01 / 20 · Faith · Foundations
Riba is a house problem before it is a banking problem.
The Quran sets trade against riba. A 25-year loan on a dwelling is the largest riba most British Muslims will ever be offered. Everything else is a rounding error next to it.
The Mizan desk · 7 September 2026 · 8 min
A credit-card balance is ugly and small. A mortgage is polite and enormous. The fiqh does not grade by manners. A stipulated increase on a loan is riba al-nasi’ah whether the lender is Wonga or Nationwide and whether the asset is a phone or a semi in Luton.
Trade is permitted: risk, an asset, two sides that can lose. That is why diminishing musharakah even bothers to exist. If you want the theology in one page, read the riba guide. If you want it in a house, you are already in the right issue.
Inflation is not a fatwa
‘I only want to keep pace with CPI’ is still a stipulated increase on a loan. ‘The bank has costs’ is why they should take an equity share or a rent, not why they may coupon a debt. Time-value of money is a description of markets. It is not a source of law.