Riba

No Muslim is allowed to render permissible what Allah has rendered `Haram, by comparing the disallowed matter to another matter that Allah has allowed. Indeed, whoever does this will have committed a major sin and will be saying about Allah what he has no knowledge of. Also, such a person will have opened a door of Fitnah (mischief) and sinning for the people.

The scholars who use Qiyas state that Qiyas is only allowed [and pertains to] when a minor aspect of the religion does not have a definite ruling in the Quran or Sunnah. In this case, the scholars apply a general ruling [through Ijtihad] that includes the matter under discussion and derives a ruling for it, whereas before, it did not have a specific ruling. Readmore

Providing for people’s needs, helping them acquire their benefit and ensuring meaningful cooperation between them will only be achieved through abiding by Islamic Law. It requires truthfulness and Amanah (honesty) and prohibits lying, deceit and all the types of dealings that Allah does not permit.

Allah said,

 وَتَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الْبِرِّ وَالتَّقْوَى وَلاَ تَعَاوَنُوا عَلَى الإِثْــمِ وَالْعُدْوَانِ 

what translated means, {Help you one another in Al­Birr and At­Taqwa (virtue, righteousness and piety); but do not help one another in sin and transgression}[5:2], Readmore

In response, we state that Muslims benefited from the Islamic economic system for the past fourteen centuries, long before banks ever existed. During this long period of time, the projects and industries that existed in the Muslim World did not rely on prohibited types of dealings. Further, we state the fact that in modern times, people do not need to deal in Riba to sustain their livelihood. Readmore

We should add by stating that the writer gains no benefit from allowing the current types of Riba transactions by comparing them to as-Salam transactions. As-Salam type of transactions was allowed because Allah allowed it, a fact that demonstrates the greatness of the Islamic legislation that aims to benefit the Muslim Ummah at large. Further, Allah restricted the Salam type of transactions in a way that made it different from the disallowed types of business transactions. Readmore

In response to this sweeping claim, we should first state the fact that the current banking transactions are not different from the prohibited Riba transactions. Further, Allah sent Muhammad as the Final Messenger from Him, and required all mankind, starting with the Prophet’s contemporaries up until the Day of Judgment, to implement His Commandments that He revealed to His Messenger, salla allahu `alaihi wa-sallam. Therefore, all new types of dealings should carry the same rulings as old types of dealings, as long as both types are essentially the same. We must also state that having different names does not change the true reality of these dealings. What matters, is the true substance and the true essence of these types of dealings. Readmore

Ibrahim then said that Shaikh Rasheed Ridha allowed savings accounts that gain interest. The opinion that he mentioned is an error in judgment that is based on discredited personal conclusions that clearly contradict the relevant Texts [of the Quran and Sunnah]. The scholars stated that Muslims are not allowed to rely on Ijtihad (personal judgment) where a Text exists. Rather, Ijtihad is only employed where there are no Texts, in which case, only qualified persons are allowed to perform Ijtihad. When a scholar tries his best in his Ijtihad and issues a correct opinion, he will gain two rewards [one for Ijtihad and one for correctness]. Readmore

Dr. Ibrahim also mentioned some general statements by ibn Qudamah, ibn Taimiyyah and ibn Al-Qayyim about allowing the practices that benefit Muslims in general, which also do not cause any harm for Muslims.

However, we must stress that these mentioned scholars restricted this ruling, by only allowing the beneficial practices that do not contradict any Text in the Quran or Sunnah. Consequently, we must state that the arguments that Ibrahim mentioned in this part of his research are not relevant to the topic under discussion. The, ‘beneficial practices’, that these Imams allowed are matters of Ijtihad (personal opinion) that do not contradict a clear Text in the Quran or the Sunnah. Readmore

The answer to this portion of Dr. Ibrahim’s research, is that the Faqihs, i.e., the scholars who have knowledge in the religion, have considered usury `Haram (impermissible) because [various versus of the Quran and] authentic Hadiths of the Prophet, salla allahu `alaihi wa-sallam, rendered it `Haram. Surely, there are several authentic Hadiths that clearly state that any loan that incurs interest, even if the interest was minute, is `Haram (impermissible). Yet, this writer, Ibrahim, may Allah guide him back to the True Path, chose to ignore all these Hadiths and only discusses the Texts in the Quran on this subject, which are general in meaning. Readmore

As for the second and third parts of Ibrahim’s statement, “There can be no economic preeminence without financial institutions, and no financial institutions without Interest (Riba)”, they are utterly false. There are many Texts in the Quran, some of which we have already mentioned, that contradict Ibrahim’s false statement. Further, the established Islamic economic practices since the time of the Prophet, salla allahu `alaihi wa-sallam, until the present time when banks are widely established, affirm the falsehood of this statement. Muslim economy has always been strong during most of the past fourteen centuries, without relying on banks and certainly without relying on Riba. During this long period of time, Readmore

Second, Ibrahim claimed that, “A financial institution to any economy is just like the heart to the human body.”

Again, this is not a true statement. A financial institution can always function without the need for usury, just as was the case with Muslim economy in past centuries, especially during the early time of Islam. During that golden era, Muslim economy was the purest, the largest and the strongest, without ever needing to rely on Riba. Allah gave victory to His religion and raised the flag of Islam high through these early believers, bestowing on them vast provisions; truly, the riches of the earth were uncovered for them. Allah helped the Ummah with these resources, allowing them to fight their enemies and saving them from using what He prohibited for them. Readmore