Surah 1-2 - YasSarNal QuR'aN

Al-Baqarah (The Cow) | THE EVIL OF USURYA usury-based economic system is bound to undermine the moral and ethicalcharacter of individuals, their feelings and their desire to help each other. Itencourages greed, selfishness, lechery and speculation. In the modern world, it hasopened the gates for the most sinister and corrupting forms of investment everknown, such as the drug trade, pornography, prostitution, all in pursuit ofguaranteed astronomical profits. Borrowed money is not used in the service ofhumanity but for maximizing profit, regardless of the nature of the trade or themethods by which that profit is realized.Islam is a comprehensive way of life. Its economic system completely discountsthe need for usury and organizes the social life of the community in such a way as toeliminate usury altogether. At the same time it maintains the balance and progress ofeconomic, social and human development in society.Under Islam, there is no need for the abolition or removal of existing economicand financial institutions, such as banks and commercial companies, which play avital role in modern economic development. Islam can reform these institutions andenable them to function along the sound and constructive rules and regulations itlays down.Most importantly, Muslims must realize that it is a conceptual impossibility thatGod Almighty should prohibit something that is vital for the perpetuation andpreservation of human life. By the same token, no practice that is inherently corruptcould ever be essential for the organization and progress of human life. A Muslimwho truly believes in God as the creator, preserver and controller of life and theworld cannot conceive that God would forbid anything that is vital, or prescribeanything that is vile or obscene. The reasons for widespread belief in usury-basedeconomic and financial systems can be traced to ignorance and the obnoxiouspropaganda systematically waged by capitalist and money lending lobbies andinstitutions. These continue to exert their pervasive influence on governments,international political organizations, and private and public media and informationestablishments.The claim that the international economic and financial systems cannot exist orfunction without usury is simply a myth and a monstrous lie sustained by bigbusiness and international vested interests. Usury-free economies have existed andperformed very successfully. To revive them today requires determination and aconcerted, well-considered international effort by at least the Muslim countries of theworld, in order to revive some hope of future stability, prosperity, happiness and realpeace and justice in our world.It is beyond the scope of this commentary to discuss in detail the practicalmethods of implementing the Islamic system. We will only look more closely at how386