Finances

Work, generosity, debt, and honest dealing. This is comparative teaching, not personalized financial advice.

This study compares religious texts and historical claims. It does not assume that contradictory teachings are equally true. Each tradition is presented from its own primary sources, followed by an evidence-based biblical comparison.

Hebrew Bible

Honest scales, care for the poor, prohibition of usury against fellow Israelites.

Leviticus 19:35–36

hebrew bible

published

You shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in measures of length, of weight, or of quantity. You shall have just balances, just weights.

Translation:
Original:
Composed:
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What the text explicitly says: Commercial honesty is a covenant obligation.

How followers read it: Foundational Jewish and Christian principle of business integrity.

Proverbs 22:7

hebrew bible

published

The rich rule over the poor. The borrower is servant to the lender.

Translation:
Original:
Composed:
Earliest MS:

What the text explicitly says: Debt creates dependency.

How followers read it: Cited in Jewish and Christian teaching about avoiding unnecessary debt.

Qur'an (Qur'anic text only — later fiqh kept separate)

Prohibition of riba; regulated charity (zakat); written debt contracts; honest measures.

Qur'an 2:275–280

quran

published

Those who devour usury (ribā) will not stand … Allah hath permitted trade and forbidden usury.

Translation:
Original:
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Earliest MS:

What the text explicitly says: Trade is permitted; usury (however defined) is forbidden.

How followers read it: Basis of Islamic finance's riba prohibition. Definitions of riba are debated in classical fiqh — this is the Qur'anic text, not later Islamic law.

Critical questions:

Riba's exact scope is contested (usury vs. all interest); Qur'an vs. Hadith vs. fiqh distinctions matter.

Qur'an 2:282

quran

published

When ye deal with each other, in transactions involving future obligations in a fixed period of time, reduce them to writing.

Translation:
Original:
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What the text explicitly says: Debt contracts should be written.

How followers read it: Foundational Islamic commercial law text.

Hadith and later Islamic tradition

Hadith · not Qur'an

Hadith are separate from the Qur'an. Every entry below carries its collection, book, hadith number, narrator, grading, and grading authority. Hadith does not modify or supplement any Qur'an entry above.

Sahih Muslim 1598 (Book of Musaqat)

Hadith

Sahih

sunni

The Messenger of Allah cursed the one who accepts riba, the one who pays it, the one who writes it down, and the two who witness it, saying they are all alike. (short quotation)

Collection:
Book:
Hadith #:
Narrator:
Grading:
Translation:

What the text explicitly says: Later prophetic tradition extends the Qur'anic prohibition of riba to all parties involved.

How followers read it: Foundational Hadith text for Islamic finance's riba doctrine. It supplements, but does not replace, Qur'an 2:275–280.

Critical questions:

The Qur'anic prohibition itself (2:275) is the primary text. This Hadith is a distinct source and should not be labeled Qur'an.
Classical fiqh debates the scope of riba (bank interest, sale exchanges) partly through Hadith of this kind.

Side-by-side comparison

Debt and interest

• Bible: no interest against fellow Israelites (Ex 22, Lev 25); debt as servitude warning (Prov 22:7).
• Qur'an: riba forbidden (2:275); written contracts required (2:282). Riba's exact scope debated in fiqh.
• Hindu / Buddhist: interest broadly permitted; specific ethical guardrails vary.

Generosity

• Bible: tithing, gleaning laws, generous lending.
• Qur'an: zakat is one of the five pillars (traditional formulation, drawn from Qur'an + Hadith).
• Hindu: dana with right intention (Gita 17.20).
• Buddhist: dana as foundational lay practice.