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Prohibition Of Riba As Applying To The Poor
Doesn't the prohibition of riba apply only to lending to the poor who are forced to borrow at high rates?
Besides the fact that the prohibition refers to everyone, at a practical level it is impossible to apply a quantitative standard (interest rates) to a qualitative circumstance (poverty). Who determines who is poor? Does one set a poverty line based on zakat eligibility? Will banks be forced to lend to these poor? Will the "risky" poor be charged higher rates than the regular poor? Before long the standards by which money is allocated become identical to conventional interest-based standards. Because there necessarily can be no quantifiable cut-off between what is an "interest rate" and what is a "usurious rate" further supports the Islamic view that the term riba does not distinguish between interest and usury in the Quran.

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