Interestism

Interestism had gone too far. These interest transactions in the Jahiliyyah period were called “Riba”. Riba was divided into two as “Riba Nesie” and “Riba Fadl”. In Riba Nesie, monthly interest was collected, and in Riba Fadl, one commodity was sold for more commodities of the same kind.[521]

If one person had a debt with another person, when the debt was due, he would ask the debtor, “Will you pay your debt?” If he could not pay his debt, the creditor would add interest on the debt and postpone the payment of the debt for a while. If he could not pay his debt, the creditor would add interest on the debt and postpone the payment of the debt for a while.[522] They said, “Interest is just like shopping.”[522] The sons of Mughire in Mecca used to charge interest and take interest. In Makkah, the sons of Mughira used to deal in interest and charge interest. They had many receivables from the people and property earned from interest. The Prophet cancelled all of them and ordered his governor in Makkah to fight them if they did not stop charging interest. The first riba (interest) he cancelled and declared null and void was the riba due from Abbas b. Abdulmuttalib: All of it has been abolished and declared null and void.

ISLAM: Those who eat interest (riba) do not rise up except as one who has been struck by the devil is struck. This is because they say: “Buying and selling is only like interest”. But Allah has made exchange lawful and interest unlawful. Whosoever receives a reminder from his Lord and ceases (from interest), then his past belongs to him and his affair belongs to Allah. And whoever turns back, they are the inhabitants of the Fire, wherein they shall abide forever. Allah destroys interest and increases charity. Allah loves none of the sinful disbelievers. Those who believe and do good deeds and keep up the prayer and pay the zakat, their reward is with their Lord. There is no fear for them and they shall not grieve. O you who believe, beware of Allah, and if you are believers, leave the surplus of interest, and if you do not do so, know that you have waged war against Allah and His Messenger. If you repent, then your capital is yours, and you will not be wronged, nor will you be wronged. If (the debtor) is in difficulty, give him a respite until a favourable time, and it is better for you to forgive (the debt) in charity, if you know. Beware of the Day when you will return to Allah. Then everyone will be paid in full what he has earned, and they will not be wronged.[524]

Today’s world states, which are based on a one-world life, whether with the aim of reaching the advanced civilisations or with the aim of becoming one of the ruling states in the capitalist order, have embedded interest in their daily lives at least as much as they did in those times. Today, there is hardly any state that is not governed on the basis of interest. This has accelerated the deterioration of social morality. Morality in these societies has become so small that it can now be described with polite speech. While Islam is the only system that can put a stop to this course of the world, unfortunately, even from the mouths of Muslims who say “I believe in the owner”, we often hear the statements that interest is an innocent “maturity difference” or “what does this have to do with interest, just like shopping”. Muslims who cause these situations are divided into two groups: Those who do not even bother to learn their religion, or those who accept the information as true without investigating the position of the place where they receive the information. In the lands where Muslim societies live, some institutions governed by the bankers’ law correctly diagnose this ignorance of Muslims and introduce interest with another word whose name does not begin with the letter “F”. Many Muslims find themselves in a situation in which they do not even know that it is haram. Those who do so consciously put forward the thesis that it is not interest, but like buying and selling.

These unaware Muslims should repent as soon as possible, provided that they first admit that they have been involved in interest. It is worse for a person not to recognise an interest-bearing transaction as interest than to engage in it. Because if he accepts it, he only commits a sin. If he does not accept it, at the same time with the sin he has committed, he will have halalised the interest that Allah (swt) has forbidden with this statement, and therefore he will have left the religion of Islam. The saying “interest is not permissible at this time” is of this kind. The most important factor that distinguishes a Muslim from a disbeliever is that he believes in the afterlife and will be held accountable there. Just as the mind needs as much information as it needs to get where it is going, we should take as much burden as we can carry.

The one who believes in the existence of the distance to be travelled, but carries a burden that he cannot carry all the way there, is not wise, nor does he fully believe in the place he says he is going to. Because if he believes in the destination, he will not think of that place and take a load that he cannot carry. If a Muslim is a believer in the Hereafter, he should use his mind well and take as much load as he can carry until the destination.

This does not mean that a Muslim should be poor and not rich. On the contrary, he should be rich, but not by halalising the harams of Allah… There is nothing sincere about hiding under the slogan “Muslim should be rich” and creating a “credit book” even though there is the power to pay the zakat debt.

IHTIKAR[525]

Pre-islamic Age of Ignorance: People who set out to bring goods to the market would be met outside the market by the merchants and these producers would incur losses by taking away their goods before they learnt the value of their goods in the market. Those who received these goods had the opportunity to engage in black-marketing. Goods became expensive and the consumer suffered losses.[526]

ISLAM: The Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: “He who brings goods to the market is blessed, and he who does ihtikar (stockpiling and black market) is cursed.”[527]

TODAY: In the world market, goods are sold at exorbitant prices by ensuring black marketing as a result of some fraudulent works. In the marketplaces that serve a certain segment, it is common to do this work in the food sector because it is within the scope of essential consumption. It is also one of the common situations during Ramadan. As one of the areas where people in the time of Jahiliyya passed, ihtikâr changes in all areas of life according to supply and demand. As long as the customer is ready. At times, this can even be a concert or a football ticket.

ARTIFICIAL INCREASE (Najsh)[528]

Pre-islamic Age of Ignorance: In the Jahiliyyah, it was customary to intervene between the seller and the customer without the intention of buying the goods, causing the customer to pay more money.[529]

ISLAM: Yahya b. Yahya narrated to us (he said): I recited to Malik the following hadith which I heard from Nafi and he narrated it from Ibn ‘Umar: The Messenger of Allah (saw) forbade[530] the customer from escalating.[531]

Nowadays: Najsh is also seen in every aspect of life today. Generally, these kinds of tricks are used in open or closed auctions.

URBAN[532]

Pre-islamic Age of Ignorance: During the Jahiliyyah period, a person used to pledge his property or belongings in return for a loan or something else. When the debt was not paid, the pledged thing would be forfeited to the creditor and not returned to its owner.[533]

ISLAM: Amr Ibnu Shu’ayb Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Abdullah Ibn Amr Ibn al-As narrated through his father from his grandfather Abdullah that the Prophet (PBUH) forbade bey’u’l-urban.[534]

Imam Mâlik defines bay’ul-urbân as follows: “A person buys a slave or a concubine, or hires an animal, and then says to the person who sold or hired it: “I am giving you this much dirham or dinar, on the condition that if I buy this property or ride the animal I hired from you, the money I gave you will be counted as the price of the property or the rent of the animal. If I refuse to buy the property or rent the animal, the money I gave you before will be yours.”[535]

Nowadays: What is haram and null and void in this sale is the stipulation of a down payment at the time of the sale or contract. After the contract is finalised, there is nothing wrong with the seller asking for some of the money. When the sale is cancelled, the money given to the seller is permissible if the customer gives his consent. What we want to make a comparison with is not the taking of the down payment, but the stipulation of it in shopping. This is common in almost every sector of the industry.

[521] Sayyid Qutb, Fizilal-il-Qur’an, II, pp.121-122

[Imam Malik, Muwatta, II, 672-674

[523] Ibn Ishaq, Ibn Hisham, Sīrah, vol. 4, p: 251

[524] Surat al-Baqarah, verses 275-281

[525] A secret market where goods withdrawn from the market are sold at high prices, black market

[Bukhari, Sahih, III, 28-29; Muslim, Sahih, III, 1156

[Ibn-i Mâja, trade, 6

[Najsh means to cover. It is so named because the person made this exchange by covering his intention. It is the practice of overpricing goods so that others will pay more for them, when one does not intend to buy them, and then buying them at the given price.

[529] Shawkani, Nayl al-Awtar, vol. v, p.175

[530] Prohibition

[531] Bukhari, Büyû: 60; Muslim, Maghoo: 13, 1216; Muwatta, Maghoo: 97, 2, 684

[532] Taking a part of the money of the goods sold as a down payment means that the down payment becomes the property of the seller when the sale is not concluded, and if the sale contract is completed, the down payment is included in the price of the goods.

[Ibn Mâja, Sunan, II, 816; Imam Malik, Muwatta, II, 728

[534] Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal considered this hadith, which is the reason for the prohibition according to the majority of scholars, to be weak and considered the sale on credit to be permissible according to the hadith narrated by Nafi’ bin ‘Abd al-Harith. “Nafi’ bought the house of Safwan ibn Umayya for Umar for four thousand dirhams as a prison – if Umar agreed, the transaction was valid, but if he did not agree, the four thousand dirhams belonged to Safwan.” (Sayyid Sabiq, Fiqh al-Sunna, 22, 22)

[535] Ibrahim Canan, Translation and Commentary of Qutub-i Sitte, Akçağ Publications, 3/65