Archive for Shari'ah
Ramadan: A Taste of Hunger
Article by Sohaib Saeed, first published in Interfaith Matters, August 2009
[NB: this issue is still pending release]
Muslims around the world eagerly await the coming of every Ramadan, the annual season of reflection, repentance and renewal. The month of fasting begins with the sighting of the new moon, this year around 20th August, and ends with the arrival of ‘Eid al-Fitr: a day of celebration and thanksgiving for the blessings of the past 29 or 30 days.
Ramadan is the month of worship and remembrance, even though these are required all year round. It is a month of training, of putting in extra effort to gain the spiritual sustenance to keep us going for the remaining eleven months of the year. Most notable is the fasting from dawn to sunset, compulsory upon all men and women unless they have an excuse such as being pregnant or very young or old. Fasting is to abstain from all food, drink or sexual activity throughout the daylight hours, and the ‘nil by mouth’ rule extends similarly to smoking.
Fasting is by no means a practice born with the prophethood of Muhammad (peace be upon him), as the Qur’an instructs believers to fast “as fasting was prescribed for those before you.” In an age of faddish diets, fasting is a divinely recommended detox for body and soul. It breaks the chains of habit, especially of the destructive kind, and liberates the free will. It teaches us moderation in eating, and to value the food we are blessed with while many go without.
The value of any ritual is seen in its effect on one’s personality and behaviour. Thus the Prophet declared that “Whoever does not abstain from lying and evil deeds should know that God has no need for his abstaining from food and drink.” He was also more generous to the needy in this month than any other.
Because these are values common to people of all faiths, it is quite natural that many non-Muslims opt to fast for a day or more along with their Muslim friends, tasting that little bit of hunger in order to enjoy its abundant fruits.
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Plus something for football fans:
Fredi Kanoute: “I Can Keep Fasting In Ramadan Even When I Am Playing”
I Can Keep Fasting In Ramadan Even When I Am Playing – Fredi Kanoute
Three Faiths Action on Usury
Jonathan Freedland today comments on an interesting turn of events in the City. Apparently there is a campaign brewing to revive usury laws, which would put a limit on the amount that can be charged by banks for lending money.
Some will say that we should save all this talk for the pulpit, that it’s all very well in the realm of moral exhortation but it has no place in the real world of hard-headed economics. But London Citizens’s Glasman has a good retort: “What the crash has revealed is that it’s the bankers who’ve been living in a fantasy world of virtual money, where money has no relation to assets and no connection to the real economy.” [...]
It is telling that the lead voices in this new effort are from mosques, inner-city churches and synagogues. The politicians have been left looking flummoxed by the financial crisis, apparently desperate for normal business to resume as soon as possible. It has been left to the Pope to offer the most comprehensive critique of our devastated economic landscape, in his latest encyclical. But those facing crippling debts will not be too bothered by that. When people are desperate, they will take leadership from wherever they can get it.
What Freedland seems to have missed in saying that “to charge too much interest is immoral” is that the Islamic texts prohibiting usury/interest do so absolutely, and do not merely put a cap on the rate. He provides a few scriptural quotes, and I do not get the impression that the Jewish and Christian position would be any less absolute, if based solely on these texts:
The Code of Hammurabi, written in Babylon 17 centuries before Jesus, barred excessive interest. The Book of Exodus is no less stringent: “If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, do not act to them as a creditor, extract no interest from them.” Luke’s gospel insists we “lend without expecting any return“, while the Qur’an instructs believers to “fear Allah, and give up what remains of your demand for usury”.
There have been interesting developments in what is termed as Islamic banking, and even “halal (permissible) mortgages”, a term that many are uncomfortable with because it seems an oxymoron to describe something inherently usurious as religiously pure. However, there are complexities in how these transactions are designed, such that something that might look like interest is in fact something different.
While it is certainly devious and immoral to merely re-label something in order to make it seem acceptable, it is the case that two things can look the same while having a different ruling, such as two beef steaks, one of which came from a correctly slaughtered animal, and the other being incorrectly prepared.
To know the rulings on such loans, we need close consultation between the financial experts and the scholars of religious law.
“Shari’ah Courts” in Britain
Shari’ah is a word that can single-handedly create a media storm. It is one of a set of terms (also including fatwa, burka, …) that have made their way into mainstream discourse in the English language without a proper understanding of their meanings.
The term “sharia courts” conjures quite a terrifying image in many people’s minds, combining all the “barbarity” that is assumed of Islamic law with the notion of a “separate law” for Muslims operating in secret enclaves, allowing Muslims to circumvent British law and eventually impose their own way across the British isles!
The simple point that is often missed is that, rather than being a specific legislative code that takes one form only, Shari’ah is understood by Muslims as the law based upon divine revelation, and aspects of this legislation will vary according to place and time, due to the inherent flexibility of Islam. So Muslim scholars obviously have ways of reconciling their place within a society like the UK that is majority non-Muslim and has a basically secular legal system.
While the focus may be on matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance, let’s not forget that Muslims also eat, pray and sleep according to the Shari’ah, which is the path through which we seek God’s pleasure in obedience to His guidance, which in turn is for our own benefit.
