Interest Declared War Upon

Turning now to ribā: stocks, bonds, money market accounts, certificates of deposit, variable interest, chequing and savings accounts, along with an overabundance of other financial jargon, have become a reality in the life of many Muslims, and this reality has made earning and saving money far more complicated than it used to be. The game has changed so much; a Muslim who is not aware of what is happening will certainly be tainted with ḥarām, and even a little bit of ḥarām is something that will ruin a person's ṣalāh, ruin his duʿāʾ, for forty days. Much of this jargon is in the blind spot for Muslims: they pray five times a day, they read their tilāwah, they keep their dhikr, but when it comes to business transactions this is too much jargon — they have no idea what the bankers are talking about, what the accountant is talking about, and so they simply agree to everything, sign here, sign here, sign here, and find themselves caught in the absolute ḥarām called interest. With this ever-increasing deluge of financial options, Muslims must constantly be on guard to make sure their money is earned in ways pleasing to Allah (swt), ḥalāl, and safeguarded from any form of ḥarām. Becoming lax and neglectful about how earning, spending and finances are handled risks the same fate suffered by the nations that came before this one.

Allah (swt) speaks of exactly this in Sūrah Hūd:

— O my people, worship Allah; you have no other god but Him. Give not short measure or short weight; I see you in prosperity, and I fear for you the torment of a day that will encompass you. And, O my people, give full measure and full weight in justice, and do not withhold from people the things that are due to them, and do not go about the land causing corruption. This was the message of Shuʿayb (peace be upon him) to his people, calling them to worship Allah (swt) alone and to conduct their trade fairly and lawfully — sent to them because of a financial disease that had spread widely through that particular nation, and showing that Islam encompasses every aspect of life and is not confined to the ritual acts of worship inside a mosque. The people's answer, put back to Shuʿayb (peace be upon him), was to ask whether his ṣalāh commanded him to make them abandon what their fathers used to worship, or to stop doing as they liked with their own property — as though there were some separation between religion and worldly life, some line a religion had no business crossing. This is exactly what some Muslims believe today: business is business. Ṣalāh, al-ḥamdu lillāh; Ḥajj, al-ḥamdu lillāh — but business is business. This belief is mistaken: there is no difference in the obedience owed to Allah (swt) across every aspect of life, whether in business or outside it; there is no demarcation between the secular and the religious. It is impossible to draw one.

Although Muslims often enquire about the rulings of the sharīʿah on many aspects of the dīn, and apply themselves to observing them, the financial aspect remains a blind spot for many — through ignorance of the rules, or a reluctance to enquire about them, or, worse, a feeling that the rules simply do not apply. Allah's revelations in the Qurʾān are for all mankind, and His sharīʿah, reflecting His infinite wisdom, is valid at all times and in every place and circumstance — in the past, in the present, and in the future. Nobody should be neglectful of applying them under the excuse of living in a different era, in the twenty-first century, or in Dār al-Ḥarb, a non-Muslim country, by choice; the wrath, the ghaḍab, of Allah (swt) that befell the people of Shuʿayb (peace be upon him) is to be feared by anyone who takes these rules lightly.