ICICE AN-NOOR MASJID KHUTBAH FOR FRIDAY 18/10/2019

RIBA VERSUS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

All praise is due to Allah the Lord of universe. I testify that there is no deity worthy of worship but Him and Prophet Muhammad is His last messenger.

“O you who believe! Keep from disobedience to God and try to attain piety in due reverence for Him and give up what remains (due to you) from interest, if you are (in truth) believers. But if you do (it) not, then beware of war from Allâh and His Messenger. But if you turn away (from such an unlawful transaction) then you shall have your principal (without interest) back. (Thus) you shall neither deal unjustly nor be dealt with unjustly.” Qur’an 2: 278 & 279.

Allah says: (2:276) “God takes away (gain) from usury but adds (profit) to charity; and God does not love the ungrateful and sinners.”

(2:275) “Those who consume interest cannot stand [on the Day of Resurrection] except as one stands who is being beaten by Satan into insanity. That is because they say, “Trade is [just] like interest.” But Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest. So, whoever has received an admonition from his Lord and desists may have what is past, and his affair rests with Allah. But whoever returns to [dealing in interest or usury] – those are the companions of the Fire; they will abide eternally therein.”

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) said:

The Prophet (ﷺ) said, “Keep away from the seven fatalities.” It was asked: “What are they, O Messenger of Allah?” He (ﷺ) replied, “Associating anything with Allah in worship (i.e., committing an act of Shirk), sorcery, killing of one whom Allah has declared inviolable without a just cause, devouring the property of an orphan, the eating of usury (Riba), fleeing from the battlefield and accusing chaste believing women, who never even think of anything touching their chastity.” Al-Bukhari and Muslim.

Jabir said that “Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) cursed the accepter of interest and its payer, and one who records it, and the two witnesses,” and he said: “They are all equal.”

Ibn Mas’ud narrated that Prophet Muhammad said: “Riba is seventy-three categories, the less grievous among them is equal to a man having sexual intercourse with his (biological) mother.

A former president of Nigeria said in a G8 summit in Okinawa, Japan: “All that we had borrowed up to 1985 or 1986 was around $5 billion and we have paid about $16 billion yet we are still being told that we owe about $28 billion. That $28 billion came about because of the injustice in the foreign creditors’ interest rates. If you ask me what is the worst thing in the world, I will say it is compound interest.”

Page 12 of the 2020 Budget Speech delivered this month in the National Assembly by the president of Nigeria stated: “Budget deficit is projected to be N2.18 trillion in 2020. This includes drawdowns on project-tied loans and related capital expenditure.” “The deficit will be financed by new foreign and domestic borrowings, Privatization Proceeds, signature bonuses and drawdowns on the loans secured for specific development projects.” Under DEBT SERVICE it said: “Nigeria remains committed to meeting its det service obligations. Accordingly, we provided the sum of N2.45 trillion for debt service.”

All above quotations depicts how grievous dangerous dealing consuming and dealing in Riba is.

Recommendations:

1. Avoidance of all types of Riba especially the Fractional Reserve Banking system that contributes immensely to the internal debt.
2. Advise to the Presidential Economic Advisory Council (PEACE) to advise government to do away with Riba in all its transaction in order to get the economy of the nation on track
3. FGN Financial Inclusion Policy is highly commendable. It could be implemented better if the Non-Interest Financing act is extended to the policy especially in the government intervention.
4. Muslim organizations, such as JNI, JIBWIS, Ansarudin, Nasfat, ICICE, CFII et c are urged to write the CBN and all other government banks to convince them to give Muslim faithful option of Non-Interest Financing.
5. All Muslim members of National Assembly are urged to protect the interest of their Muslim constituents by enabling laws that allows them to have Riba less financial transaction.