Posted on 25th June, 2024 (GMT 15: 50 hrs)
Compiled by Partyless Society⤡ & Occupy Dalal Street⤡
[Disclaimer: The following text represents the bare facts of money along with interest as treated by two different religious communities. The compilers of this text do not provide any relative importance/appeasement/antonymic privilege to one community above the other. This article/compilation attempts to break the myth of Islamophobia as it is found in the regime of Bharatiya Janata Party/BJP since 2014.]
I. “Interest” as a Sinful Act
It is found that in the different money-centric institutions in India, a large amount of money belonging the depositors of a certain community is lying unclaimed. Surprisingly enough, these unclaimed frozen amounts are astronomical in its figures:
1.5 trillion dollars of Muslims’ deposit interest lying unclaimed in banks VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 13th July, 2011 ©Milli Gazette)
Why is this one particular community not taking “interests” against their deposited amounts in insurance companies and/or in banks?
This particular community, following their Holy Scripture’s imperatives, considers “interest” to be a “haram”, i.e., an evil, forbidden or sinful affair. This concept is called “riba”, which is forbidden in this community’s religious code or legal sanctions.
What Is Riba in Islam, and Why Is It Forbidden? VIEW HERE ⤡
This community alternatively promotes profit-sharing, leasing, safekeeping and joint venture (Musharakah, Ijarah, Wadiah, and Mudarabah) arrangements instead of interest-based lending that creates power-hierarchies and breeds unwarranted inequalities. This is known as Islamic Banking or Islamic Finance.
Let us see a few references on this from the Holy Quran and the Hadith:
Surah Al-Baqarah (2:275-279):
Verse 2:275: “Those who consume interest cannot stand [on the Day of Resurrection] except as one stands who is being beaten by Satan into insanity. That is because they say, ‘Trade is [just] like interest.’ But Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest…”
Verse 2:278-279: “O you who have believed, fear Allah and give up what remains [due to you] of interest, if you should be believers. And if you do not, then be informed of a war [against you] from Allah and His Messenger. But if you repent, you may have your principal – [thus] you do no wrong, nor are you wronged.”
Surah Al-Imran (3:130):
“O you who have believed, do not consume usury, doubled and multiplied, but fear Allah that you may be successful.”
Surah An-Nisa (4:161):
“[They] who practice usury, and they have been forbidden from it, and they consume the wealth of people unjustly. And we have prepared for the disbelievers among them a painful punishment.”
Hadith (Sayings of Prophet Muhammad)
Sahih Bukhari:
Volume 3, Book 34, Hadith 386: Narrated Abu Huraira: “The Prophet (ﷺ) said, ‘Avoid the seven great destructive sins.’ They (the people) asked, ‘O Allah’s Messenger! What are they?’ He said, ‘(1) To join others in worship along with Allah, (2) to practice sorcery, (3) to kill the life which Allah has forbidden except for a just cause (according to Islamic law), (4) to eat up riba (usury), (5) to eat up an orphan’s wealth, (6) to give back to the enemy and fleeing from the battlefield at the time of fighting, and (7) to accuse chaste women, who never even think of anything touching chastity and are good believers.'”
Sahih Muslim:
Book 10, Hadith 3881: Narrated Jabir: “The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) cursed the receiver and the payer of interest, the one who records it and the two witnesses to the transaction and said: ‘They are all alike [in guilt].'”
Now, this entire understanding in Islam is closely associated with the concept of “Zakat” or gift (or simply, the ethos of giving instead of promoting absolute possessions or ownership). Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) introduced this concept when his teachings implied that everyone should work for roti-kapda-makan and the output of the productive work should be distributed among all.
Here are some relevant references:
Surah Al-Baqarah (2:177): “Righteousness is not that you turn your faces toward the east or the west, but [true] righteousness is in one who believes in Allah (ﷺ), the Last Day, the Angels, the Book, and the Prophets and gives his wealth, in spite of love for it, to relatives, orphans, the needy, the traveler, those who ask [for help], and for freeing slaves…”
Surah Al-Baqarah (2:267): “O you who have believed, spend from the good things which you have earned and from that which We have produced for you from the earth. And do not aim toward the defective therefrom, spending [from that] while you would not take it [yourself] except with closed eyes. And know that Allah (ﷺ) is Free of need and Praiseworthy.”
Surah At-Tawbah (9:60) “Zakah expenditures are only for the poor and for the needy and for those employed to collect [zakah] and for bringing hearts together [for Islam] and for freeing captives [or slaves] and for those in debt and for the cause of Allah (ﷺ) and for the [stranded] traveler – an obligation [imposed] by Allah (ﷺ). And Allah (ﷺ) is Knowing and Wise.”
Surah Al-An’am (6:141) “…Eat of their fruit when they ripen, but pay the due thereof [its zakah] on the day of its harvest. And be not excessive. Indeed, He likes not those who commit excess.”
As was said in this connection to reflect a mode of Islamic Socialism: “Nobody has ever eaten a better meal than that which one has earned by working with one’s own hands.” (Sahih al-Bukhari)
Also: “Allah likes a believer who is strong and self-sufficient rather than a weak one who is dependent and always asking others for help.” (Sahih Muslim)
And again: “It is better for one among you to bring a load of firewood on his own back and give charity out of it (and satisfy his own need) and be independent of people, than that he should beg from people, whether they give him anything or refuse him.” (Sahih Muslim)
In Surah Al-Ma’idah (5:2), Allah (ﷺ) says: “And cooperate in righteousness and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and aggression…”
In Surah Al-Baqarah (2:261), Allah (ﷺ) says: “The example of those who spend their wealth in the way of Allah (ﷺ) is like a seed of grain that sprouts seven ears; in every ear there are a hundred grains. Thus Allah (ﷺ) multiplies the action of whom He wills. Allah (ﷺ) is Embracing and Knowing.”
This goes in the same vein as the notion of socially necessary labour, where one must work for one’s basic means of subsistence as well as for the old, the children and the physically challenged. One should not be living like a parasite, depending on the appropriated or exploited surplus labour of the toiling others. Thus, Islam ethically condemns the financial bourgeois conspicuous sustenance, or otherwise, leisure class’ mode of living. As Einstein remarked:
“A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life depend on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving.”
The Islamic conceptions of Iqtisad (Moderation), Israf (Avoiding Food-wastage), Infaq and Sadaqah (Sharing excess food with others) support the same line of reasoning in talking about resources (in its three aspects: production-consumption-distribution): “He is not a believer whose stomach is filled while the neighbour to his side goes hungry.” (Al-Bukhari, Sourced from the Hadith: Al-Adab Al-Mufrad).
Sadly, under the Hindutvavadi (Hindu Extremist) regime in India in the past decade, the country’s rank in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) has become worrisome:
“India ranked 111th out of 125 countries in the Global Hunger Index-2023 with the country reporting the highest child wasting rate at 18.7 per cent. The index was released on Thursday. India ranked 107th out of 121 countries in 2022.” (Source: Global Hunger Index 2023: India ranks 111th out of 125 countries; Pakistan, Bangladesh fare better VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 12th October, 2023 ©The Economic Times)
What other concerns are connected to the above observations?
II. The Bleak Picture of Superrich Wilful Defaulters in-and-out India
Now, our readers, let us consider the superrich wilful defaulters who have not fulfilled their payment obligations to public money and some of them have even fled the country with political aid. The names that appear in the list of such defaulters mostly belong to the majority religious community of India!
Consolidated list of Wilful Defaulters as on 31 December 2023 VIEW HERE ⤡
Top 50 wilful defaulters owe Rs 87,295 crore to banks: Finance ministry VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 1st August, 2023 ©The Economic Times)
Wilful Defaulter Dues Rose by a Whopping Rs 100 Crore Per Day Since March 2019: Report VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 27th October, 2023 ©The Wire)
2,623 wilful defaulters owe Rs 1.96 lakh crore to banks VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 4th December, 2023 ©The Economic Times)
2,623 wilful defaulters owe Rs 1.96 trillion to Indian banks: Bhagwat Karad VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 5th December, 2023 ©Business Standard)
From the above, it seems from the above data that the presently targeted minority community are in fact in possession of a more sustainable economic ethic in favour of cooperative living patterns, whilst the ruling majoritarian community-members seem to be often off the mark when to comes to upholding business ethics or economic transactions as such. These are not generalizations and we must repeat that we are not promoting one community above another. We are merely reporting whatever facts we have managed to retrieve.
It is to be legitimately remarked here that the minority community in India is wrongly blamed for their “overpopulation”:
The population growth rate of Hindus and Muslims are almost equal in progression:
Population growth and religious composition VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 21st September, 2021 ©Pew Research Centre)
The Islamophobic roots of population control efforts in India VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 9 Aug 2019©Alzajeera)
“Between 1951 and 2011, Muslims grew by 4.4 percentage points to 14.2% of the population, while Hindus declined by 4.3 points to 79.8%.”
As it can be observed, the difference is merely 0.1% and its value is therefore statistically negligible. Muslims, in the long course of 60 years, has shown only a 4.4% growth in their population, which is not statistically significant enough to be the dominant, decisive factor/variable to singlehandedly account for the issue of overpopulation. The correlation between unemployment and alleged loss of Hindu jobs is unjustifiably attributed to the Muslims in terms of a causal entailment, since the unemployment is due to other variables/factors, e.g., automation in post-industrial age etc. Hence, it is merely a false or pseudo-correlation that cannot be generalized or presented as a causal necessitation relation. In his book, Population Myth: Islam, Family Planning And Politics In India, former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi has busted this myth that is propagated about the so-called “Muslim population explosion”.
Can Muslims surpass Hindus in population numbers? Experts say practically not possible VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 24th April, 2022 ©Deccan Herald)
Blaming Muslims for India’s Population Growth Is Purely Hindutva Propaganda VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 5th June, 2023 ©The Wire)
Moreover, it must be remembered that post-pandemic:
For first time, India’s fertility rate below replacement level VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 25th November, 2021 ©The Times of India)
The important point to debunk the above myth is the following statistics:
“The fertility rate among Muslims has dropped to 2.3 during the 2019 to 2021 period, from 2.6 recorded in 2015-16, the survey conducted by the Union health ministry showed. In 1992-93, Muslims had a fertility rate of 4.4.”
Source: Muslims’ fertility rate sees sharpest decline over two decades, shows health ministry survey VIEW HERE ⤡ (As reported on 9th May, 2022 ©Scroll)
Islamophobia: The Manufactured Illness of Sick Indian Hindutvavādins VIEW HERE ⤡
Moreover, the Hindutvavadin’s Islamophobia seems only to be nothing more than a mask, behind which lies their money-mongering tendencies, which is quite contrary to Islamic Banking philosophy as well:
Foregrounding Fundamentalism, Foreclosing Fundamentalism VIEW HERE ⤡
In conclusion, let us say: this is an open text. Our dearest Indian citizens as well as our readers may interpret and explain this entire account in their own way of thought: LIKHO SCRIPT APNA APNA!
OBMA stands clear in its commitment towards cultural syncretism, communal harmony and vehemently rejects ALL forms of religious fundamentalism or fanaticism as divisive, chauvinistic and exclusionary in practice.
The question in this case is: who are more sanskaari? Who are more righteous or virtuous in their money transactions?
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