The Quranic Context
The Quran repeatedly uses the phrase qard hasan — addressing God in the second-person plural as if asking the believer to “lend God” by lending to the poor (God will repay it manifold). The linguistic register is striking: the Creator frames Himself as the debtor, the believer as the lender. This rhetorical structure communicates the intensity of the obligation and the magnitude of the return.
The phrase also establishes the normative type of loan in the Islamic system: hasan — without conditions of profit, given purely for the sake of helping.
The Legal Definition
A qard al-hasan is:
- A transfer of the ownership of a fungible asset (money, grain, etc.) to the borrower
- With the obligation on the borrower to return an equivalent amount (same currency, same weight, same quality)
- With no condition of any addition — no interest, no service fee tied to the loan period, no premium
Voluntary gifts from the borrower to the lender after repayment are permitted and even encouraged (ihsan) — but they cannot be stipulated at the time of contracting.
The Social Function
The qard al-hasan is positioned in Islamic economic ethics as the alternative to the riba-based loan. Where the riba loan extracts value from the borrower’s vulnerability, the qard al-hasan transfers value while maintaining the borrower’s dignity. The wealthy person who makes qard hasan loans is described in the Quran as making a loan to God.
Modern Islamic microfinance institutions (Akhuwat in Pakistan; some Ismaili social welfare funds) operate qard al-hasan lending programs at scale.
See also: Fiqh Al Ghurm Wa Ghanm, Fiqh Al Murabaha, Fiqh Al Musharakah, Fiqh Al Wasatiyyah, Fiqh Adl Wa Ihsan