Friday 21 March 2014

Riba and Quran.

This is an interesting article from Syed Akhbar Ali blog.
I have been doubting Islamic Banking and their supposedly riba-free financial system.
Read on....

Riba In The Quran Is Profiteering Not Bank Interest - Part 1
This post is about Islamic banking. I hope all those who are interested will download and keep this post. Bukan apa, because this is 100% opposite of what you have been told about Islamic banking. You will rarely if ever hear this type of views. If you are not interested then its ok.

I hope the Islamic bankers in the country will also download and keep this post. It may save you, the Islamic bankers, from berdosa and committing huge wrongs (perbuatan berdosa) against the people. Because you are always accusing the conventional banks of being haram, silap-silap masuk naar atau api. So better read this carefully. This applies to you too. Kalau silap-silap nanti you too masuk naar atau api.

I received a comment asking about riba in the Quran. Here is the comment:

Anonymous said... Syed, pendapat tuan tentang riba dalam perbankan islam sangat menarik perhatian saya dan mempunyai implikasi yang cukup besar kepada pelanggan perbankan islam seperti saya dan jutaan muslimin/ muslimat seluruh dunia. Jadi saya mohon tuan dapat membuat sebuah huraian di blog ini apa yang di maksudkan riba dalam perbankan islam. Salam.  Thursday, March 20, 2014 5:20:00 AM

Here is my reply. Salam Anon 5:20 AM.

Islamic bankers say that the interest rate (bunga atau faedah) charged by the conventional banks should be called riba. The Islamic bankers say that this 'bank interest' is therefore haram.

Of course riba is haram. But bank interest is not riba and therefore it cannot be haram. For quite a few reasons.

Before we go any further, the Islamic banks also charge interest ('bunga atau faedah'). However they camouflage their "interest rates" under different names. Instead of calling it 'interest' (bunga atau faedah) they call it 'profit rate'. In practise it is still the same. So using their logic the 'bank Islam' is also haram. Plus they are hypocrite or munafik.

Worse still the Islamic banks are often more expensive than the conventional banks or the Jewish banks on Wall Street or London. From the comments that I have received in this Blog, too many Muslims in Malaysia have lost their houses, lost money and have also been bankrupted by the Islamic banks.

So from a practical point of view the so called 'Islamic bank' is often much worse than the conventional banks in oppressing the people or cheating the people of their money. If they oppress the people, this immediately makes their Islamic banking haram.

In my view the Islamic bankers are confused because they do not read ALL the verses in the Quran that deal with business, loan (lending money, yes lah there is a verse in the Quran about lending money) and a just economic system.

Their first mistake is when the Islamic bankers say that there is no such thing as "lending money" or "making a monetary loan" in Islamic banking.  I dont know where they got this illogical idea? Even the Stone Age man would have known about borrowing and lending. Every civilisation in the world knows about lending and borrowing, especially lending and borrowing money.

And here is a verse in the Quran that clearly describes lending and getting back MONEY. Note that the word dinar is clearly used here.

Surah 3:75  "Some followers of the scripture can be trusted with a whole lot (qinthaarin), and they will repay it back to you. Others among them cannot be trusted with a single dinar; they will not repay you unless you keep after them. That is because they say, "We do not have to be honest when dealing with the gentiles!" Thus, they attribute lies to Allah, knowingly."

Since the word 'dinar' is mentioned, this verse refers to money. Dinar is usually associated with golden coinage. This verse talks about lending money or dinars to the people of the book and then getting them to pay it back to you. This is obviously a loan.

So to say that there are no money loans or financial loans in Islamic banking contradicts Surah 3:75 above.

The Islamic bankers say that there is no loan in Islamic banking. There is only buying and selling and profit sharing partnerships. But in practise what they do is no diferent from the conventional bankers. They still give you money. If you dont pay they will bankrupt you, lelong your house etc. Apa beza?


To be continued.

No comments: