Summary

[It is routinely argued by the exponents of Islamic banking and finance that there is an ijma (consensus) on interest being the riba that is prohibited in Islam. Since ijma is a theologically critical concept in Islam, any such claim is relevant not just from the viewpoint of Islamic law, but also from its awe-inspiring effect on Muslims. This essay provides a brief exposition of the problems with riba -interest equivalence and contains a robust collection of views contradicting such sweeping claim of ijma . The Readers are highly ...