No escape from Riba

The holy Prophet (PBUH) enjoined that to worship (Ibadat) ie to perform Huququl Allah, (obligations of the Creator), Huquq-ul-Ibad, (the rights of mankind), the foremost requirement is Taharat, ie purification of body and soul is a must.
Taharat has two elements, one is external that is to clean physically the entire body from all dirty (Najis) things; and the other is internal Taharat ie to clean the soul, which means to eat pure food or Rizq-e-Halal, because if you do not eat permissible food allowed under the tenets of Shariah, then your body and soul would never be pure or clean. ie Taharat would not be complete; and without full Taharat (external as well as internal) you can not perform either Namaz (Prayers), Roza (Fasting), Haj (Pilgrimage to Kaaba), or Zakat (compulsory charity), in brief Huquq-ul-Allah.
Similarly, in order to observe Huquq-ul-Ibad ie Khairat (voluntary charity), Sadqa (alms), to feed wayfarer, hungry, orphans, widows, disabled and old people and voluntary pilgrimage (Umra) etc, halal money or wealth is required as per Shariah. If halal money is not possessed by a follower of Islam, then all his good deeds narrated as above would go waste because Allah has enjoined in the holy Quran that if you want to give alms in my Name, then it should be the best ie pure and halal.
Muslims these days are earning their wealth either through bribes, tax evasion, smuggling, hoarding, profiteering, interest (Riba) or such like evil practices so their earnings are not Halal ie through honest and clean dealings but through evil ways.
When impurity (Najis) runs in the blood of your body, then you can neither perform Huquq-ul-Allah nor Huquq-ul-Ibad. All your prostration's, Haj, Umrah, Zakat, and charity will go waste.
The present environments in which we are living are such that it is very difficult to earn unpolluted (halal) income because the public life is increasingly characterised by opportunism, self-interest and gross disregard to the common good. Besides, the political culture has become unstable due to ethnic rivalries, jealousies, regional disparities and conflicts.
All these factors have generated deceit, fraud, falsehood, breaking of covenants, humiliation of women, exploitation of the poor, and tyranny over the weak. Our society has thus turned to hypocrisy and corruption.
The result is that everybody is after money, whether by hook or crook. They never bother about morals and ethics. Their objective is amassing of wealth.
In this rat race, we, Muslims, have forgotten that "a person who has initially believed in Muhammad's (PBUH) words, in his Sunnah, declaring him to be the Prophet of God (PBUH), obviously makes a covenant to surrender all his claims to independent thinking, believing and acting except while remaining within the limits placed and prescribed by the Prophet (PBUH).
It is the height of non-sensical, irritational, illogical, and unintelligent behaviour of man who on one side accepts the holy Quran on the authority of Muhammad (PBUH) to be the word of God but on the other refuses to admit as authoritative his practical or oral explanation thereof and thus denies him the prerogative the holy Quran has bestowed upon him and thereby plunges himself in a self-contradictory conduct which it is not possible to reconcile or justify."
Further, the holy Quran stresses (33:36) "It does not behove any believer, man or woman, to have any option about any of their matters once that matter has been decided by Allah and His Prophet (PBUH), he has clearly strayed away."
Therefore, whatever the writer has described about Taharat in the preceding paras is very simple and logical. Violation of any instruction, command or injunction of the holy Prophet is thus tantamount to the violation of the authority of Allah by whom he (apostle) has been sent.
The advocates of Islamic banking claim that the growing Islamic banking infrastructure has made a tremendous progress not only in Pakistan but all over the world.
They also assert that Islamic banking is based on the laws of contract in Islam as laid down in Islamic Fiqah, and the transactions and products offered by them are in accordance with the tenets of such laws. It is also acknowledged by them that Meezan Bank Limited is the first and only fully scheduled and completely dedicated Islamic commercial bank.
This bank also claims that all transactions are being done under the guidance of highly qualified and globally renowned Shariah Supervisory Board, headed by Justice Muhammad Taqi Usmani (Retd), who is an authority on Shariah.
How far these aforesaid claims are justified now would be examined hereunder.
First of all the divisions of Islamic banking of the commercial banks such as Habib Bank, United Bank, Muslim Commercial Bank, Allied Bank, Faysal Bank, Bank of Khyber and Standard Chartered Bank etc are to be analysed. These above commercial banks' working is un-Islamic, because these banks accept deposits at interest and also lend money to the borrowers at interest. Therefore, their funds are interest-based ie interest bearing.
The Islamic divisions of these commercial banks borrow funds from their parent organisations. These funds are, in fact, interest-bearing. The Islamic products which these Islamic divisions of commercial banks sell in the market, are financed by interest-bearing money.
As such, the elements of interest, howsoever negligible it may be, remains in all their transactions. Thus, these all transactions become interest bearing.
Now the transactions of Islamic banks are assessed, whether these are pure (Halal) or not. These Islamic banks accept deposits from traders, merchants, and industrialists to keep their banks functioning because without deposits no bank can function.
After the tragedy of September 11, the government of the United States of America introduced a lot of restrictions to arrest the menace of money laundering and also financing of Jihadis' organisations. By virtue of the above restrictions the State Bank of Pakistan also made mandatory for all banks operating in Pakistan to follow the following:
1. K.Y.C: That is, Know Your Customer. It means, check the credentials of each depositor, whether his funds are legal or illegal.
2. A.M.L: That is, Anti-Money Laundering. All money transactions should be thoroughly scrutinised before entering in their books.
These details of their account holders are not only recorded in their banks but it is also reported to the State Bank of Pakistan for scrutiny.
The main function of KYC and AML is to find out whether the money of the depositors is legal or illegal. In other words, does this money belong to those who the West considers terrorist while others regard as freedom fighters. And, the other targets are drug smugglers.
Lately the ambit has been enlarged to cover kick-backs and commissions received by political figures.
The Western banks do not consider tax-evaded money or those who seek safe havens for their wealth and indulge in flight of capital from politically unstable countries?
How many banks decline the deposits of the aforesaid rich-class? Not many. Every bank is after deposits, and very rarely they scrutinise the credentials of these prospective clients.
Unfortunately, our society is such that now-a-days it is very difficult to find an honest and truthful trader, industrialist, bureaucrat, or moneyed person because everywhere the devil of corruption reigns.
Upright people are few and far between. If these Islamic banks, which take deposits from the above depositors, who accumulate their income through evil practices, can vouch for pure and clean (Halal) deposits?
That is, free from (Najis) impurity. I doubt because corrupt mafia in our country is so powerful and influential that an individual cannot escape from the clutches of tax evaders, smugglers, hoarders, profiteers, land grabbers, drug peddlers, car-jackers, bribe takers, and swindlers.
These are the people who are after money and always remain in search of doubling or quadrupling their wealth by foul and very seldom by fair means. Now the question is how can these banks sift good money (Halal) from impure (Haram). Is there any yardstick to measure it? I think there is none.
Besides, there is another loophole for converting black money into white money through foreign currency accounts (FCA). When you open a FCA, no questions are asked ie source etc. So whenever these depositors need money in Pak currency, they get converted their FCA into Pak rupees.
Thus, they dodge the governments as well as their conscience, without realising for a second what Allah has said in the Quran: "We know what you reveal and what you conceal."
Therefore, how could they hide haram (impure) from the eyes of Allah, Who is Omnipresent. Hence, the end result is that the Islamic banking in Pakistan is transacted either through interest-bearing money (Islamic divisions of commercial banks) or through haram deposits belonging to corrupt mafia of our country.
Under the prevailing circumstances, it is very difficult, rather impossible to escape from "Najis" and interest. It is everywhere in our society so much so that the air that we breathe has the element of interest or Najis. There is no escape.
Allah enjoins in Quran (Al-Baqra: 278-279). "O, believers fear Allah, and give up what is still due to you from interest (Riba) if you are true believers. If you do not do so, then take notice of war from Allah and His Messenger. Neither should you commit injustice nor should you be subject to it."
Now readers please decide yourselves in the above circumstances whether Islamic banking, as claimed by the patrons of Islamic banking, is really Islamic. As long as the interest-bearing or impure (Najis) funds are used in all so-called Islamic transactions by these banks, including Meezan Bank, it is Haram or un-Islamic.
In its support some enthusiastic supporters say that Maulana Taqi Usmani has approved the products of Murahaba, Mudaraba and Musawammah etc and I agree to their contention and also confirm that Taqi Usmani Sahib must have approved the above products because these models are compatible with the principles of Shariah; but I am sure, Maulana Taqi Usmani would not have approved the interest-bearing funds or selling of these products with corrupt mafia funds.
Such a renowned religious divine would be the last person to approve a sinful act (interest), which is forbidden so clearly in the above Sura Baqra.
May I, here, ask Maulana Taqi Usmani whether joining of a lending syndication by a Islamic bank with other banks is permissible. He has not been asked to give a clear 'Fatwah' on the sources of income which constitute 'Halal' money. Does Islam condone under-voicing/over-invoicing to evade government dues or undeclaration of one's real income.
Is the sellers of smuggled goods in the various bara markets earning halal income. I don't think, Taqi Usmani Sahib's verdict (Fatwa) would be in affirmative.
To strengthen my point of view I quote here an example. Please take a glass of syrup and put in it two drops of alcohol. Who will drink it? At least not a believer.
Similar is the case of impure (Najis) or interest-bearing money, who will confirm that it is halal? Interest or Najis remains impure and it cannot be altered by changing its name or shape.
Allah and His Apostle (PBUH) have declared it sinful, then how can we, mortals, name it Halal?