An Overview of Riba, Trading And Charity in Islam

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There are three ways to turn the economy around, one is prohibited while the other two are made legal, blessed, enriched, and multiplied. The irony is that in the last few decades, it is precisely the forbidden road that has grown rapidly - while the other two roads are dominated by the first. 

What is prohibited is the way of usury, while the other two are the way of buying and selling and giving alms. To put a brake on the growth rate of usury, there is no other way but to strengthen buying and selling and giving alms.

The prohibition of usury is no longer a discourse, the Koran is very strict in this matter, even Allah sentenced him to haram (QS 2: 275), threatened to destroy it (QS 2: 276), even Allah and His Messenger declared war on this usury ( QS 2: 279).

Practices that are categorized as usury in modern times have also been interpreted without further debate by the Fatwa of the National Sharia Council - MUI No. 1 of 2004. All products contain interest from conventional banking, insurance, and cooperatives - are included in this category based on this fatwa.

But why are these riba products so rampant? yes because he is being grown up by the ecosystem that supports him. From the executive and the legislature, this country presents various products that support the flourishing of usury, for example, there is a deposit insurance law, and so on.

From the community, both business actors and consumers - are also still reluctant to carry out innovative disruption to get out of this usury bondage. Even because usury is so large, without us realizing that those who try hard to leave it still have to continue to breathe in usury dust.

The second path - the path that is permitted by Allah is buying and selling or trading (QS 2: 275), this path is now starting to stretch because, with the proliferation of the startup marketplace - which is starting to become popular, people who are good at trading generally benefit.

Before the rise of internet-based marketplaces, you had to rent expensive kiosks in trading centers to be able to sell your products. As a result, the trading world is controlled by a few who can afford it.

With the proliferation of various marketplaces, now you no longer have to rent expensive kiosks to sell. You can sell anything, from cendol to high-tech components that are now in - like IoT (Internet of Things) components in a practically free marketplace.

But this market growth alone is not enough to fight usury. When access to capital is still managed using the Ribawi system, in the end, the market rulers will remain a handful of people.

Ownership of giant marketplaces remains a privilege for giant capital owners who are also riba managers. The law of the marketplace jungle - which is almost without any entry barrier - encourages unfair competition between marketplace managers.

They do not hesitate to 'burn money' in unimaginable amounts to increase their respective market share. They try to be a single winner without leaving a runner-up so that in this marketplace world applies the term the winner takes it all - the winner takes all!

While people can still enjoy the competition between these giants, we can still take motorbikes and taxis which are subsidized by them, trades for which they pay postage, etc. but when something violates His prohibitions, it is inconceivable what the next result will be.

Apart from usury, there are prohibitions on monopoly/oligopoly, cartels, prohibitions on unfair competition, and so on. Remember the nation of Thamud, his people of Prophet Saleh Alaihi Salam - what were their mistakes so that they were destroyed by Allah? because there are nine people (oligopoly) who do damage on earth (QS 27:48).

When these nine people controlled all economic access - and forbade Prophet Saleh's camels from drinking water, that was when Allah destroyed the nation. Isn't that how our market behaves right now? the big ones want to get bigger and try to kick the smaller ones out of the market?

One other way that we must push our hardest to grow is the way of alms. Why is that? There are so many of our needs that cannot be fulfilled optimally just from commercial buying and selling, we have to buy and sell with Allah - that is one way, namely through alms.

Education affairs, disaster/disaster management, health issues, etc. cannot be solved by buying and selling. If to receive health services you have to pay, then what about the poor who can't pay for it. If you have to pay for education, how can the poor improve their standard of living?

Especially to overcome calamities such as natural disasters, humanitarian calamities such as those experienced by our brothers and sisters in Rohingya, etc. - of course, this is not a field of buying and selling between humans, this is a field of buying and selling with God or with alms earlier.

But this almsgiving also will not be optimal if our trading activities are disrupted, what can we donate to our brothers in Rohingya for example - if we don't have anything, those who don't can give! So trade between people, and trade with God - it's like two sides of a coin that are intertwined.

We cannot give alms optimally if we need charity, but our wealth will also have no meaning - if we don't give some of the wealth. Because there are only three things that we can bring to death, namely pious children who pray for their parents, useful knowledge, and almsgiving.

So at the last point, almsgiving, Jariyah or waqf - this is what in the past was a tremendous economic power because at that time the people realized that their best assets were assets that could be taken away - assets that were donated or donated.

With waqf, all the best educational infrastructure that can be accessed by the poor and the rich - can be built. With waqf, hospitals and health services, and other social services should also be built.

What we are now witnessing is that good schools are becoming very bad, good hospitals are also only the privilege of the few - yes because the sectors that should have been managed with alms are now being traded with the support of riba capital.

But just identifying the problem without providing a solution also makes us like football spectators who can only comment and "maido" (Javanese language which means criticizing), and Allah is angry when we just talk without doing. So now is the time to do it!

In an era when world economic growth is dominated by disruptive innovation, there is no economic hegemony that is free from this - disrupt or be disrupted, so the riba economic system of capitalism is also time to be disrupted.

It is time for us to confirm Allah's promise, that usury is destroyed and alms is fertilized (QS 2: 276), that alms are multiplied up to 700 times or even more (QS 2: 261), and alms are like gardening in fertile soil - when there is rain The result is twice as thick if there is only enough rain or dew (QS 2: 265).

God's promises must be true, what is not certain is whether we are entitled to these promises. Because this promise is conditional, that is, when we start with something. If we don't start planting, what will He fertilize? If our number is zero multiplied, however, it is still zero!

So in the momentum of the Hijriyah New Year next week, it's a good time to start new and better things. It is time to migrate to favor the way of buying and selling and giving alms over the road of usury. Time to start 'planting' so that He will fertilize someone, time to write down our valuable deeds one by one - so that when multiplied by Him it becomes meaningful practice. 

reference : https://geraidinar.com/

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