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Abstract
This article seeks to study ribā from a novel point of view. Paying off interest without preconditions is recommended strongly by the Prophet (PBUH). If Islamic society follows his advice, this will become a prevalent custom (ʿurf) among Muslims, which the title of the stipulated interest does not include. This article refers to the views of Islamic schools on ʿurf and how they comply with the custom in question formed hypothetically. This article finds that, according to Islamic schools, such custom is considered valid, legitimate, and necessary to follow. The last part of the article provides an important discussion on how to put this theory into practice and implement the model designed for this purpose in the Islamic financial system. This article concludes that the challenge of prohibiting ribā will be solved if non-stipulated interest can be made obligatory in Islamic society based on the juristic views on ʿurf.
Abstract
This article is a study of the Brethren of Purity’s thirty-seventh epistle, The Essence of Love. It compares this work with the treatises on love written by the Muslim philosophers Ibn Sīnā, Suhrawardī, and Mullā Ṣadrā, the leading representatives of the Peripatetic, Illuminationist, and Transcendental schools of Islamic philosophy, respectively. A fundamental distinction of the Brethren’s approach is their positive impression of love between human beings, including its romantic and conjugal components. Such love is not entirely under human control; the celestial spheres also exercise their influence. The Brethren contend that society and civilization prosper because of love. Unlike several others, they are intent on reconciling divine or “real” love with love between individuals. While the Brethren praise the benefits of romantic love and conjugal relations, Ibn Sīnā judges them harmful, and Suhrawardī a distraction. Mullā Ṣadrā, though, takes an intermediate position, influenced by both the Brethren and Ibn Sīnā.