Pakistan and the question of riba

While the Qur'an clearly portrays riba as forbidden, there is disagreement over exactly what riba means. Thus, there is no unanimity regarding how the Qur'anic ban should be applied in the modern world. Traditionally, riba has been held to mean any preset fixed charges for the use of capital. Ayub Khan, Pakistan's ruler in 1962, had a different view presented in the Constitution of that year. There have since been a number of commentaries on the question of riba. Abul A'la Maudoodi, the Jama'et-e-Islami leader, looked at the Qur'an and concluded, based on an analysis of Arabian practices at the time of revelation, that riba is a pre-arranged amount charged by the lender of capital. He distinguished between riba al-Nasi'a, charged on loans, and riba al-fadl, a type of commodity interest explained by the Prophet (SAW). To Maudoodi, modern bank interest is no different from the riba prohibited in the Qur'an. Anwar Iqbal Qureshi's view is similar to Maudoodi's. He sees no Western