IslamicFinance.de

Moroccan jurist Ahmed Raissouni and his recent fatwa on micro loans in Morocco has stirred controversy among Moroccan salafists. They urged the head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars to review his opinion on the matter. Raissouni said the loans introduced recently were Sharia-compliant, but salafists sustain the view that usury, even with an interest rate of 0.5%, remains a prohibited practice. Mohamed Talal Lahlou, a professor of Islamic economics said that these loans are meant to promote the national economy and the explanation of its advantages, as presented by Raissouni, is a sort of normalization of what is prohibited by Islam. He denounced the reasoning, which increases the power of an authoritarian and usury system.