Usury
Usury (from the Latin usus meaning "used") was defined originally as charging a fee for the use of money. This usually meant interest on loans, although charging a fee for changing money (as at a Bureau de change) is included in the original meaning. Over time, the word has come to refer specifically to charging very high interest on loans.
It is against the Islamic faith to charge interest, which has led to a number of Islamic banking practices which differ from those common in countries following western financial systems. The principle differences occur in mortgages, in which the bank buys the property and resells it to the customer with payment in installments, and the financing of businesses, which is done by investment rather than cash loans. Such deals involve more transfers of real property than the corresponding loans, hence they can incur disadvantageous taxes in non-Muslim countries where the charging of interest is considered unremarkable.
See:loan shark, Roots of anti-Semitism
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