The notion of usury/interest, subsumed under the Arabic term riba and Hebraic neshekh/marbit, has been the center of human attention throughout recorded history, but only as an exclusive economic paradigm subject to toleration, limitation or prohibition. Yet, in a clearly disproportionate treatment, all pristine major world religions consider this "economic act" as the greatest of sins, which, in Islam, additionally attracts the most graphic other-worldly punishments at the extremes of the spectrum. Economic usurpation of greater severity, e.g., theft by stealth and robbery by force do not attract as severe a Scriptural punishment as does "interest-taking" by consent, clearly implying, both scripturally and linguistically, that this seemingly exclusive "economic act" is in fact a sin of greater theological proportions. Yet, casuistry and a non-philosophical approach have so far prevented the extant Judaic, Christian and Islamic scholarship from assessing the depth and breadth of the theology at stake here. Utilizing a semiotic methodology and a philosophical/theological approach, and drawing out the glaring deficiencies of the current scholarship, this work posits that the Arabic riba /Hebraic marbit (growth), by virtue of its intrinsic characteristic of intra-activity as against its binary opposite of inter-activity inherent in bay' (exchange), causes self-emanation, self-subsistence and ex-nihilo creation, which, being exclusive Divine attributes, not only render marbit/riba an act of idolatry/polytheism (Arabic: shirk), but also thereby extend it to all spheres of human action. This diagnosis not only harmonizes the severe ordained punishment with the gravity of the sin, it also bestows perfect hermeneutical calibration to the whole riba paradigm for all monotheist religions, identifying the universal divine law: intra-activity (riba) ---lack of dependence---for the Master (Rabb) and inter-activity (bay')---dependence---for the servant ('abd). This yields the new critical theory of normative human behavior prescribed by "Islam"---the din al-fiṭra, which calls for total human conformity to the design and purpose of human creation in pairs (tathniya: duality), reserving riba (tawḥid : singularity) for the One whose divine attribute it is.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.102847 |
| Date | January 2006 |
| Creators | Subhani, Azeemuddin. |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Doctor of Philosophy (Institute of Islamic Studies.) |
| Rights | © Azeemuddin Subhani, 2006 |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002610955, proquestno: AAINR32328, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
Page generated in 0.0018 seconds