Al-Baqarah · Madani · ayah 279 of 286

Al-Baqarah 2:279

فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُوا۟ فَأْذَنُوا۟ بِحَرْبٍ مِّنَ ٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ ۖ وَإِن تُبْتُمْ فَلَكُمْ رُءُوسُ أَمْوَٰلِكُمْ لَا تَظْلِمُونَ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ

“And if you do not, then be informed of a war [against you] from Allāh and His Messenger. But if you repent, you may have your principal - [thus] you do no wrong, nor are you wronged.”

Saheeh International

Essence

Persist in ribā and you are at war with Allah and His Messenger; turn back and you keep your capital, neither wronging nor wronged.

A reflection

A final demand, addressed the other way

A debt-collection letter arrives in red capitals. FINAL DEMAND. LEGAL ACTION WILL FOLLOW. It is written to frighten someone who has nothing, by someone who has a great deal.

This ayah reverses the direction of that letter. It is addressed to the one who keeps collecting ribā after being told to stop. 'If you do not, then be informed of a war from Allah and His Messenger'. A concise commentary calls it a severe threat.

A classical scholar notes something remarkable. No threat like this, a declared war, came for any other major sin. That alone shows how seriously the Quran takes this injustice.

The word ḥarb, war, has a striking origin. One lexicon derives it from ḥarab: despoiling, stripping a man of his wealth. A man's ḥarība was the wealth he lived on; stripped of it, he could not stand again. Ribā does exactly that to the desperate. And the root that names the despoiling names the war declared on the despoiler.

This is where the ego of the powerful is brought down. The lender who feels untouchable, protected by contracts and courts, is told he now faces Someone no contract can hold back. Wealth that felt like armour is suddenly paper.

Is this the language of a God who needs to win? No. Allah needs nothing from anyone; He is free of all need (35:15). The declaration is protection for the weak, who had no one to stand for them.

An early scholar drew the gentle conclusion. Allah has made the lawful wide and good. So do not let need drive you into what He has forbidden.

The full entry has 6 more reflections, questions to sit with, and "Live it today" - with the words, the roots and the tafsir alongside. Free, no account, works offline.