DEBT AND THE ECONOMIC SUNNAH
Until such time as Muslims
can restore Dar al-lslam there is need for an effective strategy through
which the danger of riba can be minimized. There is much in the
economic Sunnah which can be used for this purpose.
Muslims must be taught that they should abstain from entering into debt except in cases of grave necessity.
and if they are already in debt they should make every effort possible to extricate
themselves from debt. This would lay the foundation for a measure of protection
from the most prevalent form of riba which now infects Muslim
society, i.e. borrowing on interest from banks and other financial
institutions. In the process of restoring the economic Sunnah regarding debt we
would, in fact, be pursuing an effective strategy against riba.
And so we commend a strategy which commences with education concerning debt and
the economic Sunnah.
Muslim communities around
the world today should study, apply and teach the following ahadith of
the Prophet (s) pertaining to debt which are particularly relevant. This
material should be published in fliers for distribution after salaatul jumu'ah.
The khateeb for salaatul jumu'ah should deliver a khutbah on the
subject of debt and the economic Sunnah. Fliers should also he put up in large
print on notice boards at masajid and should be taught at weekend
Islamic schools:
Aisha said:
The Messenger of Allah used to make duah (supplication) while performing salaat
(prayer) and used to say: Oh Allah I seek refuge with Thee from sin and from
being in debt. Someone asked him: How often, O Messenger of Allah, do you seek
refuge from being in debt? He said: When a man is in debt he speaks and tells
lies and he promises and breaks the promise.
(Bukhari)
The Prophet (s)
sought refuge with Allah, the Most High, from debt and, as a consequence, debt
is recognized as an evil. Debt ruins not only individuals but also nations and
States. Indeed the entire Islamic civilization has today been ruined through
debt. And for this we must lay the blame squarely where it is due, i.e. with
those sophisticated secularized bureaucrats and technocrats, holding economics
degrees from secular western universities, who presided over the economic
betrayal of the entire Muslim world as well as most of non-European humanity.
We must also blame their excellencies, majesties, royal highnesses etc., and
the governments which rule over Muslims today on behalf of (what I recognize
as) the dominant European civilization of ya’jooj and ma'jooj. The deadly
embrace of the world of Islam with debt really took place after Europe
succeeded in destroying the khilafat (Caliphate) and replacing it with small
native ya’jooj and ma’jooj governments all around the world of Islam. They are
ya’jooj and ma'jooj because those governments are constituted by and serve the
interests of the predatory elite.
There are 32 countries now
classified by the World Bank as severely indebted low income countries (SILICs).
They have debt-service-to-gross-national-product ratios of more than 80 percent,
or debt-service-to-export ratios of over 220 per cent. Twenty five are in
sub-Saharan Africa, precisely the part of the world which has fell and
continues to feel, the deepest and most enduring penetration of predatory
European colonialism.
The combined debt stock of
these countries of just under 5210 billion in 1994 was four times higher than
in 1980. In 1995 repayments of $16 billion fell due, but they were able to pay less
than half this amount, with the rest added to arrears. For an ever-increasing
number of countries in the world today the gap between debt and interest in payment
obligations and ability to pay has grown well beyond what could ever be paid
back. Had these countries been individuals, they could get out of their
predicament by filing for bankruptcy. They would be relieved of the burden of
debt and would have a chance to start afresh. But this does not apply to human
societies when organized as modem States. Their enslavement is now complete.
That is the fate which awaits the rest of the world.
What does Islam have to
offer as guidance in dealing with the problem of debt?
Salamah
reported: A janaza (bier) was brought to the Prophet that he might perform the
salatul janazah (funeral prayer) over it. He asked: Was he in debt? They said:
No! So he performed the prayer over it. Another janaiah was brought to him and
he asked: Was he in debt? They said. Yes! He said; (You) say prayers over your
companion. Abu Qaiadah Said: I will pay his debt Oh Messenger of Allah! So he
said the funeral prayer over it.
(Bukhari)
Abu Dharr
said: I was once with the Prophet, I then he saw the mountain of Uhud, he said:
I would not desire that this (mountain) should be turned into gold for me, then
there should remain with me one dinar out of it beyond three days, except a
dinar I should keep for payment of a debt!
(Bukhari)
This hadith also establishes
the economic Sunnah which abhors the hoarding of wealth and encourages spending
instead, - thus the Prophet (s) would have spent the mountain of gold within
three days. When wealth is spent it is injected into the economy and this
strengthens the economy. Spending should be effected, however in such a way that
the Sunnah of simplicity and austerity of the person lifestyle of the Prophet (s)
is maintained! Thus spending is to be directed towards production rather than
consumption. Spending is also for charitable purposes.
Abu Hurairah
said: The Messenger of Allah said. It is an act of zulm (wickedness or
injustice) that a person with wealth (enough to pay his debt} should delay (in
the payment of that debt)
(Bukhari)
(If at all there was any
doubt about it, these statements of the Prophet (s) as well as those which
follow, establish beyond any doubt whatsoever that someone who is in debt
should first pay his debt before attempting to perform the pilgrimage to Makkah).
Al-Sharid
reported the Prophet as saying: Delay in paying a debt by one who has the means
to pay, makes it lawful to dishonor and punish him. Ibn at-Mubarak said that
'dishonor means he can be spoken to harshly or roughly, and 'punish ' he may be
imprisoned for it.
(Abu Daud, Nasa'i)
Abu Qatadah
told of a man saying: Tell me, Messenger of Allah, if I am killed in Allah's
Path showing endurance, seeking my reward from Allah, advancing and not
retreating, will Allah efface my sins? He replied: Yes! But when the man turned
away he called him and said: Yes, with the exception of a debt. Thus said
Gabriel.
(Muslim)
Abdullah bin
Amr reported Allah's Messenger as saying: Every fault but a debt will be
forgiven to a martyr.
(Muslim)
Abu Hurairah
reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: A believer's soul is attached to his debt
till it is paid.
(Shafe'i, Ahmad, Tirmidhi)
Abu Musa
reported the Prophet as saying: The greatest sin in Allah’s sight, after the
serious sins which Allah has prohibited, which a man can bring into His
presence is that he should die in debt without leaving enough to discharge it.
(Ahmad, Abu Daud)
Muhammad bin
Abdullah bin Jahsh said: When we were sitting in the courtyard of the masjid
where the biers were laid down and Allah's Messenger was sitting in the midst
of us, he raised his eyes to the sky and looked, then lowering his eyes and putting
his hand on his forehead he said: Glory be to Allah! Glory be to Allah! What
severity has come down! We said nothing all day and night and experienced
nothing but good till the morning. Then I asked Allah’s Messenger what the
severity was which had come down, and he replied: It has to do with debts. By
Him in whose hand Muhammad's soul is, if a man were to be killed in Allah's
Path then come to life, be killed again in Allah's Path then come to life, and
he killed once more in Allah's Path and then come to life owing a debt, he
would not enter paradise till his debt was paid.
(Ahmad)
Debt is such a terrible
burden that Allah, the Most High, Himself intervenes on behalf of the debtor to
urge that he be assisted:
... And
if the debtor is in difficulty then give him time till it is easy for him to
pay' off the debt. But that you should remit it as charity is better for you if
only you knew
(Qur’an al-Baqarah . - 2:280)
Alms
are for the poor and the needy, and for those employed to administer (the funds),
and for those whose hearts have been recently reconciled (to Truth); for those
in bondage and for those in debt
(Qur’an: al-Tauba:- 9:60)
I have distinct memories
myself, after the death of my father in 1957, of my widowed mother who was
forced to borrow money on a few occasions, and who was then unable to digest
her food or even to sleep properly because of her concern about being in debt.
Our parents were like that. Indeed America was like that before the
commencement of the release of ya'jooj, ma’jooj and al-Masih al-Dajjal. These
evil forces successfully corrupted a culture which frowned on debts. When
people come to USA and become part of this society those precious values are
easily lost. Muslims need to recognize the danger and teach themselves and their
children the values located in the economic Sunnah!
Shakespeare has preserved
for us the values which European civilization of both East and West used to
uphold before the American, French and Bolshevik revolutions completed their
transformation into essentially godless societies incapable of sustaining
values. He says, for example, in Hamlet Act 1, Scene 2:
Neither
a borrower nor a lender be,
For
loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And
borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry (i.e. hard work).
This
above all, - to thine own self be true
And
it must follow, as the night the day.
Thou
can'st not then be false to any man.
to be continued . . . .
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