RIBA AND THE FREE MARKET
It would appear that the definition
of riba would include all such transactions which bypass the free
market or which modify, corrupt or in any other way violate the free and fair
market. Anything less than a free and fair market must lead to corruption which,
in turn destroys trade and business. Such riba transactions which
modify and corrupt the free and fair market, open the road for economic
exploitation and oppression leading to poverty, destitution and even slavery.
It is remarkable that the
capitalist west which correctly pointed to the absence of a free market in
communism as the cause of its eventual collapse, is itself incapable of
sustaining a free and fair market. Rather the capitalist economy has produced a
veritable den of thieves who preside over the most despicable system of organized
theft it has ever been the misfortune of mankind to witness since William Shakespeare
created Shy lock, the Jewish moneylender (in his play: Merchant of Venice).
We have used very strong
language to condemn today’s riba-based capitalist economy. But we will soon see
that Almighty Allah and Prophet Muhammad (s) have used even stronger
language! And we have in fact, used the very language which Jesus (s)
used to condemn riba:
And Jesus went into the
temple of God (i.e. masjid al-aqsa) and cast out all those who sold and bought
in the temple and overthrew the tables of the money-changers (who were
ripping-off the people through riba) . . . and said unto them: It is
written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a
den of thieves.
(Gospel of St. Matthew:- 21:12-3)
For a free and fair market
to be established the following are necessary:
- freedom of access to the
market;
- freedom of competition in
the market;
- freedom of the market to
determine its own prices (i.e. there must be no fixed prices);
- freedom to choose the
medium of exchange. (i.e. there must be no compulsion to accept artificial
money in the form of paper currency, for example. as the medium of exchange.
Indeed artificial money has to be prohibited if a free and fair market is to be
restored).
- freedom to produce anything
(for the market);
- freedom to sell anything
in the market;
- freedom to buy anything in
the market etc. (in a market controlled by Muslims, freedom to produce, sell or
buy would exclude that which is haram, i.e. prohibited by Allah the Most High);
- prohibition against
selling at a price lower than the market price (and by implication above the
market price);
- prohibition against
deception in business transactions;
- prohibition against bypassing the market (as in lending on interest);
- prohibition against
cheating and stealing.
One has merely to examine
such things as the General Agreement of Trade and Tariffs (GATT) which
regulates world trade, the international monetary system based on non redeemable
artificial money in the form of paper currency and the universality of
interest-based banking to find ample evidence that a free and fair market does
not exist anywhere in the world today.
A free and fair market can
neither be established nor sustained without a code of strict laws prohibiting riba
in all its forms, a non-discriminatory enforcement of those laws and a penal
code (or system of punishment) which functions as an effective deterrent
against violation of the laws. Islam & Islam alone, has them all.
Even an elementary
understanding of the subject of the prohibition of riba in Islam
reveals that the objective and goal of Islam is precisely to establish and
sustain a free and fair market in the purest sense of the term. It is in this;
context that the world should understand the punishment in Islam for theft and
the utter non-discriminatory application of that severest and most effective of
deterrent punishments:
Aisha said that when a thief
was brought to Allah’s Messenger and he had his hand cut off, those who brought
him said: We did not think you would go so far as this with him. He replied: If
Fatima (i.e. his daughter Fatima) had been the one, I would have had her hand
cut off.
(Nasa`i)
The cutting off of the hand
of the thief in Islam would leave Wall Street with lots of people without
hands. It would in fact, act as a most effective punishment deterring predators
from ripping off mankind of their wealth.
One of the main points being
argued in this book is that Muslims can never succeed in restoring the free and
fair market without waging a successful revolutionary struggle for restoring dar
al lslam. Only when Muslims have won control over a territory in the name
of Islam and Allah's sovereignty is restored in that territory, will it be
possible to restore the free and fair market in that territory. That in turn,
will witness the elimination of riba in that territory.
REPAYMENT OF A LOAN WITH AN EXTRA AMOUNT PERMITTED
An extra sum can be added by
a borrower, to the principal sum borrowed, at the time when a borrower is
repaying a debt. Such an extra sum, however has to be freely offered, i.e. it
must not have been stipulated as a condition of the loan and as such, would not
constitute ‘interest’ or riba. We learn this from the fact that
the Prophet (s) himself acted in that way when repaying a loan; Jabir
said:
I came to the Prophet while
he was in the masjid, so he said; Pray two raka`ahs of prayer. Then since he
owed me a debt, he paid me and even gave me more (than was due).
(Bukhari)
In
order for any increase over and above the capital sum lent to be recognized as riba
that increase would have to be a condition of the loan.
to be continued . . . .
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