アシュマーウィーにおけるリバーと利息

抄録

Interest has been legalized by the civil law in Egypt since 1883. However, there were criticisms and protests agaist it, particularly in the fundamentalist upheaval of Islam since 1970s, to the effect that interest was the prohibited riba according to the traditional interpretation. Islamic banks were opened one after another in this trend, and the clause of the Constitution was amended from “the principles of the Islamic law are one of the legal sources of legislation” to “...the principal source of legislation” in 1980.
In these circumstances there was a suit for the payment of interest in 1985. The local court passed the judgement against the plaintiff for the reason that interest was riba, according to the revised provision of the 1980 Constitution and the Qur'anic verse, “God permits trading and forbids riba” (2:275). The plaintiff appealed to the higher court of Isma'iliyah, which repealed the sentence of the local court and ordered the payment of interest in 1987. It was al-'Ashmawi who drafted the decision as chief judge. Later he elaborated his view of riba in al-riba wa'l-Fa'idah fi'l-Islam in 1987.
Certainly, according to this work, riba is prohibited in the Qur'an (2:275-80, 3:130, 30:39). But the descriptions are general and comprehensive, and the meaning is vague. It is even difficult to decide whether the prohibition is makruh or haram. As for the well-known five Hadiths, there are various difficulties of interpretation. Furthermore, they are all “Hadith of single isnad” (ahad) which is not reliable. Therefore, it is necessary to interpret the Qur'anic verses according to the “causes of revelation” (asbab al-tanzil), which reveal the fact that the riba prohibited in the Qur'an is “the riba of Jahiliyah.” In the time of Jahiliyah, the debtor often became a slave of the creditor being unable to pay the debt because of usury. On the other hand, the interest of the present economic system is totally different from this riba. Therefore, interest is not to be prohibited.