Principles of Economics

 

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

 

In Islam, these principles are encapsulated withìn a part of the Qur'aanic Verse 2:275, which is و احل الله البيع و حرم الربا (and Allah has permitted business, and prohibited Ar-Riba).

 A business is an activity to facilitate convenient availability of a variety of needful things to people. 

 The neighborhood shopkeeper arranges for and provides to me things conveniently for my day-to-day use. For this service, he is charging some extra money over and above the cost of the things to him. He is engaged in business permitted in the Qur'aan. 

My neighborhood electrician comes and fixes the lighting problems at my house. He is charging me something extra over and above the things used by him for the purpose. He too is engaged in business permitted in the Qur'aan. 

My neighborhood bank keeps my money in its safe custody and allows time-to-time withdrawal therefrom for my personal use. It also provides loans to me for my necessary expenses which I am unable to meet within my savings. For this service, the bank charges me interest which includes the bank's overhead expenses plus a reasonable profit margin for itself. This bank is also engaged in business permitted in the Qur'aan.

But, as noted elsewhere in the same Verse 2:275 (قالو انما البيع مثل الربا), some people, under Satanic spell, insist that such bank business is like Ar-Riba!!

Please click here to understand what Ar-Riba really is.

 

Mohammad Shafi 

Friday, the 25th of June 2021.

 

Interest on Money Lent

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful 

Almost every Muslim religious leader asserts that interest on money lent is حرام (prohibited) in Islam as الربا (Ar-Riba), in terms of Verse 2:275 of the Qur'aan. They equate Ar-Riba to interest. 

But I have found nothing in the Qur'aan to support this equation! The leaders say that the term is not defined in the Holy Book. 

 

How could they say so when the divine Book repeatedly reiterates that it is well explained within itself (Verses 17:12, 16:89, 6:55, 41:3, 11:1, 17:89, ...)? Are they not thus betraying their lack of faith in the Qur'aan being divine?

 

For further details on this, please refer to the web page What Is Ar-Riba! 

 

And for a comprehensive information on this topic, kindly read ISLAM AND INTEREST. 

 

Mohammad Shafi 

Friday, the 18th of June 2021.

 

Islam - Grossly Misunderstood & Misrepresented

 

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

 

In a recent TV serial, a person is shown unjustly indulging in subversion in a secretive manner. And he is shown, in the seclusion of his residence, as praying the Muslim Namaz/Salat!

 

A true Muslim would fight injustice but never indulge in unjust subversion. The TV serial was misrepresenting Islam.

 

In visual media, Muslims are shown as praying at the tombs of dead saints. As if they are seeking the saints' intercession in their prayers to Allah!

 

But Islam is strictly against seeking such intercession. It calls it 'shirk', an unpardonable sin!

 

The media is thus grossly misunderstanding & misrepresenting true Islam!

 

What is true Islam then?

 

It is simply an unshakable belief in the existence of One Creator of the entire Universe and of everything therein! Muslims call Him - the One Creator - Allah. HE has created mankind on this earth for testing its every individual for his/her eligibility to a higher, permanent life where there would be no loss, no suffering, no death. The test is whether the individual recognizes Allah without factually seeing Him.

 

Allah has adequately pre-conditioned mankind for this test. HE has ingrained the subconscious of every individual with a natural acceptance of His existence.

 

Besides, HE has provided evidence of His existence in everything, in and around the individual. The individual can decipher the evidence by pondering over it a little.

 

HE has, moreover, sent His human Messengers to every nation around the world with divine Scriptures for mankind's guidance. The last of such guidance came nearly 1500 hundred years ago in the form of the Qur'aan. 

 

No further such guidance is needed since all provisions are now in place for the preservation of the last scripture till end of this earthly world. 

 

Every individual must abide by that divine Scripture and abstain from all evil to be eligible for a permanently secure and happy life in the Hereafter. 

 

Islam is the way to that life!

 

Mohammad Shafi

Friday, the 11^th of June 2021.

 

Sunnat

 

In the Name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful

I have come across سنت الله (Allah's Way) [Verse 33:38], and not سنت الرسول (the Prophet's way), in the Qur'aan.

But our religious leaders (those who call themselves Sunnis) insist on associating the Sunnat with the Qur'aan. By Sunnat, they mean سنت الرسول. They say that Islam is incomplete otherwise.

Is it so? Then why is this so important a thing not mentioned in the Qur'aan? The Qur'aan reiterates that it explains every necessary thing in detail (Verses 17:12, 16:89, 6:55, 41:3, 11:1, 17:89, ...).

Are the religious leaders then guilty of contradicting the divine Qur'aan?

 They cannot take shelter of the Qur'aanic direction و اطيع الرسول; for, that direction was for obeying the Messenger while he was living on this earth. Kindly see the blog post Obeying the Messenger in this context. 

 

Mohammad Shafi 

Friday, the 4th of June 2021.