The Prophet Confirms Greatest Danger of Riba
This analysis of ours appears to be confirmed by the fact that the Prophet (SAW) himself prophesied, in a hadith received from Abu Hurairah (RAA), the eventual total success of precisely such an attack launched obviously by enemies of Islam, in penetrating all of mankind, including the followers of Prophet Muhammad (SAW), with riba:
“There will come a time,” he said, “when you will not be able to find a single person in all of mankind who will not be consuming riba. And if anyone claims that he is not consuming riba then surely the vapor of riba will reach him. (Abu Daud, Mishkat)
According to another text “the dust of riba will reach him.”
The Prophet (SAW) thus made it abundantly clear that the greatest danger to the integrity of the Ummah and of the iman of the believers would come from riba. This confirmed the warning from Almighty Allah (SWT) Himself which was pronounced in the choice of riba as the subject of the last Revelation. The prophecy of the Prophet (SAW) concerning the prevalence of riba has today been fulfilled. Indeed it has been fulfilled in our own miserable lifetime! Specifically it has been fulfilled during the seventy years which have now elapsed since the Ottoman Khilafah was abolished in 1924. Up to 1924 ribabased capitalist Europe could succeed in penetrating only the regimes which presided over the affairs of Muslims.
The Ottoman Khalifah, for example, had borrowed money on interest from Europe to such an extent that he was forced, in 1857, to succumb to European financial blackmail and, as a consequence, to abolish jizyah and ahl al-dhimmah in all the territories of the Ottoman Empire as a quid pro quo for debt and interest payment’s relief. This, incidentally, was a classic example of financial imperialism. But it was also the beginning of the process of the dismantling of the sacred model of a public order (or State) in the world of Islam (Dar al- Islam), and of replacing it with the secular European model in which sovereignty was taken away from Allah (SWT) and given to the State. And that was an act of shirk!
Since 1924, however, riba has penetrated the total economic life of Muslims all around the world. The financial imperialism inherent in riba has delivered the entire world of Islam by its very throat into the hands of enemies with sharpened knives. Indeed all of mankind is now trapped in the world of riba. Not only has the prophecy of the Prophet (SAW) been fulfilled through the total victory of riba based banking all over the world, and through the riba which is inherent in non-redeemable artificial paper currency, plastic and electronic money, but it has also been fulfilled in the total corruption of the free and fair market. Today’s so-called free market has become a dog-eat-dog market, something anticipated by Ali Ibn Abi Talib (RAA) who said:
“A time is certainly coming to mankind when people will bite each other…” (Abu Daud)
It is also a matter of absolutely critical importance that Muslims should carefully study the prophecy of the Prophet (SAW) in which he has prophesied the collapse of artificial secular currency (i.e., paper, plastic, and electronic money, etc.).
Abu Bakr Ibn Abu Maryam (RAA) reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah (SAW) say: “A time is certainly coming over mankind in which there will be nothing (left) which will be of use (or benefit) save a dinar and a dirham (gold and silver coins).” (Ahmad)
That prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is about to be fulfilled. Today’s monetary system uses “paper” to make “gold”. That is fraudulent! Artificial money is quite different from real money. Real money has intrinsic value, paper money has none. Its only value is that conferred upon it by market forces. Its market value will last only for as long as, and to the extent that, there is demand for it in the market. Demand is based on confidence. So long as governments controlled the so-called free currency markets they could intervene to protect public confidence. But the currency market is now controlled by the most vicious of all speculative forces — forces fueled by compelling greed with no loyalties and no patriotism. Anything which seriously disturbs market confidence will cause the speculative stampede which will fulfill the prophecy of the Prophet (SAW).
Here is an example: If Muslims gain control over their oil resources and demand that they be paid for their oil exports with gold rather than dollars made of non-redeemable artificial paper money, there will be significant loss of confidence in paper currency. Why should this be so? Non-redeemable paper, plastic or electronic money has value only to the extent that people are prepared to recognize it as possessing value. When public confidence in a cur:rency is shaken, its value will collapse. A demand for gold, as payment for oil, will have the effect of shaking confidence in paper money. Speculative forces in the currency market will greedily seize that opportunity to make the killing of a lifetime. That in turn can cause the collapse of today’s fraudulent international monetary system based on non-redeemable paper money. Money is the very foundation of capital. The collapse of money in what may best be described as a money melt-down, will witness the collapse of riba-based capitalism.
Those who have real money will survive while those speculators who successfully exploit the collapse will make the greatest profits ever. The masses will lose their wealth. They will be caught with worthless paper parading as money. That is a financial holocaust which is just waiting to occur. And it has been predicted by others as well, besides the Prophet (SAW). Judy Shelton, for example, uses it as the very title of her excellent book “Money Meltdown Restoring Order to the Global Currency System.” (New York: The Free Press, 1994)
We should not forget, nor allow the world to forget, the dramatic, ominous, and unprecedented collapse of the US dollar in January 1980 when the value of the dollar relative to gold fell to approximately $850 an ounce! (In 1971 it was $35 an ounce. Its present value is about $380 an ounce). This collapse of the dollar took place in the immediate wake of the successful anti-Western Islamic revolution in Iran which gave control of the vast oil resources of Iran to an anti-systemic Islamic government.
Iran’s government is anti-systemic since it is based on non-secular foundations and it challenges the secular model of society and the political and economic world order produced by modern Godless European secular civilization. Why should an Islamic revolution in Iran threaten a collapse of the international monetary system? The experts in international monetary economics are silent!
- The question which we now pose is this: Who is that enemy who has succeeded in penetrating all of mankind with that riba which Allah (SWT) Himself eradicated?
- Is his attack on mankind and the Ummah with riba something taking place in a vacuum, or does it form a part of a larger attack directed towards the house of Islam itself?
The answer is quite clear. The forces which penetrated the world with riba emerged in Europe and produced capitalism and communism, the secular model of a society, and Godless materialism. Those forces produced the modern Western civilization. Without modern Western civilization it would not have been possible for the Jews to force their way back to the holy land and to re-establish the state of Israel.
The Qur’an speaks clearly about the Jews being punished by Almighty Allah (SWT) and being driven out of the holy land of Palestine. It happened twice before the Revelation of the Qur’an, first with a Babylonian army and then with a Roman army. After the second destruction at the hands of the Roman army the Qur’an declared that the Jews would not be allowed to return to Palestine until a special moment arrived. The fact is that the Jews have returned to Palestine and have established their state of Israel. It must, therefore, be admitted that the special moment spoken of by the Qur’an has arrived. What was that special moment?
{quran 21:95}
{quran 21:96}
There is a ban on a people (the Jews) whom We have punished (with destruction) that they shall not return (to the holy land of Palestine from which they were expelled) until Ya’juj (Gog) and Ma’juj (Magog) break through (the iron barrier built by Dhul Qarnain) and they swiftly unravel from every direction.
(Al-Anbiya’ 21:95,96)
The very forces which emerged in contemporary history and made the restoration of the state of Israel possible, are themselves the forces which have penetrated all of mankind with riba. The Qur’an identifies those forces as the evil Gog and Magog.
It is, therefore, crystal clear that the penetration of the Ummah by the forces of riba represent an attack on the very house of Islam. The aim of the enemy is nothing less than to utterly destroy the faith of the believers!