Q. A friend of mine requested me to lend him a large amount of money for his business. He offered me to have the fruits of a piece of agricultural land he owns until he repays the amount in full. When I agreed, he himself wrote the conditions of the agreement which we both signed. Is this an acceptable arrangement from the Islamic point of view?
G. Anugod, Riyadh
A. The question you have to ask yourself is why would your friend offer you the yield of his agricultural land for the period of the loan? It is either a sweetener, so that you would agree to lend him the money, or because he knows that he cannot get the loan otherwise. If he goes to a bank to borrow this amount, he is likely to pay more in interest. So, in effect, you are getting a benefit out of his need of the money. The arrangement gives you more than you lend. God says in the verses that slam a clear prohibition on all forms of usury: “If you repent, however, you shall remain entitled to your principal. Thus, you shall commit no wrong, nor suffer any wrong yourselves.” (2: 279)
You certainly are taking more than the principal to which you are entitled. As such, your transaction is usurious and cannot be accepted by Islam. You may have some sort of security for your loan, such as having a charge on the land, but you may not receive any benefit in excess of your principal amount. The fact that your friend agrees to give you this benefit and writes the agreement himself does not affect the prohibition. He has certainly accepted, but only because he is in desperate need. To exploit such need is wrong.
On magic
Q. Could you please explain whether magic, or black magic, still exists. I read a Hadith that at one stage, magic affected the Prophet and he described its effect to his wife. Could you confirm this, and make it clear what remedy is there for a person so affected.
S. Ali, Alkhobar
A. Magic certainly exists, as it is mentioned in more than one Surahs of the Qur’an and in different contexts. The event mentioned several times is that of the Prophet Moses as he delivered his message to Pharaoh, and the latter accused him of being a sorcerer. He challenged him to a match against his own sorcerers, and Moses accepted. When all people gathered in an open place, the match started. God describes the works of the sorcerers as being “mighty magic.” Yet this very thing the Qur’an describes as “great and mighty” has no real substance. In another Surah we are told that when the sorcerers threw their ropes and staffs, Moses “imagined, by their magic, that they were moving.” Thus we know that all magic is a mere delusion.
There is a report, or a Hadith, that suggests that the Prophet was under the influence of magic at one stage, and that the magic spell was cast on him by a Jew called Labeed ibn Al-A’asam. But this report should be rejected as false because God mentions twice in the Qur’an that the wrongdoers, which is a term often used to denote unbelievers, claim that the Prophet was being influenced by magic. The Qur’an denounces such claims and describes the people who make them as ones in blatant error. To counter the effects of magic one should read the Qur’an, particularly the last two Surahs. One must never go to fortune-tellers, or believe that they can cure him. To do so is forbidden.
Arab News Islam 7 February 2003