Haraam And Common Sense

Islam is more known among Muslims for the things it prohibits rather than things it advocates. It is easier to stay away from the prohibited things rather than following the advocated practices because the later would require changing habits and behavior.

Among the prohibited things there are some that fall true on commonsense, and even from non-religious background they should be prohibited for example alcohol and gambling. There are other prohibited things that are against morality in almost all the cultures, for example lying, cheating, adultery; and you cannot support them with an honest heart because, even if you are into any of these practices, you would not want them to happen to you.

There are a few other things which are which apparently seem harmless and are prohibited, for example music and interest. A basic argument can be put forward that if it is not used for anything immoral or exploitation, what is the harm in it. I would briefly talk about music, as I grew up very passionate of music and eventually gave up listening to it. Music is also a form of addiction. Music has always been associated with lewdness across cultures, whether these it is mujra of nawabs or bar dances or any other forms of stage dances. It has to get in some or other form to skin showing and absurd moves. You cannot watch any music cannel today for 10 minutes, hoping to see only decent things. There is also other type of music which seems soft and soul soothing e.g. ghazals or qawwali; and they too tend to have lyrics that suggest shirq. Even at personal level you are likely to waste time on music which you could have utilized for something better whether it is exercise, dhikr or reading a good book.

It is also believed that Islamic prohibition of interest is no longer relevant in the present world; although the growth of Islamic banking proves the otherwise. This article from Business Week mentions that ‘From Jakarta to Jeddah, 265 Islamic banks and other financial institutions are now operating in some 40 countries, with total assets that top $262 billion.’ A simple argument is put ahead that Islam prohibits interest exploits the poor and if a Muslims is taking interest from a bank there is no exploitation or harm in it. I reflected a few days back that suppose I am a customer of a bank, and the bank gave credit to a middle-class person who has a wife and young kids, this person dies a sudden death; can I ensure that the bank will not throw out the woman and kids out of house to recover their money? They will certainly do that because this is how a system works. So although pretending innocence, I am subscribing to a system that puts money above humans. I did not know this amazing aspect of Islamic borrowing that the loan cannot be passed to diseased relatives in case of a death. So if I borrow from an Islamic bank, I have a peace of mind that if I die my children will not pay a price of what I did.

Interest based system harms at individual, social and national level, let’s see how:

- Individual- It makes you think about the multiplied amount in the future, and thus you sacrifice your present for the dreams of future. The amount that you should be spending on yourself, you try to save and invest in schemes that will give guaranteed return. Even if I buy lots things on credit that makes me worried about the monthly installments, it takes away the freedom to think freely about career moves or starting a business venture. It raises your expenses to a certain level, below which it is hard to survive.

- Social- It makes you love money, and eventually it hurts when you want to support a relative financially, because you are not just looking at the amount being paid now, but at the hypothetical figure this amount will be when in bank deposits. This is why the per capita income is the highest in the developed countries but it is a common culture that everybody takes care of individual expenses, and even parents are dumped in old age homes because of their financial burden.

- National- It hinders spending which is essential for economic growth. One person’s spending is another person’s income. Interest based spending creates inflated economic demand which is based on plastic money, rather than real money. The looming recession for US economic is only because of the overstretched interest based spending. When you don’t think of earning money safely via interest, you are forced to think about investments, whether in stock market or real estate, because you have to fight the inflation. This tendency for investments helps the economy grow and encourages entrepreneurship.

I decided to pen down the thoughts when a newsletter from a reputable investment website covered a topic Nine Reasons To Say ‘No’ To Credit. This article doesn’t have any Islamic angle at all, but pure economic point of view.