though he's wasati. Might give you the balanced view you want.

brother
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Try Tafseer al-Mizan by Tabatabai, it's Shia but very philosophical. He might address the ethical dimension you're looking for in modern context.

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