Hadith 39271

Malik related to me that Zayd ibn Aslam said, "Usury in theJahiliyya was that a man would give a loan to a man for a set term.When the term was due, he would say, 'Will you pay it off or increaseme?' If the man paid, he took it. If not, he increased him in his debtand lengthened the term for him ."Malik said, "Thedisapproved of way of doing things about which there is no disputeamong us, is that a man should give a loan to a man for a term, andthen the demander reduce it and the one from whom it is demanded payit in advance. To us that is like someone who delays repaying his debtafter it is due to his creditor and his creditor increases his debt."Malik said, "This is nothing else but usury. No doubt about it."Malik spoke about a man who loaned one hundred dinars to a man fortwo terms. When it was due, the person who owed the debt said to him,"Sell me some goods, whose price is one hundred dinars in cash for onehundred and fifty on credit." Malik said, "This transaction is notgood, and the people of knowledge still forbid it."Maliksaid, "This is disapproved of because the creditor himself gives thedebtor the price of what the man sells him, and he defers repayment ofthe hundred of the first transaction for the debtor for the term whichis mentioned to him in the second transaction, and the debtorincreases him with fifty dinars for his deferring him. That isdisapproved of and it is not good. It also resembles the hadith ofZayd ibn Aslam about the transactions of the people of the Jahiliyya.When their debts were due, they said to the person with the debt,'Either you pay in full or you increase it.' If they paid, they tookit, and if not they increased debtors in their debts, and extended theterm for them."