I’d like expert thoughts about this. What I’m stating is my opinion with to my limited knowledge of Islamic history.
In my understanding, Islam prohibited interest/riba because it was used unfairly by powerful people to trap and exploit the poor. Back in the day, rich lenders charged high interest rates, and borrowers would get stuck in endless debt, making it nearly impossible for them to escape poverty.
Nowadays though, we’re mostly dealing with these big banks. They control large sums of money, and they profit immensely from interest.
If we refuse to take interest from them (like savings account interest), we are not protecting the poor or stopping oppression, right? Instead, we’re letting these powerful institutions keep all the benefits without challenging the wealth imbalance.
Really interested to know Shariah and financial experts’ take on this.
The Senate has recently passed the 26th Constitutional Amendment Bill, 2024, establishing a deadline of January 1, 2028, for the abolition of Riba (interest-based banking) in Pakistan. This provision was included at the suggestion of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), a regional political party led by Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, which posed challenges for the government during the bill's presentation.
The amendment modifies clause (f) of Article 38 of the Constitution, which focuses on promoting social and economic well-being. The previous wording aimed to “eliminate Riba as early as possible,” but it has now been revised to state that this should be done “as far as practicable, by the 1st of January, 2028.”
#ConstitutionalAmendment #Riba #InterestFreeBanking #PakistanSenate #EconomicReform #JUIF
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