The line the Quran draws
The Quran treats riba as a category of its own, set against trade: “Allah has permitted trade and forbidden riba” (2:275). Trade has risk, a real asset, and two sides that can lose. Riba is a guaranteed increment for waiting, with the principal still owed.
Classical jurists split riba into two working types. Riba al-nasi’ah is delay: I lend you 100, you owe me 110 later. Riba al-fadl is surplus in a spot exchange of gold, silver, or staple foods without equality. Modern bank interest is the first type, in a suit.
What it is not
Profit on a sale is not riba. Rent on an asset you still own is not riba. A partnership share of profit and loss is not riba. Marking up a phone you actually own, then selling it, is trade — even if the buyer pays in instalments — provided the price is fixed and you carry the asset risk until sale.
Inflation is not a licence. A loan of 100 that demands 103 “to keep pace with CPI” is still a stipulated increase on a loan. Some contemporary writers argue otherwise; that is a minority view and not how AAOIFI or the major fiqh academies treat retail interest.
How it shows up in a British life
Interest on overdrafts, credit cards, personal loans, student finance (debated — see that guide), conventional mortgages, savings “AER”, NS&I, and most bond coupons. Late-payment fees that increase with time are riba in substance even when branded as administration.
A current account that pays 0% is not automatically fine. The bank is still pooling your money into interest-bearing loans. Many scholars still allow a non-interest current account for need, and prefer an Islamic bank when one exists. That is mixed practice, not a fatwa that high-street banking is halal.
How to read the rest of this site
Where a product replaces the loan with a sale, lease, or partnership, it can be halal if the documents match the label. Where it keeps a loan and relabels the interest, it cannot. The tools here help you test the structure, not rubber-stamp a brand.