The present discussion in this booklet has been prompted by the view of permissibility of riba on late payments —the view which Hadhrat Mufti Taqi Uthmaani Saheb had published in his book, An Introduc- tion to ISLAMIC FINANCE.

In his article captioned: Penalty of Default, Hadhrat Mufti Saheb propounded the view of permissibility. For this permissibility, Hadhrat Mufti Taqi Saheb resorted to a labirynthal discussion in which he presented extremely far-fetched arguments to render such riba permissible. In view of the gravity of the error of Hadhrat Mufti Taqi Uthmaani Saheb pertaining to the exceptionally grave crime and sin of riba, we deem it necessary to respond and to state the cor- rect view of the Shariah.

Pork, wine, fornication, shirk and riba are such evils on whose prohi- bition the Ummah never differed. Every Muslim, be he illiterate, as long as he is not a lost modernist, knows and understands the prohi- bition of these evils. It is only the influence of the western capitalist system which has induced modernist Muslims and those who consort with them to soften the attitude against Islam’s harshness in prohibit- ing riba. Muslim modernists who have acquired credentials in west- ern secular institutions have set themselves up as ‘authorities’ of the Shariah which they subject to their whimsical interpretations which are invariably devoid of Shar’i substance. They are perennially en- gaged in the baseless pursuit of finding Qur’aanic and Sunnah credi- bility and acceptance for all practices of the capitalist economic sys- tem.

This pernicious exercise of the modernists has gained some momen- tum in recent years by virtue of the association and support of some Ulama. This is a destructive trend which threatens to scuttle the im- mutable Shariah of Allah Ta’ala. The process of erosion of the Shariah has been subtly initiated and is being subtly pursued by high- lighting the names of prominent Ulama who we believe have failed to understand and detect the plot which has been organized to dig the foundations of Islam. The plot envisages the effecting of gradual change by abrogating the Ahkaam of Islam while retaining the tech- nical names or by labelling the new haraam mutants with terms which are designed to lull unwary Muslims into acceptance.

This short treatise is an attempt in the endeavour to stop the process of erosion of the Deen of Allah Ta’ala. By the fadhl of Allah and the taufeeq He bestows, we present here the Shar’i arguments in refuta- tion of the view of permissibility of the riba penalty which Hadhrat Mufti Taqi Uthmaani Saheb has erroneously expounded. And, hi- daayat comes from only Allah Azza Wa Jal.