Taking a loan on interest and doing business with it

Question

Question: On the part of the government, grain and sugarcane are given to cultivators on interest for sowing, to be repaid at the harvest. When the crop is cut, more than what was given is taken, in a fixed quantity. Obviously this is interest. Today there is hardly a cultivator in my area who has escaped it. In such a situation, should one not eat food at the house of any of one’s relatives?

Answer

What the cultivator received is a loan (qard), not interest; then the amount taken back from him in excess is interest. The food in the cultivator’s house is not interest.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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