RIBĀ (ربا). “Usury.” A term in Muslim law defined as “an excess according to a legal standard of measurement or weight, in one or two homogeneous articles opposed to each other in a contract of exchange, and in which such excess is stipulated as an obligatory condition on one of the parties without any return.”
The word ribā appears to have the same meaning as the Hebrew נֶשֶׁךְ neshec, which included gain, whether from the loan of money, or goods, or property of any kind. In the Mosaic law, conditions of gain for the loan of money or goods were rigorously prohibited. See [Exod. xxii. 25]; [Lev. xxv. 36]. [[USURY].]
RIBĀT̤ (رباط). A station or fort on the frontier of an enemy’s country, erected for the accommodation of Muslim warriors (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. ii. p. 357.)
RICHES. Arabic daulah (دولة), Qurʾān lix. 7, māl (مال), kas̤ratu ʾl-māl (كثرة المال), “Great wealth.” Muḥammad is related to have said, “Whoever desires the world and its riches in a lawful manner, in order to withhold himself from begging, or to provide a livelihood for his family, or to be kind to his neighbours, will appear before God in the Last Day with his face as bright as a full moon. But whoever seeks the riches of the world for the sake of ostentation, will appear before God in his anger. (Mishkāt, book xxii. ch. xxiii.)
In the Qurʾān it is said:—
[Sūrah xviii. 44]: “Wealth (māl) and children are an adornment of this world, but enduring good works are better with thy Lord as a recompense, and better as a hope.”
[Sūrah viii. 28]: “Know that your wealth and your children are but a temptation.”
In the IIIrd Sūrah, [12, 13], the possessions of this world are contrasted with those of the world to come in the following language: “Seemly unto men is a life of lusts, of women, and children, and hoarded talents of gold and silver, and of horses well-bred, and cattle, and tilth:—that is the provision for the life of this world; but God, with Him is the best resort. Say, ‘But shall we tell you of a better thing than this?’ For those who fear are gardens with their Lord, beneath which rivers flow; they shall dwell therein for aye, and pure wives and grace from God; the Lord looks on His servants, who say, ‘Lord, we believe; pardon Thou our sins and keep us from the torment of the fire,’—upon the patient, the truthful, the devout, and those who ask for pardon at the dawn.”
RIKĀZ (ركاز). Treasures buried in the earth, particularly those treasures which have been buried at some remote period.
In the Hidāyah, the word rikāz includes kanz, “treasure,” or other property buried in the earth, and maʿdin, “mines.” Such treasures are subject to a zakāt of a fifth. (Hamilton’s Hidāyah, vol. i. p. 39.)