Al Baqarah

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَذَرُواْ مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ

278. "O' you who have Faith! be in awe of Allah, and forgo what remains (due to you) of usury, if you are faithful."

It is cited in some books, such as: Majma'-ul-Bayan, Al-Mizan, and Maraqi, that when the verse upon the prohibition of usury was revealed, some of the companions of the prophet (S), like Khalid-ibn-Walid, Abbas, and Uthman, had claimed some amount of interest from people. They asked the Prophet (S) about their claims, when the above mentioned verse was revealed. After the revelation of this verse, the holy Prophet (S) said:

"My uncle, Abbas, is not rightful to demand interest either."

Then, the Messenger of Allah added:

"First of all, my relatives must abandon usury".

He also in a sermon said:

"I put all the interests of usury (belonging to) the age of ignorant under my feet, and the first one I put is the interest of Abbas." ¹⁶

Explanations

1. The requisite of faith is to dispense with the rights of others and the prohibited wealth.

2. The sign of piety is giving up the unlawful commodity.