The claim: "By banning interest (2:275) the Qur'an interferes with economic freedom; this is outdated and needless."
The Qur'an's rationale: no labour/risk, but exploitation
- The Qur'an makes trade lawful and ribā unlawful (2:275) — the distinction is between trade that carries labour/risk and producing money from money.
- It ties ribā to injustice: "if you repent, your principal is yours; you neither wrong nor are wronged." (2:279)
- It deems it false growth: "the interest you give to grow within people's wealth does not grow with God." (30:39)
- It stresses especially compounded (usurious) interest: "do not consume interest multiplied many times over." (3:130)
An honest limit
Saying the Qur'an "meddles in the economy" is really a value preference: the Qur'an builds wealth on labour, risk and solidarity, and rejects gain that crushes the debtor. Whether this is outdated or a still-valid principle of justice is an economic / philosophical debate — and whether it means all modern interest or only its exploitative / usurious form is itself a matter of interpretation. We lay out the Qur'an's rationale; the verdict "needless / outdated" is the reader's.
Source: Qur'anic verses (M. Okuyan meal). Presented soberly and respectfully, with a text/interpretation distinction.