Perhaps one of the most difficult issues in Islamic concern for fairness in business dealings is its prohibition of business transactions that call for charging riba (usury and interest). Riba, in its Qur`anic meaning, means paying money for the use of money. Muslims have struggled with the problem ever since the Qur`an categorically denounced riba.
From the Islamic perspective, with its bias towards fair distribution of wealth and social justice, the Qur`an's strictures against riba have implications for international political economy. The issue also confronts devout Muslim business people as they struggle to make their investments religiously and morally legitimate.
This essay will analyze the controversy around riba as a prime example of how Muslims engage in ethical reasoning about business practice. It will show that ethical judgements in Islam amalgamate cultural elements derived from the particular experience of Muslims living in a specific place and time, as verified by the timeless universal norms derived from the scriptural sources like the Qur`an and the Tradition (Sunna), which themselves possess common elements applicable to all humans as humans.
Although the business world today is moving towards globalization in which small businesses are going to be further marginalized, the paragon of business ethics in the Muslim world as well as the West remains a devout individual who exhibits unusual sense of ethical-religious responsibility towards the higher goals set by his/her religious teachings. To dismiss this dimension from discussions about the business world today is equivalent to saying that the highly technicalized business world is moving at a pace uncontrollable by human beings and that no human conscience is able to direct the moral consequences of wealth-generating enterprises, however exploitative or corruptive they might appear to morally conscious individual or group of individuals. The following case illustrates the ethical dilemma presented by the Qur`anic stricture against paying and charging interest in business dealings.
A Religious Ethical Dilemma for a Muslim Businessman
Mr. Kamaluddin, a highly successful businessman, was faced with an ethical dilemma of a religious kind when he bought his company some twenty-three years ago. At first he did not let the owner of the property know that he had an ethical and religious problem with a transaction that involved him paying interest, because he was concerned that the seller would have factored that interest into his selling price. So after Mr. Kamaluddin had negotiated the price, he told the owner that he make a down payment, and then cover the rest in installments over a period of time. However, he could not pay interest on the unpaid balance because that was not allowed by his religion. The owner suggested that the selling price be increased to cover the interest. Mr. Kamaluddin argued that it would amount to the same thing as paying interest and in good conscience he could not justify that. He also made it clear that if this were not acceptable then he would simply not proceed with the transaction. At this point, the owner agreed not to charge the interest. Mr. Kamaluddin finalized the deal and bought the business.
In this case the amount of the interest was not significant and the owner was not going to lose much money. Nevertheless, it is hard to predict what the owner would have done had the amount of the interest been significant. And because the stakes are often much higher, the prohibition on interest-taking presents serious problems to Muslim business people. While Mr. Kamaluddin had enough resources to make the down payment, those Muslims who don't, face a quandary. Either they would have to apply for a loan to an interest-charging bank or they would simply have to give up an opportunity to start a new business.
Conscience and Social Responsibility in Islam
Mr. Kamaluddin's case underscores one of the fundamental value differences in business practice between Muslims and their counterparts in the West, namely, the ethical status of interest related transactions. Religious rulings related to the charging, paying and taking of interest in Islamic legal tradition have been at the center of ethical deliberations among Muslims for many centuries. Around the world, mainstream Islamic opinion continues to regard interest as an impediment to social justice. As a result, the question of whether interest is a legitimate financial instrument or not remains an important issue of conscience. In the Islamic tradition, human acts have a direct impact upon the development of conscience, the source of determining the rightness or wrongness of human undertakings. The conscience must be constantly guarded against being corrupted. For when the conscience of individuals becomes corrupted as a result of neglecting ethical matters related to the production of daily sustenance, there remains no moral safeguard to prevent these individuals from engaging into more serious acts that would lead to the destruction of the very fabric of social relations founded upon divinely ingrained sense of justice and fairness.
Islam, as it developed in the regions inhabited by other monotheistic faiths like Judaism, Christianity and Zoroastrianism, shared an ethos of public order founded upon justice. It required the practice of a minimum of moral virtues intended to be a kind of "rule of life," to foster a sense of social responsibility. In the Islamic view, both reflection and intention must precede all human acts which infringe upon the spiritual and temporal well being of others. To guide such reflection and inform such intention, Islam has developed a cohesive body of ethical reflection. Islam, the third and last of the Abrahamic religions to emerge, literally means "submission to God's will". It was proclaimed by Muhammad (born 570 C.E.), the Prophet of Islam and the founder of Islamic public order during the 600s in Mecca, Arabia.
Along with certain rules, which were practical and material, temporary and external, Muslim jurists explicitly decreed various permanent restrictions designed to discipline both the body (rules about lawful foods and earning, about dress and public behavior) and the mind (prohibited subjects of thought and conversation that led to the corruption of conscience). In addition, Islam required certain expiatory works of charity to compensate for the sins of omission and commission. These works were intended primarily to inculcate a sense of social responsibility. Whereas the ritual acts, whether performed publicly in a group or privately, were the homage humankind paid to God and were intended to affect the conscience of the practicing believer, commercial engagements were closely tied to the notions of interpersonal justice and were intended to affect public behavior. In this latter sense, the rites are instruments provided by God for developing the conscience in the direction of greater social responsibility.
Islamic Juridical Discourse on the Market
Islam required a good public order in which spiritual interests were organically related to individual material well-being. Hence the law of the marketplace was given almost equal weight with the regulations connected with acts of worship in the mosque. This emphasis on economic relations in the context of commercial markets was not suprising, given that Mecca was the most important trading center of western and central Arabia. Meccans played a dominant role in the creation of a culture that nurtured the cultivation and development of socioeconomic system based on Islamic justice.
The market mechanism is an integral part of the Islamic economic system because the institution of private property depends on it for its operation. It also provides the consumers to express their desires for the production of goods of their liking by their willingness to pay the price. But the profit motive that is essential for the operation of free enterprise, if not controlled, can also become a tool of greed and violate the Islamic goals of social and economic justice and equitable distribution of income and wealth. The strictures against usury in the Qur`an can be seen in the clear distinction Islam makes between legitimate trade with profit motive and unchecked individual greed to increase one's possessions manifold without engaging in precarious trade in a market economy. According to Muslim jurists:
The law in order for the people to benefit mutually permits buying and selling. There is no doubt that this can also be a cause of injustice, because both buyer and seller desire more profit and the Lawgiver has neither prohibited profit nor has He set limits to it. He has, however, prohibited fraud and cheating and ascribing to a commodity attributes that it does not possess.
The main concern of the Islamic public order was not so much collective interest as individual justice in transactions that had to be protected outside of close friendship and family ties. It was expected that, contrary to the claims of tribal kinship and noble family lineage that determined social relations in pre-Islamic Arabia, most human relations under Islam would take the form of contractual relations rather than be determined in advance by social status. Many provisions in the law attempted to back those who were weak in one way or another against the strong who might take advantage of them. While on the whole, faith in Islam constituted ten parts, only one part was related to the God-human relationship and claimed the status of a common universal obligation. The remaining nine parts were related to human relationships, and determined by contractual responsibilities and specific social and cultural experience.
Muslim juridical writings give detailed rulings related to the acquisition and disposal of private and business property and purchase and sale of merchandise. The underlying principle op
บางทีประเด็นที่ยากที่สุดในอิสลามที่เกี่ยวข้องสำหรับติดต่อธุรกิจสำคัญคือ prohibition ของธุรกรรมที่เรียกสำหรับชาร์จ riba (โทษและดอกเบี้ย) Riba ในความหมาย Qur'anic หมายถึง การจ่ายเงินในการใช้เงิน มุสลิมได้ต่อสู้กับปัญหาตั้งแต่ที่อัลกุรอานประณาม riba categorically จากมุมมองอิสลาม มีความอคติต่อแจกจ่ายธรรมของความมั่งคั่งและความยุติธรรมทางสังคม strictures ของอัลกุรอานกับ riba มีผลกระทบเศรษฐกิจการเมืองระหว่างประเทศ ปัญหากับความนักธุรกิจมุสลิมที่เคร่งศาสนายังเป็นพวกเขาต่อสู้เพื่อทำให้การลงทุนที่เคร่งครัด และคุณธรรมที่ถูกต้อง เรียงความนี้จะวิเคราะห์ถกเถียงสถาน riba เป็นตัวอย่างสำคัญของวิธีมุสลิมเข้าร่วมในการใช้เหตุผลจริยธรรมเกี่ยวกับการปฏิบัติธุรกิจ มันจะแสดงว่า judgements จริยธรรมในอิสลาม amalgamate องค์ประกอบทางวัฒนธรรมที่สืบทอดมาจากประสบการณ์เฉพาะชาวมุสลิมที่อาศัยอยู่ในสถานที่เฉพาะและเวลา ตรวจสอบ โดยบรรทัดฐานสากลตกแต่งที่มาจากแหล่งว่าเช่นอัลกุรอาน และประเพณี (ซุนนะฮฺ), ซึ่งตัวเองมีองค์ประกอบทั่วไปที่เกี่ยวข้องกับมนุษย์ทั้งหมดเป็นมนุษย์ Although the business world today is moving towards globalization in which small businesses are going to be further marginalized, the paragon of business ethics in the Muslim world as well as the West remains a devout individual who exhibits unusual sense of ethical-religious responsibility towards the higher goals set by his/her religious teachings. To dismiss this dimension from discussions about the business world today is equivalent to saying that the highly technicalized business world is moving at a pace uncontrollable by human beings and that no human conscience is able to direct the moral consequences of wealth-generating enterprises, however exploitative or corruptive they might appear to morally conscious individual or group of individuals. The following case illustrates the ethical dilemma presented by the Qur`anic stricture against paying and charging interest in business dealings. A Religious Ethical Dilemma for a Muslim Businessman Mr. Kamaluddin, a highly successful businessman, was faced with an ethical dilemma of a religious kind when he bought his company some twenty-three years ago. At first he did not let the owner of the property know that he had an ethical and religious problem with a transaction that involved him paying interest, because he was concerned that the seller would have factored that interest into his selling price. So after Mr. Kamaluddin had negotiated the price, he told the owner that he make a down payment, and then cover the rest in installments over a period of time. However, he could not pay interest on the unpaid balance because that was not allowed by his religion. The owner suggested that the selling price be increased to cover the interest. Mr. Kamaluddin argued that it would amount to the same thing as paying interest and in good conscience he could not justify that. He also made it clear that if this were not acceptable then he would simply not proceed with the transaction. At this point, the owner agreed not to charge the interest. Mr. Kamaluddin finalized the deal and bought the business. ในกรณีนี้ ยอดเงินของดอกเบี้ยที่ไม่สำคัญ และไม่กำลังเจ้าจะสูญเสียเงินมาก อย่างไรก็ตาม ก็ยากจะทำนายว่า เจ้าของจะเสร็จ จำนวนดอกเบี้ยได้อย่างมีนัยสำคัญ และเนื่อง จากมักมากสูง prohibition บนสนใจการนำเสนอปัญหาร้ายแรงนักธุรกิจมุสลิม ขณะที่นาย Kamaluddin มีทรัพยากรเพียงพอเพื่อให้เงินดาวน์ มุสลิมเหล่านั้นที่ไม่ หน้าตัว quandary พวกเขาจะต้องใช้สำหรับเงินกู้ที่ธนาคารเรียกเก็บดอกเบี้ย หรือพวกเขาก็ต้องให้โอกาสในการเริ่มธุรกิจใหม่ จิตสำนึกและความรับผิดชอบต่อสังคมในอิสลาม กรณีนาย Kamaluddin ขีดหนึ่งของผลต่างค่าพื้นฐานในทางปฏิบัติธุรกิจระหว่างมุสลิม และปราบปรามในตะวันตก ได้แก่ สถานะจริยธรรมของดอกเบี้ยธุรกรรมที่เกี่ยวข้อง บัญญัติทางศาสนาที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการชาร์จไฟ ชำระเงิน และการที่น่าสนใจในประเพณีกฎหมายอิสลามได้ที่อย่างรอบคอบยิ่งขึ้นจริยธรรมมุสลิมหลายศตวรรษ ทั่วโลก ความคิดอิสลามหลักยังคงนำพาสนใจเป็นกรวดในรองเท้าเพื่อความยุติธรรมทางสังคม ดัง ถามว่าดอกเบี้ยเป็น เครื่องมือทางการเงินถูกต้องตามกฎหมาย หรือไม่ยังคง เป็นประเด็นสำคัญของจิตสำนึก ในประเพณีอิสลาม มนุษย์กระทำมีผลกระทบโดยตรงเมื่อการพัฒนาจิตสำนึก แหล่งที่มาของการกำหนด rightness หรือ wrongness ของมนุษย์ท่าน จิตสำนึกต้องสามารถรักษากับการเสียหายอย่างต่อเนื่อง สำหรับเมื่อจิตสำนึกของบุคคลจะเสียหายจาก neglecting เรื่องจริยธรรมที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการผลิตประจำวันบวงสรวง ยังคงป้องกันไม่แรงเพื่อป้องกันไม่ให้บุคคลเหล่านี้เสน่ห์เป็นกระทำที่รุนแรงมากขึ้นที่จะนำไปสู่การทำลายผ้าสวยมากของความสัมพันธ์ทางสังคมที่ก่อตั้งขึ้นเมื่อพระเจ้า ingrained ความยุติธรรมและเป็นธรรม อิสลาม ตามที่ได้รับการพัฒนาในภูมิภาคที่อาศัยอยู่ โดย faiths monotheistic อื่น ๆ เช่นศาสนายูดาย ศาสนาคริสต์ และ Zoroastrianism ร่วมการปัดสั่งสาธารณะที่ก่อตั้งขึ้นตามความยุติธรรม มันต้องฝึกขั้นต่ำของคุณค่าทางศีลธรรมได้ แบบ "กฎของชีวิต เพื่อส่งเสริมความรับผิดชอบต่อสังคม ในมุมมองอิสลาม สะท้อนและความตั้งใจต้องนำกิจการของมนุษย์ทั้งหมดที่ละเมิดตามจิตวิญญาณ และขมับมีสุขภาพดีของผู้อื่น คู่มือดังกล่าวสะท้อน และแจ้งเจตนาดังกล่าว อิสลามได้พัฒนาเนื้อหาสะท้อนจริยธรรมควบ อิสลาม บุคคลที่สามและสุดท้ายของศาสนาอับราฮัมโผล่ หมายถึง "ส่งพระเจ้า" อย่างแท้จริง ประกาศ โดยมุหัมมัด (เกิด 570 C.E.), ท่านนบีของอิสลามและผู้ก่อตั้งของสั่งอิสลามสาธารณะระหว่าง 600s ใน ดีอาระเบีย Along with certain rules, which were practical and material, temporary and external, Muslim jurists explicitly decreed various permanent restrictions designed to discipline both the body (rules about lawful foods and earning, about dress and public behavior) and the mind (prohibited subjects of thought and conversation that led to the corruption of conscience). In addition, Islam required certain expiatory works of charity to compensate for the sins of omission and commission. These works were intended primarily to inculcate a sense of social responsibility. Whereas the ritual acts, whether performed publicly in a group or privately, were the homage humankind paid to God and were intended to affect the conscience of the practicing believer, commercial engagements were closely tied to the notions of interpersonal justice and were intended to affect public behavior. In this latter sense, the rites are instruments provided by God for developing the conscience in the direction of greater social responsibility.Islamic Juridical Discourse on the Market Islam required a good public order in which spiritual interests were organically related to individual material well-being. Hence the law of the marketplace was given almost equal weight with the regulations connected with acts of worship in the mosque. This emphasis on economic relations in the context of commercial markets was not suprising, given that Mecca was the most important trading center of western and central Arabia. Meccans played a dominant role in the creation of a culture that nurtured the cultivation and development of socioeconomic system based on Islamic justice. The market mechanism is an integral part of the Islamic economic system because the institution of private property depends on it for its operation. It also provides the consumers to express their desires for the production of goods of their liking by their willingness to pay the price. But the profit motive that is essential for the operation of free enterprise, if not controlled, can also become a tool of greed and violate the Islamic goals of social and economic justice and equitable distribution of income and wealth. The strictures against usury in the Qur`an can be seen in the clear distinction Islam makes between legitimate trade with profit motive and unchecked individual greed to increase one's possessions manifold without engaging in precarious trade in a market economy. According to Muslim jurists: The law in order for the people to benefit mutually permits buying and selling. There is no doubt that this can also be a cause of injustice, because both buyer and seller desire more profit and the Lawgiver has neither prohibited profit nor has He set limits to it. He has, however, prohibited fraud and cheating and ascribing to a commodity attributes that it does not possess. The main concern of the Islamic public order was not so much collective interest as individual justice in transactions that had to be protected outside of close friendship and family ties. It was expected that, contrary to the claims of tribal kinship and noble family lineage that determined social relations in pre-Islamic Arabia, most human relations under Islam would take the form of contractual relations rather than be determined in advance by social status. Many provisions in the law attempted to back those who were weak in one way or another against the strong who might take advantage of them. While on the whole, faith in Islam constituted ten parts, only one part was related to the God-human relationship and claimed the status of a common universal obligation. The remaining nine parts were related to human relationships, and determined by contractual responsibilities and specific social and cultural experience. Muslim juridical writings give detailed rulings related to the acquisition and disposal of private and business property and purchase and sale of merchandise. The underlying principle op
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