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B) Why ‘interest’ is ‘unlawful’?:
Peer karam Shah Al-Azhari in Zia-ul-Quran under 2:275 has produced a summary of Imam Ghizali’s point of view on ‘interest’ as below:
Suppose you have ‘za’fran’ and another person has a camel. You wish to have the camel, but its owner does not wish to have your ‘zafran’. Or, you have garments and the other person has food. You are hungry and you wish to have food, but the other person does not need your garments. How will you, then buy the food? For this purpose, Almighty Allah has created such things (gold and silver) with which any person can purchase any thing he needs. If you think for a while, you will realize that Almighty Allah has created gold and silver for such a purpose. They are rarely available, and are not so hard like iron or copper, and can easily be carried. Consequently, gold and silver can be used quickly for exchange purposes and for buying any thing, we wish. Now if ‘interest’ on money (gold, dollar or rupee) is allowed, it will then not be used for buying commodities or for the exchange of goods, but rather it will multiply by itself (due to interest) with the result the people will start hoarding it like any other business commodity. Consequently, it will continue to disappear from the market with which the industrial development will come to a stop and the prices of the commodities will inflate or fluctuate to such an extent that the entire economy will collapse. To overcome such horrible evil, Islam has made the ‘interest’ as unlawful.
[That is why ‘Interest’ invites the ultimatum of war from Almighty Allah and His Messenger, as warned in Verse No 2:279.]
Peer Karam shah Al-Azhari further referred to Plateau, who said:
‘Money is like the kind of hen that does not lay eggs.’
[Note: Ibn Khaldun stated that no person like a scientist or a chemist can ever produce gold or silver by any method. If any one claims like that, he is a liar and a thief.]
