Having condemned usury as an unhealthy, inequitable economic practice, the sūrah resumes by outlining provisions governing trade, loans, loan securities, and usury-free lending and transactions.

As one reads these verses, one cannot fail to marvel at the superb style of the Qur’ān, which combines precise legal language with eloquence and great literary merit. It achieves that delicate and elusive balance between clarity of meaning and pungency of expression, thereby gently but most effectively enhancing the appeal of the legal provisions to the religious conscience, without prejudicing the moral stance of the text or the precision of the wording. In the case of commercial contracts, for instance, all potential influences are brought into play with respect to the two parties to the contract, the witnesses and the executors, taking great care to consider all eventualities. Each point is thoroughly dealt with before moving on to the next, thereby avoiding unnecessary repetition, superfluous expressions, or the labouring of any aspect of the topic under discussion.

In these highly legalistic discussions, the Qur’ān maintains the same quality of literary excellence and beauty as in those passages that deal with moral or religious exhortations. Indeed, it is even more so, because precision is of the essence in these cases and one inappropriate word could affect the whole meaning with unfortunate consequences. Yet in its pioneering role in establishing these principles almost ten centuries before civil and commercial laws, as legal experts would willingly admit, the Qur’ān achieves its objective of penetrating the human mind and heart with immense ease and elegance.

Let us now take a closer look at the principles that Islam establishes with respect to loans: “Believers, when you contract a debt for a fixed term, put it in writing, and let a scribe write it down for you with fairness.” (Verse 282)

The general rule, therefore, is that details of all fixed-term loans must be in writing, for reasons that will become clear later, and that a third party must do the recording in order to ensure total impartiality and fairness. The writer is required to record the agreed terms of the loan faithfully, without interference, bias or prejudice.

He is obliged to do his job fully and competently as a duty to God who has blessed him with the ability to write, and for which he will be appropriately rewarded: “No scribe shall refuse to write as God has taught him. So he shall write.” (Verse 282)

Having established that the terms of loans should be committed to writing by an independent document writer, the sūrah goes on to explain how the writing should be carried out: “... and let the one who incurs the liability i.e. the debtor] dictate; and [in so doing] let him be conscious of God his Lord and not diminish anything of it. If he who incurs the liability is weak of mind or body, or unable to dictate himself, then let his guardian dictate with fairness.” (Verse 282)

The party incurring the liability, the borrower, is the one to dictate to the writer, acknowledging the amount borrowed and his commitment to the terms and conditions of the loan, as a safeguard against any injustice to him. As the weaker party to the transaction, he would be less liable to alter the terms and conditions.

This would reinforce the borrower’s commitment to the liability. For, were the creditor to dictate, there would be no guarantee that he might not tamper with the terms and conditions of the loan to his advantage. Furthermore, the sūrah appeals to the borrower’s conscience to be scrupulous and faithful in dictating the terms of the loan. It goes on to advise that if the borrower is feeble-minded, under age, or unable to dictate through ignorance or an impediment of speech, or any other reason, his guardian, attorney or trustee, may do so on his behalf, showing the same, if not greater, scrupulous fairness.

The sūrah gives detailed instructions concerning the witnessing of the contract:

“Call in two of your men to act as witnesses, but if two men are not available, then a man and two women, whom you consider acceptable as witnesses, so that if either of them should make a mistake, the other will remind her.” (Verse 282)

For the contract to be valid, it must be witnessed by two men or, if these are not readily available, one man and two women, all of whom should be of good standing in the community and deemed “acceptable as witnesses” by both parties. The reason for recommending men witnesses in the first instance is that, in a Muslim society, the majority of marketplace attendants are normally men, since women, generally, do not have to seek work to earn a living and their main preoccupation is the family home and the raising of society’s new generation. Nevertheless, if two men cannot be found to witness a contract, a man and two women will do. But why two women?

The sūrah goes on to elaborate this point further, arousing deeper fear and consciousness of God, to whom everything belongs and who is aware of every thought, whether concealed or stated. He is sure to bring everyone to account, and He has full control over people’s ultimate destiny: “To God belongs all that is in the heavens and the earth. Whether you make known what is in your minds or conceal it, God will bring you to account for it. He will then forgive whom He wills and punish whom He wills. God has power over all things.” (Verse 284)

One of the most distinctive features of the Qur’ānic legislative approach is that it combines purely legalistic directives with emotional and spiritual exhortations. Thus, it links the rules to be implemented in human life to their source, the Creator of all life, within a context rich with fear of, and hope in, God Almighty. Islam moulds individual hearts and souls, as well as society as a whole, to which it addresses its legislation in order to achieve perfect harmony between morality and law, piety and authority. It is a code of life designed and laid down for man by his Creator, which can never be rivalled by anything that man, with his limited knowledge, perception and life duration, can ever hope to produce or achieve. After all, human beings always differ in their views and perspectives. Why, then, does humanity try to run away from its Creator who knows best what suits His creation in every case, time or situation?

The modern wilderness in which humanity suffers today originated, in Europe with the breakaway from the oppression of the Church and the “God” it claimed to represent, and the shackles it put on human thought. The Church in Europe imposed steep taxes on ordinary people, levied tithes, sold indulgences for sins committed, and imposed very harsh tyranny. As people rose to challenge and discard these inhuman practices, they denounced the Church and rejected its teachings and authority. Regrettably, they did not stop there but went on to reject the “God of the Church” and His authority and to completely turn away from religion itself. That was a crucial development in human history that was to prove the cause of most of the misery and suffering seen in the world ever since.

The question is why should Muslims reject their religious way of life or turn away from it? Unlike the Church in Europe, Islam has been a religion largely associated with tolerance, progress and universal human well-being. The objective Islam has always worked for is to lighten the burden of human suffering and eradicate oppression, cruelty and injustice for all mankind. What reason, then, do we have to banish it from our life, imitating the West, when we have always been free from the problems that the West has had with the Church?