Religious prohibitions on usury are predicated upon the belief that charging interest on a loan is a sin. Though the Roman Empire eventually allowed loans with carefully restricted interest rates, the Catholic Church in medieval Europe, as well as the Reformed Churches, regarded the charging of interest at any rate as sinful (as well as charging a fee for the use of money, such as at a bureau de change). At times, many states from ancient Greece to ancient Rome have outlawed loans with any interest. Similar condemnations are found in religious texts from Buddhism, Judaism ( ribbit in Hebrew), Christianity, and Islam ( riba in Arabic). During the Sutra period in India (7th to 2nd centuries BC) there were laws prohibiting the highest castes from practicing usury. In many historical societies including ancient Christian, Jewish, and Islamic societies, usury meant the charging of interest of any kind, and was considered wrong, or was made illegal. Someone who practices usury can be called a usurer, but in modern colloquial English may be called a loan shark. A loan may be considered usurious because of excessive or abusive interest rates or other factors defined by the laws of a state. The term may be used in a moral sense-condemning taking advantage of others' misfortunes-or in a legal sense, where an interest rate is charged in excess of the maximum rate that is allowed by law. Usury ( / ˈ j uː ʒ ər i/) is the practice of making unethical or immoral loans that unfairly enrich the lender. Of Usury, from Brant's Stultifera Navis ( Ship of Fools), 1494 woodcut attributed to Albrecht Dürer
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