Mufti Abdulkadir Barkatulla
Senior Imam Finchley Mosque, London. Sharia Advisor to Banks
Part 2
Beyond Compliance
Moving on from Dos and Don’ts (halal and haram) of Sharia Law, there are certain implied etiquettes suggested by the ethos of Islamic tradition and indirect prophetic directives, which make integral part of Islamic corporate governance culture. These ethos extend beyond shareholders, financiers and management to suppliers, customers, competitors and employees, embracing the spiritual as well as the temporal needs of community and environment. Some of main cultural etiquettes and ethos are briefly examined. There are no official penalties for violation of these guidelines except long term dire consequence of corporate failure and unpleasant outcomes:
a) Baraka – Long term and ultimate progression and development. Prophet is reported to have said: transacting parties have option till they part. Then if they were transparent and truthful in their dealing they will experience baraka following their exchange. And if they were not completely transparent and less than truthful, the baraka of their exchange will be erased. (Bukhari, Muslim) .
Another prophecy is that: vow and (untrue) guarantees, though promotes products but eventually wipes out barkah (Bukhari) . Anecdote to baraka is Mahq, which is to rub out the utility of transaction. This notion is explicitly mentioned in the verse of prohibition of riba in Sura Baqara:276.
b) Samaha altruistic and considerate. “May God bless persons of Samaha in business transactions and at settlement of receivables and payables. (Bukhari)
c) Ishraf – greed, excessive profiteering.
d) Nihla, Teeb-an-nafs - satisfaction, content of heart.
Seven Golden Principles
Islamic corporate governance culture is beautifully summarised in one narration by Muadh ibn jabal:
Best corporate business is where:
1.No under-representation / misrepresentation takes place (full disclosure and transparency)
2.No breach of trust ( false accounting/auditing)
3.No failed delivery undertakings
4.Suppliers are not unnecessarily smeared or de-valued
5.Products and services are not overstated
6.Accounts payables are not withheld unwarranted
7.Accounts receivable are not enforced cruelly.
Effect of non-conformity for Islamic Financial Institutions
Rating agencies, accounts and audit departments and valuers are good at crunching numbers and figure and vet documents and reports. However, Islamic financial institutions have unique characteristics. Measuring financial performance alone is not sufficient. Ethical performance targets and measurement mechanism have to evolve. Regulatory and Sharia non-compliance issues are apparent to deal with. Adherence to Islamic values and code of conduct does pose a daunting challenge. Non-conformity to ethical values poses risk factor unique to Islamic institutions.
There could be hardly any statistical data on scale of performance available in the short lifecycle of Islamic Financial institution. There may have been ups and down in life span of individual institution, but failure at massive scale has only been witnessed in sub-continent of India. As one news report puts it “The failure of Islamic financial institutions is an ideological and ethical challenge to the entire community”
The story goes on: A number of Islamic investment companies in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore have either crumbled, collapsed, vanished or simply gone bust in the last two years. This is real bad news for all those who looked towards these companies or institutions as a halal (legitimate) avenue for investment of their hard-earned savings. If conventional banks fail, it is merely failure of individual institutions. But in case of Islamic investment companies, the very credibility of the concept has come into question.
It is estimated that nearly 100 Billion Indian Rupees deposited with these bodies have either been spirited away or gone into such investments that are not likely to return to those who expected them to yield profits. The rise and fall of several of these investment companies has coincided with the boom and bust of speculative businesses such as share market or real estates. A clutch of companies in Hyderabad acted in unethical style through an advertisement blitz in the local Urdu newspapers. Depositors were lured by expensive gifts, immediate dividends. In Mumbai and Bangalore the Islamic investors’ money fell victim to the artificial boom in real estates.
A detailed analytical study by Dr Rahmatullah of Mumbai concludes: it is pity for Islamic Institution in India to die the infant death or creep and crawl with lopsided growth features like a developing country without protective trade policy.
The study found four financial reasons for collapse and four non-financial factors, namely:
•Low Capital Base
•Low Capital Yield
•High Operational costs
•Non-performing Assets
Among other factors are:
•Poor Accounting Standards – Internal/external audit
•Non-professional Management
•Misappropriation of funds
•Lack of Crises Management Skills
Concluding Remarks
Human living conditions are constantly evolving so are interactive processes and practices. We have been on move gradually from barter economy to gold and silver based medium of exchange to bank notes to plastic cards to electronic funds and so on. Central to all modes have been relative negotiating powers and contractual terms and conditions of exchanging participants. Thus vital to various spheres of activity and modes has been human relational aspect. Fairness and justice are universal values. Gratitude and satisfaction of participants are delicate matters to deal with.
In quantum world of business transactions, whether in goods and services or financial instruments, new dynamics of qualitative aspects explained earlier, is to be part of equation. Islamic Business ethics must aim now beyond compliance to corporate governance excellence and socio-Islamic responsibilities. Concepts of barkah, samaha, and nihla are to be introduced into check list and audit trail of Islamic businesses and institutions. Adherence ensures the long term prosperity and well-being of participants going beyond lifespan of individuals and to future generations.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Qualitative Aspects of Business Transactions: An Islamic Perspective
Mufti Abdulkadir Barkatulla
Senior Imam Finchley Mosque, London. Sharia Advisor to Banks
Part 1
An Abstract:
In today’s fast turnaround business world, the qualitative aspects of transactions are given less priority. The manufacturing world is all too familiar with quality control of production and assembly lines. In the service sector of distribution, marketing and customer satisfaction, it is often overlooked and forgone, with unpleasant consequences. It is not just medium size enterprises with short-term revenue maximizing objectives - ignoring the importance of the quality aspect - but even the large corporate world is culpable. Collapse of corporate giants and stock bubble bursts’ are only a few examples.
Islamic Sharia not only provides manifest governance rules and guidelines for businesses, it also provides philosophical rational for good practices and long term prosperity. The modern day concept of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is often perceived as a technical IT challenge. But CRM is primarily a strategic business philosophy and process issue rather than a technical issue.
Islamic concepts such as baraka (growth), samaha (generosity), nihla (happy heart giving), and ishraf (greed) are a few examples of an overall business philosophy. Inner intentions and emotional aspects of business entities are taken into account for profitability of transaction and success of overall business enterprise. Here Sharia is not only concerned with compliance to the letter of the law but spirit and philosophy of the system as well. Adherence ensures the long term prosperity and well-being of transacting parties going beyond lifespan of individuals and to future generations.
Introduction
Quality or quantity has always been contentious notion. In today’s business environment practical considerations take centre stage instead of philosophical rational. Islamic perspective is crystal clear: “God loves that when you do something, accomplish it to the perfection” as attention is drawn in the Qur’an to the level of perfection in the natural creation.
Sharia compliance business and financial services sector has come a long way in the last three decades in various parts of the world. It is growing both in volume and complexity at a steady rate. Research and development is intensifying into devising evermore Sharia compliance products and services.
We are well placed now to pay attention to the qualitative aspects of both providers and consumers of Sharia compliance services. Compliance is not only required at product inception, design and marketing, but the whole process of delivery, execution and conclusion, and maturity of transactions. Quality Assurance covers all activities from design, development, production, servicing and documentation. As it is observed in the following sections, not only actions are subject of compliance, but motivations and intent.
Business Process re-engineering
Notwithstanding classic and modern theories of general equilibrium, corporate world is indeed going through process of re-engineering business models and processes. Corporate social responsibility and ethical guidelines for corporate governance are steps in positive directions. CRM, Customer Relationship Management is strategic business philosophy and processes are rooted in Sharia. CCRM, Collaborative Customer Relationship Management, is equated to PRM or “Partner Relationship Management”.
Moreover, treatment of suppliers as partners or customers, and a range of approaches to accounting, marketing, public relations, operations, training, labor relations, and investment are steps to improve qualitative business atmosphere. Attempt is made to realize Islamic business ethics and rational underlying Sharia Compliance in letter and spirit.
Islamic Business Ethics and Ethos
The ethical foundations of Islamic businesses are:
Fairness and balance in exchange transactions
Transparency and clarity of terms of exchange
Mutuality of individual and social usefulness
Social and contractual justice
Realism and actual relations
Sharia Compliance
The very objective of Sharia is to promote the welfare of the people, which lies in safeguarding their life, their intellect, their faith, their posterity and their wealth. In other words whatever promotes physical security, physical and mental health, protection of wealth and property, freedom of belief, socio-economic justice, balanced satisfaction of both material and spiritual needs of all human beings is in line with Islamic Sharia. Thus all useful economic activity is lawful and encouraged except transactions involving:
1. Unfairness towards any person, entity, and environment (zarar)
2. Riba (interest, usury and commodity riba)
3. Maysir (uncertain and speculative transactions)
4. Gharar (Ambiguity, excessive risk)
5. Trade in sinful activities i.e. goods and service declared unlawful
6. No underlying physical assets
Apart from halal and haram, Qur’an describes all satisfactory business exchange of goods and services by entities as trazi thus lawful and all unlawful exchanges as batil and bakhs.
Senior Imam Finchley Mosque, London. Sharia Advisor to Banks
Part 1
An Abstract:
In today’s fast turnaround business world, the qualitative aspects of transactions are given less priority. The manufacturing world is all too familiar with quality control of production and assembly lines. In the service sector of distribution, marketing and customer satisfaction, it is often overlooked and forgone, with unpleasant consequences. It is not just medium size enterprises with short-term revenue maximizing objectives - ignoring the importance of the quality aspect - but even the large corporate world is culpable. Collapse of corporate giants and stock bubble bursts’ are only a few examples.
Islamic Sharia not only provides manifest governance rules and guidelines for businesses, it also provides philosophical rational for good practices and long term prosperity. The modern day concept of CRM (Customer Relationship Management) is often perceived as a technical IT challenge. But CRM is primarily a strategic business philosophy and process issue rather than a technical issue.
Islamic concepts such as baraka (growth), samaha (generosity), nihla (happy heart giving), and ishraf (greed) are a few examples of an overall business philosophy. Inner intentions and emotional aspects of business entities are taken into account for profitability of transaction and success of overall business enterprise. Here Sharia is not only concerned with compliance to the letter of the law but spirit and philosophy of the system as well. Adherence ensures the long term prosperity and well-being of transacting parties going beyond lifespan of individuals and to future generations.
Introduction
Quality or quantity has always been contentious notion. In today’s business environment practical considerations take centre stage instead of philosophical rational. Islamic perspective is crystal clear: “God loves that when you do something, accomplish it to the perfection” as attention is drawn in the Qur’an to the level of perfection in the natural creation.
Sharia compliance business and financial services sector has come a long way in the last three decades in various parts of the world. It is growing both in volume and complexity at a steady rate. Research and development is intensifying into devising evermore Sharia compliance products and services.
We are well placed now to pay attention to the qualitative aspects of both providers and consumers of Sharia compliance services. Compliance is not only required at product inception, design and marketing, but the whole process of delivery, execution and conclusion, and maturity of transactions. Quality Assurance covers all activities from design, development, production, servicing and documentation. As it is observed in the following sections, not only actions are subject of compliance, but motivations and intent.
Business Process re-engineering
Notwithstanding classic and modern theories of general equilibrium, corporate world is indeed going through process of re-engineering business models and processes. Corporate social responsibility and ethical guidelines for corporate governance are steps in positive directions. CRM, Customer Relationship Management is strategic business philosophy and processes are rooted in Sharia. CCRM, Collaborative Customer Relationship Management, is equated to PRM or “Partner Relationship Management”.
Moreover, treatment of suppliers as partners or customers, and a range of approaches to accounting, marketing, public relations, operations, training, labor relations, and investment are steps to improve qualitative business atmosphere. Attempt is made to realize Islamic business ethics and rational underlying Sharia Compliance in letter and spirit.
Islamic Business Ethics and Ethos
The ethical foundations of Islamic businesses are:
Fairness and balance in exchange transactions
Transparency and clarity of terms of exchange
Mutuality of individual and social usefulness
Social and contractual justice
Realism and actual relations
Sharia Compliance
The very objective of Sharia is to promote the welfare of the people, which lies in safeguarding their life, their intellect, their faith, their posterity and their wealth. In other words whatever promotes physical security, physical and mental health, protection of wealth and property, freedom of belief, socio-economic justice, balanced satisfaction of both material and spiritual needs of all human beings is in line with Islamic Sharia. Thus all useful economic activity is lawful and encouraged except transactions involving:
1. Unfairness towards any person, entity, and environment (zarar)
2. Riba (interest, usury and commodity riba)
3. Maysir (uncertain and speculative transactions)
4. Gharar (Ambiguity, excessive risk)
5. Trade in sinful activities i.e. goods and service declared unlawful
6. No underlying physical assets
Apart from halal and haram, Qur’an describes all satisfactory business exchange of goods and services by entities as trazi thus lawful and all unlawful exchanges as batil and bakhs.
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
The Importance Of Zakah
(Excerpted from Hj Zaharudin article)
Islam regards all wealth, as belonging to God and it is an “amanah” (a trust that is entrusted to the individual) from Allah. We will have to account for the wealth that Allah has entrusted to us in this life and hereafter.
One may accumulate as much as one pleases as long as such means do not violate the law of law. Wealth gathering is a legitimate activity as long as it entail theft, cheating, coercion, riba(usury), harming others.
Indeed, the pursuit of wealth is one of the man’s primal concerns and demands for survival (consisting of food, shelter and clothing). Wealth gathering is vital for living, but it must be subjected to the moral law. Without this law, human life sinks to the level oriented around money and could lead to moral decadence.
Even if the moral law has been strictly observed in every step of the process of acquiring wealth, our wealth still needs justification on another level and this is where the institution of wealth sharing or Zakah. One of Islam tenet is that wealth, once acquired ought to be shared with others in the same proportion. This is the requirement of charity and it is as old as humanity and always regarded as high moral value.
Thus, Islam sought to preserve charity as a critical element to moral values, which must be highlighted. Purposes of Zakah are as follows:-
a) To purify the physical well being and the soul of a man by inhibiting selfishness and materialistic from rooting in the heart of the rich, as well as spiritual training in one to create a noble, good and caring person, to others.
b) To encumber jealousy and uneasiness among the poor and needy towards the rich as a hadith had mentioned: “Once you have settled the Zakah upon your property, then you had put away the evil that might have risen from it.” (Narrated by Al-Hakim)
c) To convince the wealthy that the title to their wealth is mitigated by their fellow humans’ rights to life and subsistence,
d) To assure the needy that their fellow brothers will not passively see them suffer misfortune.
e) To take care of the unfortunate members in the society and build their personality to become a useful contributor to the society. This will automatically cleanse the unwanted feeling in them that leads to despair and unproductivity in life. The prophet said: “Men are like the organs of a body, when the organ suffers, the whole body responds to repel the cause of suffering” (Narrated by Muslim)
Being a form of tax on wealth, Zakah is incumbent on all liquid, existing, movable and immovable properties belonging to Muslims. It does not matter whether the owner is child (e.g. it is when he/she holds an inheritance wealth, zakah is obligatory on the wealth, and any of their close relatives could pay the Zakah on his/her behalf) or adult, male or female. Three principles govern the levying the Zakah are:-
• No Zakah is due on property intended for consumption, such as houses, gardens, clothing, or furniture. Jewelry of gold, silver. Taxable property is that which is intended for production, whether industrial, agricultural or commercial.
According to Malaysian standard, even though jewelries which are used by females will not be imposed to Zakah but, one must bear in mind that if a women wears jewelries which overall cost of the jewelries is higher than RM5000 i.e normal standard usage of jewelries for a woman in Malaysia, she has to pay Zakah (2.5 %) from the additional amount which is above the standard.
• Zakah is not an indiscriminate tax on all properties. Assessment of Zakah must take into consideration the net income produced by the property in question. If in a year, the company suffers a loss, no Zakah is levied on the property concerned.
• A reasonable amount necessary for the owner and his dependents’ subsistence must be deducted from the assessment.
One might have asked nowadays: “Do we have to pay Zakah on shares that we keep as savings?”
Shares which are permissible to buy and own may be purchased for either holding them and expecting their dividends or for participating in the management of the company, or for using them as tradable objects waiting for a good opportunity to realize a capital gain and sell. In this case, one is to pay Zakah at the same rate and net asset value on the due date of Zakah.
Holding shares for their dividend is usually done on a long-term vision, during which capital gains may also be realized but the owner usually keeps holding them for long period. There are three views on the Zakah in this case:-
a. The view of the majority, which came in a resolution of the OIC Fiqh Academy, maintains that one has to calculate the “Zakah able” part of the value of the stock, from the company's balance sheet and pay Zakah on it in the due date at the rate of 2.5%. The “Zakah able” part is: cash+receivables+inventories of goods in process and ready for sale-short term debts.
b. The minority view, states that this investment is similar to trading in stocks, in the Shariah meaning of the word. Accordingly, the owner has to pay Zakah at the rate of 2.5% on the market value on the due date.
c. The third view is a subset of the first one; it actually adds to the first one that if it is difficult to calculate Zakah from the balance sheet, one may pay 10% on the net income of the stock, in analogy with agriculture. Actually, there is no strong and logical support in Shariah for this opinion.
In conclusion, Muslims must bear in mind that their reluctance to pay Zakah will only result in bad consequences, either spiritually or physically as follows: -
a) Losing Allah’s blessings over his/her properties.
b) Lead to greediness in oneself to accumulate as much wealth as one could without ignoring the lawfulness of the sources of income in the eyes of Islam.
c) Widening the gap between the rich and the poor. In this case, the rich becomes richer and the poor remains poor or even poorer without any help to improve the situation. As a result, this leads to social illnesses and civil crimes, which will even out the harmony and tranquility life in society.
d) The existence of envy and hatred between the rich and the poor.
e) The wealth, which has not been purified with Zakah, will bring disasters to its owner in the hereafter.
This Ramadhan al-Mubarak is a perfect time to be reminded of the duty to pay “Zakah al-Fitr”, which is obliged to all Muslims of man, woman, young and old. Accordingly, cash value of one saa’ (or one “gantang” or 2.3 kg) can be paid as “Zakah al-fitr” and it equivalent to a very small amount of money (below RM 5.00). It must be settled before the ‘Idul Fitr sunnah prayer is performed. In the event of later than this, it will not be regarded as Zakah fitrah anymore but is merely regarded as an ordinary sadaqah. Therefore, Muslims should not hesitate in carrying out this duty at the due time in which will also helps to enlighten the Hari Raya celebration of the unfortunate members in society.
Islam regards all wealth, as belonging to God and it is an “amanah” (a trust that is entrusted to the individual) from Allah. We will have to account for the wealth that Allah has entrusted to us in this life and hereafter.
One may accumulate as much as one pleases as long as such means do not violate the law of law. Wealth gathering is a legitimate activity as long as it entail theft, cheating, coercion, riba(usury), harming others.
Indeed, the pursuit of wealth is one of the man’s primal concerns and demands for survival (consisting of food, shelter and clothing). Wealth gathering is vital for living, but it must be subjected to the moral law. Without this law, human life sinks to the level oriented around money and could lead to moral decadence.
Even if the moral law has been strictly observed in every step of the process of acquiring wealth, our wealth still needs justification on another level and this is where the institution of wealth sharing or Zakah. One of Islam tenet is that wealth, once acquired ought to be shared with others in the same proportion. This is the requirement of charity and it is as old as humanity and always regarded as high moral value.
Thus, Islam sought to preserve charity as a critical element to moral values, which must be highlighted. Purposes of Zakah are as follows:-
a) To purify the physical well being and the soul of a man by inhibiting selfishness and materialistic from rooting in the heart of the rich, as well as spiritual training in one to create a noble, good and caring person, to others.
b) To encumber jealousy and uneasiness among the poor and needy towards the rich as a hadith had mentioned: “Once you have settled the Zakah upon your property, then you had put away the evil that might have risen from it.” (Narrated by Al-Hakim)
c) To convince the wealthy that the title to their wealth is mitigated by their fellow humans’ rights to life and subsistence,
d) To assure the needy that their fellow brothers will not passively see them suffer misfortune.
e) To take care of the unfortunate members in the society and build their personality to become a useful contributor to the society. This will automatically cleanse the unwanted feeling in them that leads to despair and unproductivity in life. The prophet said: “Men are like the organs of a body, when the organ suffers, the whole body responds to repel the cause of suffering” (Narrated by Muslim)
Being a form of tax on wealth, Zakah is incumbent on all liquid, existing, movable and immovable properties belonging to Muslims. It does not matter whether the owner is child (e.g. it is when he/she holds an inheritance wealth, zakah is obligatory on the wealth, and any of their close relatives could pay the Zakah on his/her behalf) or adult, male or female. Three principles govern the levying the Zakah are:-
• No Zakah is due on property intended for consumption, such as houses, gardens, clothing, or furniture. Jewelry of gold, silver. Taxable property is that which is intended for production, whether industrial, agricultural or commercial.
According to Malaysian standard, even though jewelries which are used by females will not be imposed to Zakah but, one must bear in mind that if a women wears jewelries which overall cost of the jewelries is higher than RM5000 i.e normal standard usage of jewelries for a woman in Malaysia, she has to pay Zakah (2.5 %) from the additional amount which is above the standard.
• Zakah is not an indiscriminate tax on all properties. Assessment of Zakah must take into consideration the net income produced by the property in question. If in a year, the company suffers a loss, no Zakah is levied on the property concerned.
• A reasonable amount necessary for the owner and his dependents’ subsistence must be deducted from the assessment.
One might have asked nowadays: “Do we have to pay Zakah on shares that we keep as savings?”
Shares which are permissible to buy and own may be purchased for either holding them and expecting their dividends or for participating in the management of the company, or for using them as tradable objects waiting for a good opportunity to realize a capital gain and sell. In this case, one is to pay Zakah at the same rate and net asset value on the due date of Zakah.
Holding shares for their dividend is usually done on a long-term vision, during which capital gains may also be realized but the owner usually keeps holding them for long period. There are three views on the Zakah in this case:-
a. The view of the majority, which came in a resolution of the OIC Fiqh Academy, maintains that one has to calculate the “Zakah able” part of the value of the stock, from the company's balance sheet and pay Zakah on it in the due date at the rate of 2.5%. The “Zakah able” part is: cash+receivables+inventories of goods in process and ready for sale-short term debts.
b. The minority view, states that this investment is similar to trading in stocks, in the Shariah meaning of the word. Accordingly, the owner has to pay Zakah at the rate of 2.5% on the market value on the due date.
c. The third view is a subset of the first one; it actually adds to the first one that if it is difficult to calculate Zakah from the balance sheet, one may pay 10% on the net income of the stock, in analogy with agriculture. Actually, there is no strong and logical support in Shariah for this opinion.
In conclusion, Muslims must bear in mind that their reluctance to pay Zakah will only result in bad consequences, either spiritually or physically as follows: -
a) Losing Allah’s blessings over his/her properties.
b) Lead to greediness in oneself to accumulate as much wealth as one could without ignoring the lawfulness of the sources of income in the eyes of Islam.
c) Widening the gap between the rich and the poor. In this case, the rich becomes richer and the poor remains poor or even poorer without any help to improve the situation. As a result, this leads to social illnesses and civil crimes, which will even out the harmony and tranquility life in society.
d) The existence of envy and hatred between the rich and the poor.
e) The wealth, which has not been purified with Zakah, will bring disasters to its owner in the hereafter.
This Ramadhan al-Mubarak is a perfect time to be reminded of the duty to pay “Zakah al-Fitr”, which is obliged to all Muslims of man, woman, young and old. Accordingly, cash value of one saa’ (or one “gantang” or 2.3 kg) can be paid as “Zakah al-fitr” and it equivalent to a very small amount of money (below RM 5.00). It must be settled before the ‘Idul Fitr sunnah prayer is performed. In the event of later than this, it will not be regarded as Zakah fitrah anymore but is merely regarded as an ordinary sadaqah. Therefore, Muslims should not hesitate in carrying out this duty at the due time in which will also helps to enlighten the Hari Raya celebration of the unfortunate members in society.
Ramadhan and Wealth
(Excerpted from Hj Zaharudin article)
All Muslims are duty-bound to fast during the whole month of Ramadhan based on the evidence from the Qur’an in Surah al-Baqarah, verses 183 and 185. We must have faith in the hereafter life and thus, to observe the Islamic conduct of our daily life as a preparation for the next eternal destiny.
One must understand that human life has two elements:- the first is the physical body or the outer part of man and the second is the spiritual side i.e. the inner part of man that cannot be physically touched or seen through our bare eyes. The first can be equated to this worldly life. In Islam, the spiritual part is the most important where it will determine one’s thought and action in his/her life. Therefore, fasting in Ramadhan will lead to the purification of this crucial element.
One must have in mind that, it is impossible for one to acknowledge and to explore the secrets of Ramadhan if he/she is still in doubtful about the basic element above, eventually he/she neither have the passionate feeling of welcoming Ramadhan nor feels any special value for it.
It is just like one who does not have any interest in screening his/her income and flow of his money, he/she just do not bother whether it involved in Riba or unlawful investments, this is due to the lack of his/her basic spiritual foundation and awareness in the strict prohibition of Riba. Therefore, we hope the ibadah performed in Ramadhan could purify our basic spiritual foundation.
Thus, in tandem with Ramadhan al-Mubarak, this writing will try to explain on how to increase our ibadah and purify our income and wealth, as follows:
1) Enhancing the efforts of alms giving or sadaqah in which will help eliminating the previous sinful wealth, other than helping the needy and unfortunate peoples. Only by multiplying sadaqah, one life would be more blessed by Allah. Allah stated: “Allah will destroy Riba (usury utilizer) and will give increase for Sadaqat (deeds of charity, alms)” ( Al-Baqarah : 276)
2) Generally, Muslims are much more responsible towards executing his/her Deen duties in Ramadhan. This can be clearly seen from the lively atmosphere in all mosques in this month than in others. Therefore, Muslims should maximize this thoughtful sense of Ramadhan to evaluate their sources of income and wealth, and also to observe their daily expenditure. It is mostly advisable that Muslims pay attention to the following points:-
• Does our income or business profit come from Shariah approved sources?
Have we ever check (and wanted to check) on our investment whether it is prohibited or permissible by Shariah. The profits which rooted from the Shariah prohibited investments are also unlawful in Islam.
Allah had mentioned in Surah Al-Maidah, verse 2:
“Help ye one another in righteousness and piety, but help ye not one another in sin and rancor”.
Moreover, based on the Islamic legal maxims and concept:
“Whatever leads to prohibition, thus it will be prohibited” and,
“Every matters that would open way to prohibitions are prohibited”.
Therefore, we hope that Ramadhan will gives us more awareness and strength to look for lawful profits in Islam rather than putting efforts to gain profits without giving any consideration to the Shariah ruling on it.
• Muslims must ensure that all items sold and bought are lawful in the Shariah views, besides the “Halal” signs provided by JAKIM for all the foodstuffs, Muslim sellers should be mindful to items without any “Halal” signs on it e.g. clothes, reading and entertainment materials etc, where they should be more conscious on the effects of all the sold items to the community at large, and thus be responsible of it. Muslim should never let self-indulgence stay in his/her heart and let difficulties occur in the society because of his/her sales.
• How about all the deceitful elements happening today in our society such as hiding the defects of sales items, purposely late delivery, lying on the quality of commodities, foods and etc?
• As muslim, we are obliged to have great concern to our duties towards Allah by performing five times prayers a day without any excuses. By ignoring these duties, any profit generated will be lack of Allah blessing. No one should give excuses that they are too busy in handling the business or entertaining customers to justify the ignorance.
One must be aware that when the good deeds is multiplied in Ramadhan as narrated in the hadith:- “ (Allah Says about the fasting person) He has left his food, drink and desires for My sake, The Fast is for Me, so I reward (the person ) for it and the reward of good deeds is multiplied ten times” ( Narrated by Al-Bukhari); the evil deeds is also multiplied in this blessing month.
• Muslim must get away from extravagant lifestyles in Ramadhan by controlling themselves from spending a lot of money in buying various foods, clothes etc unnecessarily. Therefore, it is advisable for Muslims to spend more on sadaqat (giving charity) to others and not to engage in a big feast with the whole lots of food varieties during the break fasting hour, as it could be wasted away and also dissociated Muslim from Ramadhan objectives.
In welcoming this blessed month of Ramadhan, all these practices must be put to an end. Muslims must turn into a new leaf and thus search only for lawful (halal) wealth.
In conclusion, Muslims must be more responsible in ensuring that all the wealth earned is lawful, and not causing injustice to others such as usury (Riba), betrayal of trust/mistrust, fraud, investments that lead to bad effects in society and etc. We pray that Ramadhan will increase our wills to purify the wealth that we earn and spend for the sake of Allah. We also pray that Ramadhan will lighten our heart to become a good Muslim not only in this blessed month, but continuously forever.
All Muslims are duty-bound to fast during the whole month of Ramadhan based on the evidence from the Qur’an in Surah al-Baqarah, verses 183 and 185. We must have faith in the hereafter life and thus, to observe the Islamic conduct of our daily life as a preparation for the next eternal destiny.
One must understand that human life has two elements:- the first is the physical body or the outer part of man and the second is the spiritual side i.e. the inner part of man that cannot be physically touched or seen through our bare eyes. The first can be equated to this worldly life. In Islam, the spiritual part is the most important where it will determine one’s thought and action in his/her life. Therefore, fasting in Ramadhan will lead to the purification of this crucial element.
One must have in mind that, it is impossible for one to acknowledge and to explore the secrets of Ramadhan if he/she is still in doubtful about the basic element above, eventually he/she neither have the passionate feeling of welcoming Ramadhan nor feels any special value for it.
It is just like one who does not have any interest in screening his/her income and flow of his money, he/she just do not bother whether it involved in Riba or unlawful investments, this is due to the lack of his/her basic spiritual foundation and awareness in the strict prohibition of Riba. Therefore, we hope the ibadah performed in Ramadhan could purify our basic spiritual foundation.
Thus, in tandem with Ramadhan al-Mubarak, this writing will try to explain on how to increase our ibadah and purify our income and wealth, as follows:
1) Enhancing the efforts of alms giving or sadaqah in which will help eliminating the previous sinful wealth, other than helping the needy and unfortunate peoples. Only by multiplying sadaqah, one life would be more blessed by Allah. Allah stated: “Allah will destroy Riba (usury utilizer) and will give increase for Sadaqat (deeds of charity, alms)” ( Al-Baqarah : 276)
2) Generally, Muslims are much more responsible towards executing his/her Deen duties in Ramadhan. This can be clearly seen from the lively atmosphere in all mosques in this month than in others. Therefore, Muslims should maximize this thoughtful sense of Ramadhan to evaluate their sources of income and wealth, and also to observe their daily expenditure. It is mostly advisable that Muslims pay attention to the following points:-
• Does our income or business profit come from Shariah approved sources?
Have we ever check (and wanted to check) on our investment whether it is prohibited or permissible by Shariah. The profits which rooted from the Shariah prohibited investments are also unlawful in Islam.
Allah had mentioned in Surah Al-Maidah, verse 2:
“Help ye one another in righteousness and piety, but help ye not one another in sin and rancor”.
Moreover, based on the Islamic legal maxims and concept:
“Whatever leads to prohibition, thus it will be prohibited” and,
“Every matters that would open way to prohibitions are prohibited”.
Therefore, we hope that Ramadhan will gives us more awareness and strength to look for lawful profits in Islam rather than putting efforts to gain profits without giving any consideration to the Shariah ruling on it.
• Muslims must ensure that all items sold and bought are lawful in the Shariah views, besides the “Halal” signs provided by JAKIM for all the foodstuffs, Muslim sellers should be mindful to items without any “Halal” signs on it e.g. clothes, reading and entertainment materials etc, where they should be more conscious on the effects of all the sold items to the community at large, and thus be responsible of it. Muslim should never let self-indulgence stay in his/her heart and let difficulties occur in the society because of his/her sales.
• How about all the deceitful elements happening today in our society such as hiding the defects of sales items, purposely late delivery, lying on the quality of commodities, foods and etc?
• As muslim, we are obliged to have great concern to our duties towards Allah by performing five times prayers a day without any excuses. By ignoring these duties, any profit generated will be lack of Allah blessing. No one should give excuses that they are too busy in handling the business or entertaining customers to justify the ignorance.
One must be aware that when the good deeds is multiplied in Ramadhan as narrated in the hadith:- “ (Allah Says about the fasting person) He has left his food, drink and desires for My sake, The Fast is for Me, so I reward (the person ) for it and the reward of good deeds is multiplied ten times” ( Narrated by Al-Bukhari); the evil deeds is also multiplied in this blessing month.
• Muslim must get away from extravagant lifestyles in Ramadhan by controlling themselves from spending a lot of money in buying various foods, clothes etc unnecessarily. Therefore, it is advisable for Muslims to spend more on sadaqat (giving charity) to others and not to engage in a big feast with the whole lots of food varieties during the break fasting hour, as it could be wasted away and also dissociated Muslim from Ramadhan objectives.
In welcoming this blessed month of Ramadhan, all these practices must be put to an end. Muslims must turn into a new leaf and thus search only for lawful (halal) wealth.
In conclusion, Muslims must be more responsible in ensuring that all the wealth earned is lawful, and not causing injustice to others such as usury (Riba), betrayal of trust/mistrust, fraud, investments that lead to bad effects in society and etc. We pray that Ramadhan will increase our wills to purify the wealth that we earn and spend for the sake of Allah. We also pray that Ramadhan will lighten our heart to become a good Muslim not only in this blessed month, but continuously forever.
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