Yes, several major religions, including Islam, Judaism, and historical Christianity, have prohibitions or strong warnings against charging or paying interest (usury), viewing it as exploitative, unjust, and promoting inequality between the rich and poor, with modern financial systems often requiring workarounds like Islamic finance or profit-sharing models (Heter Iska) to align with faith.
A set of Islamic principles—based on the goal of providing economic justice for all—prohibits Muslims from paying or receiving interest during financial transactions. Some Jewish and Christian groups face a similar prohibition.
The Biblical Foundation
Scripture is clear on this point: God's people are to avoid charging interest to one another. Exodus 22:25 – “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest.”
Judaism. The book of Deuteronomy prohibits Jews from charging interest except when making loans to foreigners.
In Leviticus, loans themselves are encouraged, whether of money or food, emphasizing that they enable the poor to regain their independence. Like the other two places in the Bible, the charging of interest on the loan is forbidden.
Hebrew Free Loan societies (such a society is also known as a Gemach) are based on the biblical injunction that Jews may not charge interest to other Jews in need, found in Exodus 22:25: "If you lend money to My people, to the poor among you, do not act towards them as a creditor; exact no interest from them."
Islamic rules forbid earning interest from savings and charging interest on loans and mortgages. Under Islam, being in debt is not encouraged. In the UK, Islamic banking is typically only offered by Islamic banks, but accounts are available to everyone, even those who don't practise Islam.
Islam forbids both receiving and paying interest (riba). Many of us can end up accumulating interest through our bank accounts even if we don't want it, so what should we do with it? Since it is not permissible to use riba for one's own benefit, we should donate it to charity.
The 7 major sins in Islam, often called the "seven great destructive sins," are derived from a Hadith and include: associating partners with Allah (Shirk), practicing magic, unjustly killing a soul, consuming usury (riba), eating an orphan's wealth, fleeing from battle, and slandering chaste, believing women. Avoiding these sins requires sincere repentance and turning to Allah.
The usual answer is something like, “It's okay to have hobbies if they aren't sinful.” For example, gotquestions.org concludes this. So yes, Christians can have hobbies, but we have to make sure they never replace Christ. That is the temptation, and we must be sure to avoid it. That's true.
Usury has always been considered a sin. But not every sort of interest-bearing loan has been considered usury. There is a long history of defining usury as a loan of subsistence as opposed to a loan of capital. Loans in the Old Testament were given to those who were destitute and poor.
For the most part, Christians have concluded that interest is not inherently prohibited in modern societies, but that lending practices— including interest rates and collateral—must not take advantage of vulnerable people or make people destitute.
Riba, or interest, is banned in Islamic finance, although it is possible for an entity to sell something at a profit markup. Riba is forbidden under Sharia law (Islamic religious law) because it is thought to be exploitative.
In Islamic finance (IF), the organization takes "ownership," but traditional banks only care for the money. In Islamic Finance, the buyer gives back the borrowed "money" without any interest to the organization, whereas conventional banks ask for money with interest.
Riba is mentioned and condemned in several different verses in the Qur'an (3:130, 4:161, 30:39, and the commonly referenced 2:275-2:280). It is also mentioned in many hadith (reports of the life of Muhammad). While Muslims agree that riba is prohibited, not all agree on what precisely it is (its definition).
Many religions, including Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, conservative Protestant denominations (like Southern Baptists, some Lutherans, Methodists, Pentecostals, and Evangelicals), and Islam, generally do not support LGBTQ+ identities or same-sex sexual activity, viewing them as sinful or against religious doctrine, with views ranging from condemnation to exclusion. Other faiths like Jehovah's Witnesses, Mormonism, and some traditional Hinduism and Buddhism perspectives also often discourage or prohibit LGBTQ+ practices, though interpretations vary widely within these faiths.
Researchers Helmuth Nyborg and Richard Lynn compared belief in God and IQs. Using data from a U.S. study of 6,825 adolescents, the authors found that the average IQ of atheists was 6 points higher than the average IQ of non-atheists.
An Arabic term meaning forbidden or unlawful. In the case of Islamic finance, Muslims cannot invest in, acquire, or otherwise engage in transactions that involve forbidden products and activities such as pork-related products, alcohol, gambling, and pornography. The opposite of haram is halal.
In the Koran, receiving or paying interest is considered a sin because it promotes inequality. Interest is said to increase the gap between the rich and poor and anyone who receives it is expected to donate the money to a charitable cause.
Quite simply, interest is considered illegal, unethical, and usurious. This is because Muslims believe that wealth should be generated through legitimate trade and that money should be used in a productive way.
All three Abrahamic religions – Christianity, Judaism, and Islam – have teachings that prohibit the charging of interest on loans. This prohibition is based on the belief that charging interest is exploitative and goes against the principle of treating others with fairness and compassion.
In Islam, the concept of money differs from that of the contemporary view. In Islam, money is merely a medium of exchange and is not identified as an asset all by itself. So charging an Interest on money or the creation of money from money, without any economic trade is clearly prohibited ( Imran. M, 2021).
God's Technicians: Religious Jurists and the Usury Ban in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.