This is the first of four Ramadan Special essays published by Jama Masjid, San Fernando, and written by Islamic scholars Imran N. Hosein and Siddiq A. Nasir, that turn to the blessed Qur’an in an attempt to respond to rampant crime. Rallies, marches, changing Ministers of Government and Police Commissioners, etc., can never be a substitute for knowledge. The next …
A Bhutto is a Bhutto
I slept through the night without any consciousness that it was old year’s night, and I went to the Masjid here in Cape Town this morning for Salaat, came back home and made me a nice cup of coffee, and then went back to work on this Bhutto essay without any consciousness that Pope Gregory’s New Year had dawned. That …
Islam and the Future of Money
I am happy that this booklet was written here in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a city which has been so kind and hospitable to me over the years, and was completed in blessed Ramadan 1428H while I am still engaged in a year-long Islamic lecture-tour, and far away from the comforts of my home in the Caribbean island of Trinidad.
A writer who writes a book while travelling, as many distinguished scholars of Islam have done in our glorious past, suffers from the disadvantage of not having access to his library of books, and often has to quote from memory. As such, minor errors can result from lapses of memory. I seek forgiveness for such.
The size of this booklet has been kept deliberately small in order to encourage our people to read it.
The language used is also quite simple and free from such technical economic jargon as fiat money.
Hence the average reader should encounter no difficulties in respect of language. It is very likely that terrible events will unfold in the world of money within a brief time of the publication of this booklet that would validate the analysis conducted. Hence readers should not delay in assessing the arguments raised and, if found convincing, in searching for and adopting a proper response to the challenge.
Islam, Murabaha and Fixed Deposits
Islam has declared war on the moneylender who demands interest. It did so in the very last divine revelation (al-Baqarah, 2:279) to come down in the Holy Qur’an. Here is that last revelation: “O ye who believe! Fear Allah, and give up what remains of your demand for usury (i.e., the interest due on a fixed deposit, or on any …
A Great Book on Islam!
“As matters stand in the Muslim world today, it is the decline of religious leadership from the Islamic standard in a serious measure that constitutes a major cause of its inability with regard to its emergence from the abyss into which it has been descending since some time. The remedy for the situation is obvious.” – Fazlur Rahman Ansari, …
The Women of Islam in The House of Allah.
There is no doubt whatsoever that this essay is going to provoke both positive and negative responses from readers. But our purpose in writing it is to provoke enlightened responses from our intelligent readers — responses that would dispel complacency over (what this writer perceives as) unfortunate instances of misguided tradition. Let us at the outset remind the Muslim reader …
A Muslim Response to The ‘Trinity Cross’ Problem
Trinidad and Tobago’s highest national award was designated the ‘Trinity Cross’. This essay was published in 2004 in a full-page of a local newspaper, and it provoked a major Hindu organization to join hands with a Muslim body to take the matter to court. The judge ruled that the national award was discriminatory. The government which had procrastinated on the …
Indian Muslims in The Caribbean
How should we, Indian Muslims in the Caribbean, commemorate the event of our arrival in the Caribbean almost 200 years ago? If we do not ourselves respond at this time to this subject in a manner consistent with our faith in Allah Most High, and with our mission as Muslims in the world, then our great grandmother’s tears would be …
Why do Muslims Pray Five Times a Day?
The Catholic Prime Minister of the Caribbean island of St. T Vincent is reported (Trinidad Guardian, May 8th, 2004) to have entered into the Mt. St. Benedict (Catholic) Monastery in Trinidad for a spiritual retreat during which “ he would join the monks in praying five times a day”. There are many people in the Caribbean who have chosen to …
The Philosophy of Gender in Islam
If God is a man, that’s bad news for women – because masculinity would then be divine – and hence only the male would have been created in the divine image. This explains why the feminist revolution has redefined God as being both male and female. Islam declares that Allah Most High created both the male and the female but …