All Muslims know that interest or ‘sood’ is haram, it has been declared so in the Quran many times. Allah commands in the Quran that 'Ye shall not take interest on your money, and if you do so, consider yourself at war' with Allah and His Prophet (PBUH). Could there be a more stern warning? But we have, 'Naooz Billah' challenged this holy direction; the entire economy in our country is built around interest.
A banking system is a driving force behind any economy and our banks are all based on the Jewish system of ‘Interest or Ribah’. Even if a person who would like to practice Islam cannot find any Islamic Banking system in Pakistan, the ones who claim to be Islamic are also working on Interest Basis. Firstly, it is debatable if there is really any Islamic banking in our country; the way they deal with their customers' problems and their charges are the same as of other banks, on deposits or on loans just they have changed the term interest to profit.
Even if we accept their claim of Islamic banking, are there enough such banks and branches in the country to take the entire load of our country's banking needs? No not by a long margin. That leaves a big question mark, are we Islamic Republic of Pakistan or just Pakistan?! What our rulers forget is that the whole nation’s sin of usury will fall on their shoulders, but they have no fear of Allah so why should they worry about one more sin being added to the bundles they already have accumulated.
DR ZAHEER ASGHAR KHAN,
Lahore, August 7.