Interpreting Riba Verses: a Cognitive Approach

The status and importance of Riba's being interdicted in Islam is beyond question. The main question in the present study is that why Quran describes Riba as a banned and illegitimate economic behavior. The answers given to this question are sometimes called the philosophy or the wisdom of Riba's being interdicted. The course taken here in order to answer the question is based on the cognitive approach to economics. In fact, one can give it a novel answer through the cognitive analysis of Riba's nature. The hypothesis here is that on the basis of Quran verses, Riba's nature is related to a cognitive disorder. How we answer the aforementioned question has considerable motivational implications regarding the formation and prevention of this behavior.