The New Nation - Internet Edition

Tamizul Haque

Barrister-at-Law

I had occasion to look to verse No.29 of Sura Nesa which runs thus :-

O ye who believe!

Eat not up your property

Among yourselves in vanities:

But let there be amongst you

Traffic and trade

By mutual good-will:

Nor kill (or destroy)

Yourselves: for verily

Allah hath been to you

Most Merciful!

Abdullah Yousuf Ali explains this ayat thus :-

Let me paraphrase this verse, for there is profound meaning in it. (1) All your property you hold in trust, whether it is in your name, or belongs to the community, or to people over whom you have control. To waste is wrong (2) In it, 188 of Sura-II (Baqara) the same phrase occurred, to caution us against greed. Here it occurs, to encourage us to increase property by economic use (traffic and trade), recalling Christ's parable of the Talents (Matt. xxv. 14-30), where the servants who had increased their master's wealth were promoted and the servant who had hoarded was cast into darkness. (3) We are warned that our waste may mean our own destruction ("nor kill or destroy yourselves."). But there is a more general meaning also : we must be careful of our own and other people's lives. We must commit no violence. This is the opposite of "trade and traffic by mutual good-will." (4) Our violence to our own brethren is particularly preposterous, seeing that Allah has loved and showered His mercies on us and all His creatures.

While Sayyid Abul Ala Mowdudi explains this ayet thus.

The expression 'wrongfully' embraces all transactions which are opposed to righteousness and which are either legally or morally reprehensible. By contrast, 'trade' signifies the mutual transfer of benefits between the parties concerned, such as that underlying those transactions in which one person provides whatever satisfies the needs of another person and is paid in return. 'Mutual consent' means that the exchange should be free of undue pressure, fraud and deception. Although bribery and interest apparently represent transactions based on mutual consent, closer examination reveals that such consent takes place by constraint and under pressure. In games of chance, too, the participants seem to consent freely to the outcome. This kind of consent, however, is due to the expectation entertained by the participants that they will win. No one takes part anticipating loss. Fraudulent transactions also seem to be based on the mutual consent of the parties concerned. That kind of consent, however, is based on the false assumption that no fraud is involved in the transaction. Nobody who knew that he would be subjected to fraud would consent to be a party to the transaction.

This can be considered either as complementary to the preceding sentence or as an independent statement. If it is complementary, it means that to consume the property of others by wrongful means is tantamount to courting one's own destruction; for such practices corrupt society on such a scale that even the most cunning are not spared their destructive consequences. This is in addition to the severe punishment that is bound to be meted out to such people in the Next Life.

Taken as an independent statement, it can mean either that one should not kill others or that one should not kill oneself. Both the words used and the sequence in which they have been placed by Allah in this verse make each of these three meanings feasible.

This passage also aims at the organisation of a certain aspect of financial dealings in Islamic society, in order that such dealings be conducted with purity and good- will. It goes on to establish the rights of earning and ownership to women on an equal footing with men, according to their respective dues. The aim here is to liquidate pre-Islamic days system and make blood relations the only claimants to inheritance.

This passage is yet another lesson aiming at the refinement of the Islamic character. At the same time it lays down new legal provisions. The two purposes go hand in hand, complementing each other. What Allah legislates for Islamic society refines the Islamic character and organises all practical aspects of life.

I am now referring from the 2nd to 6th lines of the Ayat 29 of Sura Nisa-IV which appear thus:-

Eat not up your property

Among yourselves in vanities:

But let there be amongst you

Traffic and trade

By mutual good-will:

This passage begins with an address to believers prohibiting all forms of illegal gains and profit. This suggests that what follows aims at the eradication of traces of past, ignorant life from Islamic society. When Muslims are addressed by Allah as believers, the address serves as a reminder of what faith entails.

This passage also emphasises that people must not desire or envy what others may have. They should instead ask only Allah to give them what they wish, for Allah is the One who gives in abundance.

These directives come side by side with the establishment of the rights of earning and ownership to both man and woman. Instructions given with regard to contracts of allegiance stressing the duty to fulfill these contracts and pledges are followed with a statement that Allah witnesses everything. Because He is well aware of man's constitution and what influences his attitude.

This passage also begins with an address to believers prohibiting all forms of illegal gain and profit. What we have here is a prohibition on eating up or devouring one another's wealth illegally, which includes all forms of financial transactions that Allah has not sanctioned or has forbidden, such as cheating, bribery, gambling, monopoly, hoarding of essential goods and all forbidden forms of trade, particularly usury (i.e. taking of iniquitous or illegal interest on a loan).

An exception is made of commercial transactions whereby the buyer and seller enter into these willingly:

But let there be amongst you

Traffic and trade

By mutual good-will:

An apt simile: whereas legitimate trade or industry increases the prosperity and stability of men and nations, a dependence on Usury would merely encourage a race of idlers, cruel blood-suckers, and worthless fellows who do not know their own good and are therefore akin to madmen.

(To be continued)

There are peoples who argue that "trade is just same as usury" and today's modern Banking System, in fact, practices usury in the name of interest on loan. It will be appropriate therefore to study Ayat 275 of Sura Baqara-II in which Allah Subhanahu Tahla replies to them thus :

Those who devour usury

Will not stand except

As stands one whom

The Evil One by his touch

Hath driven to madness

That is because they say:

"Trade is like usury,"

The sharp opposition between legitimate trade and usury supports Abdullah Yousuf Ali's definition when he explains Bai (literary, Sale or Barter) is also used more generally for trade and commerce, and various kinds of transactions.

It is useful to mention the whole argument given by Sayed Quatb in his book entitled as "In the Shade of the Quran Volume-3 at page 115 which runs thus :-

The fact is that a great gulf separate ordinary trade transactions and usurious dealings. There is also a great difference between the benefits trade generates to people and the destructive effects brought about by usury.

Trade is a useful medium that brings commodities to consumers. Thus, it is a marketing service providing the motivation to improve goods and commodities and to make them available to the consumer. It is a service to both producer and consumer, which results in a profit gained by the trader. Skill and effort are essential for the gain to be made. A trader runs the risk of loss as also the prospect of profit.

None of these benefits can be attributed to usury. Usury places a heavy burden on industry, in the shape of interest, which is added to the cost of commodities. It also burdens the trader and consumer with the payment of interest paid by producers. As occurred when the capitalist system managed to gather strength, the usury system imposes a certain direction on industry and investment which does not take into account the interests of industry itself or of the consumers. The first priority is given to an increase in profits so that interest on loans can be paid. No objection is raised even when priority is given to the production of luxury goods, even though the majority of people cannot meet their basic needs. No objection is heard even when large investments are devoted to projects aiming at the illegal satisfaction of lust. The destructive effects of all these on society are not even considered. Additionally, there is the element of ever-continuing profit given to capital, which runs no risk of loss and does not rely on skill or effort, which are necessary for trade. The indictment of the usurious system has many more elements, all of which demand the death sentence for this system. Islam issued this sentence long ago.

It is this type of confusion between usury and trade which necessitated this clarification to be made in the form of an exception, stated in the Quranic verse as: Believers have been cautioned by Allah Subhanahu Tahla not to "EAT-UP your property among yourselves in vanities, But let there be amongst you, Traffic and Trade By mutual goodwill", i.e. which they conduct by mutual consent.

Again in Ayat 10 of Sura 61 that is Sura Saff Allah Subhanahu Tahla has spoken about Tijarat, bargain, trade, traffic, transactions: something given or done in return for something which we desire to get. What we give or do on our part is described in verse 11 below and what we get it described in verse 12.

I am reproducing the Ayat 11 of Sura Saff-61 for better understanding of my readers.

That ye believe in Allah

And His Apostle, and that

Ye strive (your utmost)

In the cause of Allah,

With your property

And your persons:

That will be best for you,

If ye but knew!

It would indeed be a great and wonderful bargain to give so little and get so much, if we only knew and understood the comparative value of things,-the sacrifice of our fleeting advantages for forgiveness, the love of Allah, and eternal bliss.

Again Ayat 12 of Sura Saff-61 Allah assures the believers of the faith that Allah will forgive their sins, and admit them to the Garden beneath which Rivers flow, and to Beautiful Mansions in Gardens of Eternity that is indeed the Supreme Achievement.

In Ayat 9 of Sura Jumua that is sura 62 of Holy Quran Allah speaks thus :

O ye who believe!

When the call is proclaimed

To prayer on Friday

(The Day of Assembly),

Hasten earnestly to the Remembrance

Of Allah, and leave off

Business (and traffic):

That is best for you

If ye but knew!

Abdullah Yousuf Ali explains this ayat thus :-

Friday, "the Muslim Sabbath" is primarily the Day of Assembly, the weekly meeting of the congregation, when we show our unity by sharing in common public worship, preceded by a Khutba, in which the Imam (or Leader) reviews the week's spiritual life of the Community and offers advice and exhortation on holy living. Notice the gradations of social contact for Muslims if they followed the wise ordinances of their Faith. (1) Each individual remembers Allah for himself or herself five or more times every day in the home or place of business, or local mosque, or open air, as the case may be. (2) On Friday in every week, there is a local meeting in the central mosque of each local center, - it may be a village, or town, or ward of a big city. (3) At the two Ids every year, there is a larger local area meeting in one center, the Idgah. (4) Once at least in a lifetime, where possible, a Muslim shares in the vast international assemblage of the world, in the center of Islam, at the Meccan Pilgrimage. A happy combination of decentralization and centralization, of individual liberty and collective meeting, and contact at various stages or grades. The mechanical part of this ordinance is easy to carry out. Are we carrying out the more difficult part? -the spirit of unity, brotherhood, mutual consultation, and collective understanding and action?

The idea behind the Muslim weekly "Day of Assembly" is different from that behind the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) or the Christian Sunday. The Jewish Sabbath is primarily a commemoration of Allah's ending His work and resting on the seventh day: we are taught that Allah needs no rest, nor does He feel fatigue (2-255). The Jewish command forbids work on that day but says nothing about worship or prayer ; our ordinance lays chief stress on the remembrance of Allah. Jewish formalism went so far as to kill the spirit of the Sabbath, and call forth the protest of Jesus: "the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. But the Christian Church, although it has changed the day from Saturday to Sunday, has inherited the Jewish spirit: witness the Scottish Sabbath; except in so far as it has been secularized. Our teaching says: 'When the time for Jumu'a Prayer comes, close your business and answer the summons loyally and earnestly, meet earnestly, pray, consult and learn by social contact: when the meeting is over, scatter and go about your business.

The immediate and temporal worldly gain may be the ultimate and spiritual loss, and vice versa.

In Ayat 10 of Sura Jumu'a Holy Quran clearly speaks that "when the Prayer Is finished then people may Disperse through the land And seek the Bounty of Allah and celebrate The Praise of Allah Often so that they may prosper".

Prosperity is not to be measured by wealth or worldly gains. There is a higher prosperity, -the health of the mind and the spirit.

Ayat 11 of the Sura Jumua-62 Allah cautions us not to be distructed by the craze for amusement or gain. If one leads a righteous and sober life, Allah will provide for him in all senses, better than any provision one can possibly think of.

Islam urges Muslims to enjoy the bounties provided by Allah Subhanahu Tahla and sets no quantitative limits to the extent of material growth of Islamic society. I have also sighted as above ayat 10 of Sura 62 where Allah has directed the Ummah that when the Jumu'a prayer is ended, then disperse in the land and seek of Allah's bounty. If Allah provides any one with an opportunity for earning his livelihood, let him not leave it unexploited until it is exhausted. From Bokhari, Muslim and Tirmidhi, one would find that when any Muslim who plants a tree or cultivates a field such that a bird, or a human being, or an animal eats from it, this act will be counted as an act of charity.

Islam also expects from the believers of the Faith to refrain from bagging. Islam goes even further than this. It urges Muslims to gain mastery over nature because, according to the Holy Quran, all resources in the heavens and the earth have been created for the service of mankind.

Now coming back to ayat 29 of Sura Nesa-IV the commitment of Islam to individual freedom distinguishes it sharply from socialism or any system, which abolishes individual freedom. Free mutual consent of the buyer and the seller is, according to all schools of Muslims jurisprudence, a necessary condition for any business transactions. This conditions springs from the verse of the Holy Quran which runs thus :-

O ye who believe!

Eat not up your property

Among yourselves in vanities:

But let there be amongst you

Traffic and trade

By mutual good-will:

The Holy Prophet is also reported to have said: Leave people alone for Allah gives them provision through each other. The only system that would conform to this spirit of freedom in the Islamic way of life is one where the conduct of a large part of the production and distribution of goods and services is left to individuals or voluntarily constituted groups, and where each individual is permitted to sell to or buy from whom he wants at a price agreeable to both the buyer and seller.

The market mechanism may also be considered to be an integral part of the Islamic economic system because, on the one hand, the institution of private property is not workable without it; and, on the other, it offers the consumers a chance to express their desires for the production of goods of their liking by their willingness to pay the price and also gives resources-owners an opportunity to sell their resources in accordance with their free will.

As a matter of policy I give a conclusion to my treatise for better understanding of my readers. There is no strictly worldly sector of life according to Islam. Action in every field of human activity including the economic, is spiritual provided it is in harmony with the goal and values of Islam. These goals and values are summarized by some authors as follows :-

1. Economic well-being within the framework of moral and norm of Islam;

2. Universal brotherhood and justice;

3. Equitable distribution of income; and

4. Freedom of individual within the context of social welfare.

Islam strikes a balance between the two extremes of capitalism and socialism. Being appreciative of their role Islam harmonizes the individual and the state in such a way that individuals have the freedom necessary to develop their potentialities and not to encroach upon the rights of their fellowmen. It also gives the community and the state adequate powers to regulate and control the socio-economic relationships so as to guard and maintain this harmony in human life. The basis of this whole structure as envisaged by Islam is the reciprocity of love between individuals and groups; it is not erected on the basis of hatred and class conflict as is the case with socialism.