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The treatment of usury in the holy scriptures
Author(s) -
Jafri Syed Hussain Ali,
Margolis Lawrence S.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
thunderbird international business review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.553
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1520-6874
pISSN - 1096-4762
DOI - 10.1002/tie.4270410405
Subject(s) - usury , islam , christianity , judaism , perspective (graphical) , economics , islamic finance , interest rate , law and economics , positive economics , philosophy , monetary economics , religious studies , theology , artificial intelligence , computer science
Interest‐free banking has recently evoked interest in financial as well as economic development literature. While the main focus of the special issue of this review is in interest‐free banking, this concept is not new nor is it unique to Islam. This article notes how usury or interest on loans has been prohibited in Judaism and Christianity–the other monotheistic religions of the world. We offer a comparative and historical perspective of the treatment of usury or interest and aim to help readers (especially in the West) gain an understanding of this concept, a concept which seemingly has a growing role in the financial markets of the Islamic world. © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.