Dr. Waquar Anwar, Secretary Board of Islamic Publications and Financial Advisor to Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, while speaking on “Islamic Economy an Introduction”, said Islam has never rejected the development that has taken place in the progress of knowledge; however it has adopted what is considered to be good and rejected what is unacceptable. He was highlighting the basic principles of Islam on Islamic Economy during a weekly meet organised by Jamaat-e-Islami Hind at its headquarters on 11 November. According to him, the present economic system has moved very far from the basic principles enshrined in the holy Qur’ān and Hadith and to put it in the right perspective some structural changes are required.
“As per modern thought there is scarcity of resources but according to Islamic thought the resources are adequate and scarcity is only because it has not been used judiciously,” said Anwar. On the basic fundamentals of business, he said basic principles of business which is acceptable in Islam are that neither one should incur loss to the other nor the other should incur loss to one. Also, Islamic principle is against concentration of wealth rather it believes in circulation of wealth.
“In production, according to modern concept the owner is entitled to get interest for the utilisation of capital which is in contrast to the basic Islamic teachings. There cannot be any kind of compromise as far as Riba (interest) is concerned, according to Islamic principles. However, there is no difference of opinion as far as other factors of productions are concerned, he argued.
Now the big question: Can we deal with economy without interest. Earlier the world was not aware of the harmful effect of interest but now it is clearly visible and that is why structural changes are required. Dr. Anwar made it clear that in the entire world, around 300 years ago, interest was disliked by one and all, by all religious groups, including Christianity. With the passage of time people from other faiths compromised on that, particularly on soft loans and production. The Islamic teaching on interest is crystal clear that under no circumstances interest will be accepted.
Dr. Anwar also argued that in Islamic principle, if there is any possibility of any kind of loss to self or if there is risk then the individual is entitled to profit. In a situation where he may gain or lose and under that circumstance he is entitled to profit. Another distinct feature is that profit will be on agreed ratio and the loss will be on the capital ratio.