Press Release
Dealing with Usury is still Dealt with in Yemeni Banks Instead of Stopping It
(Translated)

The talk about usury (riba) and usurious dealings in Yemeni banks has returned to the pages of Al-Thawra Newspaper again, as it stated in its issue 21278 issued on Tuesday, 1 Sha’ban 1444 AH corresponding to 02/21/2023: “Based on faith and national responsibility, there is great tendency in Yemen at the level of the revolutionary and economic leadership to limit of usurious transactions in banks and financial transactions.”

Nine years after the Houthis seized power in Sana'a, they are still dealing with usury, taking and giving, according to the capitalist system that they deal with like other rulers of Muslim countries, despite their accusations of the capitalist system and its corruption, day and night! Only their words, in their lectures and cultural courses, prevent it! They said, “We need to address one of the most dangerous and worst of the destructive and disastrous economic problems represented by usury.” The Central Bank, the Economic Center, and the Fatwa Department carried out reforms and measures to stop usurious transactions, as stated by Hashim Ismail, the governor of the Central Bank, “The bank has suspended nearly 70 % of the mass of the public debt for usurious transactions, and only 30% is left.” And if we agree, for the sake of argument, that the usurious transactions in Yemeni banks is reduced, will the usurious dealings in external debt from regional and international banks and funds, headed by the International Monetary Fund and Bank, be stopped?

All kinds and forms of usurious transactions do not stop with gradation, gradation in the application of Islam, by applying one part and leaving another part, is not permissible according to Sharia, and the evidence for that is definitive proof, definitive evidence, as is evident in the Almighty’s saying:

[وَأَنِ احْكُم بَيْنَهُم بِمَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ وَلاَ تَتَّبِعْ أَهْوَاءهُمْ وَاحْذَرْهُمْ أَن يَفْتِنُوكَ عَن بَعْضِ مَا أَنزَلَ اللّهُ إِلَيْكَ]

“And judge between them ˹O Prophet˺ by what Allah has revealed, and do not follow their desires. And beware, so they do not lure you away from some of what Allah has revealed to you.” [Al-Ma’idah 5:49]. The Noble Prophet (saw) rejected the calls of the Quraysh leaders for him to concede even a few of Allah’s rulings. The same applies to the prohibition of usury and dealing with it. There is no gradation, because Allah Almighty said in His Decisive Book:

[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَذَرُوا مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ فَإِنْ لَمْ تَفْعَلُوا فَأْذَنُوا بِحَرْبٍ مِنَ اللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَإِنْ تُبْتُمْ فَلَكُمْ رُءُوسُ أَمْوَالِكُمْ لَا تَظْلِمُونَ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ]

“O believers! Fear Allah, and give up outstanding interest if you are ˹true˺ believers. If you do not, then beware of a war with Allah and His Messenger! But if you repent, you may retain your principal—neither inflicting nor suffering harm.” [Al-Baqara 2: 278-279]. Rather, it is forbidden in compliance with the command of Allah directly, and that is by removing the entire capitalist economic system, starting from defining the economic problem and ending with economic treatments, and applying the provisions of Islam in all areas of life, which we know fully that the governments of Sana’a and Aden will not dare to take the decision to implement Islam; because the decision is not theirs, because they are nothing but agents of the Kafir West in the implementation of capitalist systems not recently. Although stopping dealing with usury does not mean that they have implemented Islam, because the application of Islam can only be at once and in all areas of life.

The holders of the idea of gradual implementation of the Sharia are the last resort for the major kuffar states to present them to the ummah after the masks fell from the faces that were secular, when the most important demand of the Ummah has become the implementation of Islam. Through this malicious idea, Muslims are reassured that the ruling has become in trustworthy hands that desire Islam because their appearance is Islamic! Therefore, the idea of gradualism is worthless, and gradual change will never lead to the desired change, and the real change will only be with a radical, comprehensive and complete change, and this will only be under the shadow of the Khilafah (Caliphate) that implements Islam as a system and constitution for life; Hizb ut Tahrir does not talk about this solution out of imagination, but rather it works day and night between the Ummah and with it, and it has prepared the right tools for that, including a complete approach for the state starting with the draft constitution of the Khilafah State, which contains the provisions of the state derived from the Book of Allah and the Sunnah of His Messenger (saw) and with the strength of evidence. We ask Him (swt) to be among its witnesses and soldiers.

Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Yemen