al-Baqara 2:278-281 — The drawing of the boundary

"You who believe! … give up what remains of ribā. If you do not, know that you are at war with God and His Messenger."

فَأْذَنُوا۟ بِحَرْبٍ — the heaviest expression used in the Qurʾān for a financial transaction.

And immediately afterwards the boundary is drawn: wa in tubtum fa-lakum ruʾūsu amwālikum — "if you repent, your capital is yours."

لَا تَظْلِمُونَ وَلَا تُظْلَمُونَ — "you neither do wrong nor are wronged." The active and the passive of the same verb side by side. The regulation protects both parties at once: the creditor's capital is not wiped out, the debtor's excess is lifted.

وَإِن كَانَ ذُو عُسْرَةٍ فَنَظِرَةٌ إِلَىٰ مَيْسَرَةٍ — "if he is in difficulty, then a respite until ease is required."

The ruling postpones collection. And it takes one step further: wa an taṣaddaqū khayrun lakum — "and that you should forgo it is better for you."

The ordering is worth recording: first the right (the capital is yours), then postponement (in hardship one waits), then remission (to cancel is better). Three degrees, from hard to soft. This is the structure repeated in the legal sections of the sūra.

وَٱتَّقُوا۟ يَوْمًا تُرْجَعُونَ فِيهِ إِلَى ٱللَّهِ — verse 281 closes the whole financial section with the recalling of a day.