09-25-2003, 10:35 AM
Hello friends!
Now this topic really caught my interest. So thirsty as i was for knowledge i went deep into the well of internet. Wallah! This is a real mircle (God bless Al-Gore for inventing it, the joke is old but has not lost its punch line).
I started where civilization has started itself. Yes, Saddam Hussain's native country of Iraq. Even a novice of history will know that the oldest city of the world was Babylon(georaphically it was located near present day Baghdad). The king of this city by the name Hammurabi was the first person who codified the laws of urban living.
His code known as Hammurabi codes of laws was first known laws of human kind. Again the internet, you can actually read all the 200
of them on internet. I was researching if any mention was made about interest or usury in these codes. Unfortunately, the only mention is that interest arrangements should be properly documented, it is not prohibited. When i read further about the times and culture of Babylon, i found that usury was a big curse on the people of Babylon. Lenders use to charge exorbitant amount of interest from needy people.
Then i fast forwarded and tried to find out if Jews were allowed to charge interest. In fact, i found that they were not allowed to charge interest either to Jews or to Gentile.
Now i am not a religious scholar or a maulvi, but who in the world can stop me from reading the english translation of Quran. So i read the english translation by Dr. Rashad Khalifa. Loo and Behold, there is a verse in Surah AL-Nesa(4161)about Jews indulging in this practice (usuary) when this was prohibited to them.
However, this practice was so wide spread that even some of the Rabais(religious leaders) were involved in this. Infact this prohibition of interest was adopted by Christians as well. So they discouraged charging of interest by fellow christians. However, since Jews in Europe were not allowed to indulge in other trades and professions, money lending became a way of survival(unfortunately the ultimate domination in banking and finance) for Jews. Thus they adopted this modified version that you can charge interest to outsiders but not the Jews.
Then i tried to find out about usury and islam. Now i can provide the exact references if somebody wants them. I found out that interest (Riba) was prohibited in the 9th year of Hijrah. The prohibition is mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah which is 87th in the order of revelation out of 114 (please correct me if i am wrong here). According to these sources, this surah is one of the last few revealed to our Prohphet(PBUH). Now i quote the exact verse ref 2275
"THOSE WHO CHARGE USURY ARE IN THE SAME POSITION AS THOSE CONTROLLED BY THE DEVIL'S INFLUENCE. THIS IS BECAUSE THEY CLAIM THAT USURY IS THE SAME AS COMMERCE. HOWEVER, GOD PERMITS COMMERCE AND PROHIBITS USURY"
So the sources suggest and if you read the verse even a common man can detect that this practice was in existence (although totally disliked by Prophet(PBUH). However, this verse clearly puts an end to usury for once and all.
This i believe answer to some extent my question of when, the detailed answer to why is still outstanding. However, one can clearly understand the repressive nature of interest(specially compound interest- i hope every body knows the rule of 72!!). However, not just people but some of the nations of the world had destroyed themselves by taking debt at exorbitant rates in the open market and unable to pay interest let alone the principal. Why to go too far, we were in the same boat a few years ago. Thank God we are beginning to climb out of that hole at last.
One thing i am more and more getting fascinated is the way our religion has made life simple for people and its openess and common sense that was its power base. Why do you think, my friends, a group of arab from desert went like a strom and conquered the world. It was islam's simplicity, sense of equality that was unmatched for the powers of Rome and Egypt. Alas, we lost that touch and partly i will blame the so called "thekedars of islam" who failed to grasp the modern world and islamic world at the same time. But that is a topic for some other day.
Khuda Hafiz
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 054418 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 055450 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 060922 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 062134 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 063229 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 063637 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 064907 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 065638 AM
Now this topic really caught my interest. So thirsty as i was for knowledge i went deep into the well of internet. Wallah! This is a real mircle (God bless Al-Gore for inventing it, the joke is old but has not lost its punch line).
I started where civilization has started itself. Yes, Saddam Hussain's native country of Iraq. Even a novice of history will know that the oldest city of the world was Babylon(georaphically it was located near present day Baghdad). The king of this city by the name Hammurabi was the first person who codified the laws of urban living.
His code known as Hammurabi codes of laws was first known laws of human kind. Again the internet, you can actually read all the 200
of them on internet. I was researching if any mention was made about interest or usury in these codes. Unfortunately, the only mention is that interest arrangements should be properly documented, it is not prohibited. When i read further about the times and culture of Babylon, i found that usury was a big curse on the people of Babylon. Lenders use to charge exorbitant amount of interest from needy people.
Then i fast forwarded and tried to find out if Jews were allowed to charge interest. In fact, i found that they were not allowed to charge interest either to Jews or to Gentile.
Now i am not a religious scholar or a maulvi, but who in the world can stop me from reading the english translation of Quran. So i read the english translation by Dr. Rashad Khalifa. Loo and Behold, there is a verse in Surah AL-Nesa(4161)about Jews indulging in this practice (usuary) when this was prohibited to them.
However, this practice was so wide spread that even some of the Rabais(religious leaders) were involved in this. Infact this prohibition of interest was adopted by Christians as well. So they discouraged charging of interest by fellow christians. However, since Jews in Europe were not allowed to indulge in other trades and professions, money lending became a way of survival(unfortunately the ultimate domination in banking and finance) for Jews. Thus they adopted this modified version that you can charge interest to outsiders but not the Jews.
Then i tried to find out about usury and islam. Now i can provide the exact references if somebody wants them. I found out that interest (Riba) was prohibited in the 9th year of Hijrah. The prohibition is mentioned in Surah Al-Baqarah which is 87th in the order of revelation out of 114 (please correct me if i am wrong here). According to these sources, this surah is one of the last few revealed to our Prohphet(PBUH). Now i quote the exact verse ref 2275
"THOSE WHO CHARGE USURY ARE IN THE SAME POSITION AS THOSE CONTROLLED BY THE DEVIL'S INFLUENCE. THIS IS BECAUSE THEY CLAIM THAT USURY IS THE SAME AS COMMERCE. HOWEVER, GOD PERMITS COMMERCE AND PROHIBITS USURY"
So the sources suggest and if you read the verse even a common man can detect that this practice was in existence (although totally disliked by Prophet(PBUH). However, this verse clearly puts an end to usury for once and all.
This i believe answer to some extent my question of when, the detailed answer to why is still outstanding. However, one can clearly understand the repressive nature of interest(specially compound interest- i hope every body knows the rule of 72!!). However, not just people but some of the nations of the world had destroyed themselves by taking debt at exorbitant rates in the open market and unable to pay interest let alone the principal. Why to go too far, we were in the same boat a few years ago. Thank God we are beginning to climb out of that hole at last.
One thing i am more and more getting fascinated is the way our religion has made life simple for people and its openess and common sense that was its power base. Why do you think, my friends, a group of arab from desert went like a strom and conquered the world. It was islam's simplicity, sense of equality that was unmatched for the powers of Rome and Egypt. Alas, we lost that touch and partly i will blame the so called "thekedars of islam" who failed to grasp the modern world and islamic world at the same time. But that is a topic for some other day.
Khuda Hafiz
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 054418 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 055450 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 060922 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 062134 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 063229 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 063637 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 064907 AM
Edited by - Pervez on Sep 25 2003 065638 AM