84.Is there permission in Islam to collect small amounts as interest?

In this verse (3:130) we find the phrase “Do not eat from interest money that grows manifold”. Some misunderstand this verse to be construed as small amounts of money as interest is permissible, and not exorbitant amounts as interest. 

This is entirely wrong. 

In verse 2:278, Allah says men to forego the interest money that is due to them from then onwards. 

We come to understand from this verse that Allah commanded men to give up the entire interest money that was due to them from that point of time, and not the exorbitant part alone.

 Verse 2:279 says “For those who reform themselves from interest money is the principle amount theirs”. The Quran didn’t say “a small amount of interest money along with the principal amount is theirs”. May the interest amount be insignificant, the verse says only the loan amount has to be collected back.

Then why does the Quran say, “Do not eat from the multiply grown interest money”.

In general, interest money multiplies exponentially, this is the difference between money earned in business and interest money. 

Even a loan given at an insignificant rate of interest will grow into a huge amount after a period of time. A loan at a small rate of interest resulting in an exponential growth of interest alone within a period of two years can be seen on calculations. 

When we sell a thing with a fixed amount of profit, we gain only once from that transaction. But when a certain amount of money is lent to interest, we keep on earning continuously till the money is returned. 

This is the reason we conclude the phrase ‘the interest money that grows multiple times’ is quoted. It does not bring into focus the rate or quantum of interest. 

83.Is Shaitan the reason for people becoming insane? 

This verse (2:275) says those resurrected as insane in the hereafter world are the ones allured by shaitan.

This gives an opinion that Shaitan is the cause of mental illness in men. But this power of making people insane is not given to shaitan.

Making people go astray so that they reach hell is the only work of shaitan. He carries on the work of making hell-dwellers out of men and will not do things that stop them from that as their final destination.

The verses (4:119,120, 7:16,17) of the Quran say the only work of shaitan is to guide people towards evil ways to become sinners so that they reach hell.

When one turns insane, he will not be considered as a sinner due to the acts committed by him. He is not liable to be punished. If shaitan makes one insane, automatically one number goes down in the slum dwellers. When shaitan has taken the full-time work of making men into hell dwellers and increasing their numbers to hell, he will not do things that will bring down their numbers in hell by making them insane.

Hence the phrase in this verse ‘resurrected like the one bewitched by shaitan’ has to be viewed in a way that does not contradict the Quran. 

When pointing out evil acts the Quran allows to denote them as ‘shaitan created these acts’. 

When Prophet Ayub (A.S) was afflicted with disease and difficulties he said ‘shaitan has put me in this position’-verse 38:41. 

We will not understand this as the Shaitan had the power to impose difficulties and disease on Prophet Ayub (A.S). Just as Prophet Ayub (A.S) uttered these words and would not associate the misery and disease he suffered with God as a matter of respect, and in a way through insanity is from God Al-Mighty, we attribute it to shaitan. This does not necessarily translate into shaitan being the source of insanity in men.

There are a number of beliefs among people regarding insanity among men. 

It has been the belief among the masses that insanity is the result of dead people’s spirits bewitching the insane.

Because the Quran says the spirits of the dead are under the control of Al-Mighty Allah (verse 39:42) and the existence of an unseen barrier between the dead and this material world (verse 23:100.) Believing in the concept that the dead spirits return to earth is against the Quran. 

In addition Prophet Muhammad has also said that as soon as the questioning of the dead in the grave is over in the initial stages, the good are awarded a sound sleep and the evil are subjected to continuous punishment till the day of final judgment Hadith Book Tirmidhee: 991 The above cited belief that insanity is due the dead peoples spirits bewitching the living is against the quoted hadith. 

82. Wages for those involved in spreading the message of God. 

This verse (2:273) of the Quran says those involved in spreading the message of God should be paid more attention and given due importance. 

Generally, everyone knows the needy should be taken care of. 

A person in addition to being poor also devotes considerable time in spreading the message of God. The reason he is poor is due to his involvement in virtuous work resulting in him being needy and poor.

Allah in this verse (2:273) encourages people to take special care of such persons because they are not only needy but also spend considerable time in the spread of the message of God.

One should not find fault with persons devoting their entire time towards the spread of God’s message, rather this attitude should be appreciated is what is conveyed here. 

And such persons who involve themselves in the work of God, should not ask for alms or lose their self-respect because they do not have the means to any form of income. 

They should stand steadfastly in not asking anyone for alms. Islamic government and the Muslim community should come forward to help those who are involved in the work of spreading the message of God, or these people stand to lose their dignity once they seek alms.

81. Guiding one to the right path is in the hands of God.

In these verses (2:272, 3:8, 3:20, 5:92, 6:35, 6:66, 6:107, 10:43, 10:108, 13:40, 16:37, 16:82, 17:54, 24:54, 27:81, 27:92, 28:56, 29:18, 30:53, 34:50, 35:8, 39:41, 42:52, 42:48, 43:40, 50:45, 88:21, 93:7)of the Quran, the message we find is, the power to guide is one to the straight path is the sole prerogative of Al-Mighty (in the hands of Allah) and does not rest with Prophet Muhammad or for that matter with any of the prophets.

Prophets were sent to convey the messages of God to mankind, and they do not possess any power to take it to the hearts of the people is much emphasized in these verses. 

This is the reason we find many household members of the families of prophets who went astray could not be steered towards the straight path.

Prophet Muhammad visited his uncle Abu Talib, (the one who fostered him, and who stood rock solid behind him in his endeavors to spread the messages of the Quran) in his death bed, requested him to accept Islam. But he died a non-Muslim. This made Prophet Muhammad very concerned, at this background was the verse (28:56) saying “You cannot guide any one to the straight path, Allah alone guides them whom He wills” revealed to Prophet Muhammad. 

This teaching of Islam abolishes all kinds of fraud committed in the name of spirituality. 

Some people unknowingly anoint a person with undue greatness, and with high maturity of mind, and try to get a recognition (?) from him as a disciple, they also believe only on receiving recognition from these supposedly great persons will their hearts be clean of all impurities.

Because of this false belief people go behind spiritual people who use the opportunity to cheat the gullible.

To save people from being cheated this way, and to emphasize the message that even prophets do not possess the power to put in the hearts of the people they desire, mental illumination, spiritual illumination, mystical Islam, etc. do not find place in Islam.

80. Can inferior goods be given away to others? 

In this verse (2:267) of the Quran, we find a message ‘those of you who would not prefer to receive things with your eyes closed, do not expend such goods on others’. 

When viewed superficially this verse may seem to convey, we should not give other goods used by us.

But the historical background at which the verse was revealed offers the right explanation.

During the period of Prophet Muhammad some who came to Madina as refugees started staying in prophet’s masjid. At the time when palm dates are harvested the Ansar (comrades of Prophet Muhammad from Madina origin) would bring some bunches of these fruits and place them in the masjid. 

The needy and comrades of Prophet Muhammad who migrated from Makkah, would consume these whenever required. 

There were some people in Madina who did not spend on virtuous deeds, these people would at the time of harvest of palm dates would dump these fruits that are unfit for human consumption at Prophet Muhammad’s masjid. The above cited verse was revealed to reprimand such people. Refer Hadith Book: Tirmidhi.

We should not give things to others that we ourselves would hesitate to consume and give to charity things that we consider as fit for ourselves.

To know more about this please refer to explanation point No;78. 

79. Do the dead possess powers? 

In this verse (2:259) of the Quran we find a narration about a pious person. Allah makes the pious person remain dead for 100 years, with his bodily remains left unburied on the surface of the earth. 

But this person is unable to realize the period of time he was in that state, he feels he slept for a day. Without him being buried underneath the surface of the earth he could not understand what happened to him lying above the ground for a period of 100 years. We need to ponder how a person buried underneath the ground could possibly be aware of things around him. 

Some Muslims pray to those dead and buried even after a passage of many years. We can come to understand this kind of act is wrong from this narration in the Quran. 

We can call this person pious for sure because it is mentioned in the Quran, but all the people interred in the so-called Muslim shrines cannot be said for sure to stand testimony about their piousness or sainthood. It can be only known on the day of judgement. Hence this one verse is more than enough contradicting prayers made at burial sites of Muslim shrines. 

To know more about wrongness in justifications put up by people who pray at shrines. Please refer explanation point Nos 17, 41, 49, 83, 100, 104, 121, 122, 140, 141, 193, 213, 215, 245, 269, 298, 327, 397, 427, 471

78. Do we need to give away things we love as charity? 

This verse (3:92) of the Quran seems to convey to some, there is a need to give away as charity only the things they love most.

This should not be understood as we need to give as charity only the things we adore, and not the things with us that we dislike. 

And it should not also be taken as to donate everything we like. 

Some have a tendency to donate things only which they dislike. Donating things we dislike and keeping back things we love should not be our attitude towards charity, is the message conveyed here.

There is a difference between things you like and from things you like.

The phrase ‘from things we like’, means at least some of the things from which we would not like to part with.

We can donate good things that we dislike. It is not a bad act.

Allah is putting us on a trial to see whether we are practicing charity to please Him or to get rid of unwanted things.

 When a person gives charity things he dislikes as well as things which he loves, he is considered to have done charity in the true sense.

But when he gives away things entirely, he dislikes means he is just disposing of things unwanted by him, and not for the sake of pleasing God. 

This is the basic message that Allah alludes to when he says charity ‘from what you like’.

To know more please refer to explanation point no;80. 

77. The ark (chest, box) and its sacredness.

 This verse (2:248) talks about a chest sent down by God that contained the remnants used by prophets.

People misunderstand this verse and believe that preserving things used by so called saints would bring them peace of mind.

These people declare some as saints without any substance and deceive the gullible to believe that the things used such as footwear, the places where these so-called saints sat down as holy.

Please refer to explanation point No; 215 whether we can declare someone as a saint, godmen etc. 

When keenly observed we find the family members of prophet Musa and prophet Haroon did not preserve the things used by them but were later brought down by the celestials. This proves one to conclude preservation of things used by prophets as unnecessary.

When Taloot was appointed the king, the people of his time questioned his qualification, and as a testimony to establish the installation of Taloot, the sacred chest was sent down. 

God did not send down the sacred chest in order to preserve its sacredness, nor did he order to preserve it. 

Only God has the power to make something sacred, just because He made Safa and Marwa sacred, we cannot arbitrarily declare Uhad mountain also sacred. 

Hence when declaring something or someone as sacred, there is a need to substantiate it with Quranic verses or from the guidance (Sunnah) of Prophet Muhammad.