Grand Ayatollah Shirazi: Giving loans in exchange for depositing money for a period of time is not considered usury

The daily scholarly meeting of Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Sadegh al-Hosseini al-Shirazi was held on Tuesday, the 29th of Rabi al-Thani. In this session, like the previous meetings, the Marja answered the questions of the attendees about various legal issues.

Grand Ayatollah Shirazi answered a question about the religious legality of the loans granted by some “Qarz al-Hasana” funds or banks in exchange for placing a deposit for a few months, and said: “Opinion is divided on this issue. In my opinion, there is no problem and it is not considered usury, because here reception of the loan is being limited to certain people, and it is like a person saying, for example, that I will lend money only to whoever comes to my house. Here, this person has limited the scope of lending to only those who go to his majlis, and does not lend money to just anyone.”

Based on numerous hadiths from the Holy Prophet and the immaculate Imams, peace be upon them, that say, [Any loan that brings benefit is usury], his Eminence said: “Sometimes a person says, for example, I lend money to someone who cleans my house. Here, because it brings benefit to the lender, the transaction is considered usury. However, if one considers certain limits for a loan, some jurists believe that this is also considered usury, but in my opinion, this is not a case of usury.

The Marja further emphasized that: “If someone says that I give loans to people who leave their money with me for three months or six months or one year, this is a case of considering limits for a loan, and does not mean earning benefits from the loan. Like a person who says that I only lend to Sadat, or to scholars, or to seminarians and students, or to someone who performs the night prayers. Therefore, considering limits for a loan does not equate usury but earning benefits from a loan amounts to usuary.