Question
Does Allah announce a reward in the Qur’an (or through Sunnah) for the people who lend their money to a businessperson who already has an established business and wants to expand further? I mean if I lend money to the poor without any riba or profit over it then understandably there are some heavenly gains for me. But interest-free lending to someone who wants to expand his wealth, which of course is not wrong as per Islamic law, so for this sort of situation what heavenly reward is there for me? Does Qur’an make it a subject anywhere? Or did the Prophet (sws) elaborate it any further?
Answer
Islam encourages given away to those who are in need. It also has specified a heading that can benefit well off people. It says that one expenditure of the zakah in the state treasury is to help the people whose hearts are to be won over for the sake of Islam. It also has heading for the help of those well off people whose business has collapsed. This shows that at times we can give the money of our own to some well off person for any reason. It is not of course a requirement. If you give interest free loan to a needy and financially weak person that would earn you even greater reward. But given to the wealthy at times can be with the intention of seeking some mundane benefit which is not a religious attitude. One needs to assess the individual cases and see if what he is doing is good and religiously rewarding or not. We cannot say it is not allowable because of absence of any such command in the basic sources of religious knowledge in Islam.
Answered by: Tariq Mahmood Hashmi
Date: 2015-02-12
