Sharia makes did not understand how money works

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jan 1, 2022 at 17:18

Dear Dr Pipes, when the goal is to make Islam/Sharia/Quran/Hadith etc look correct at all cost, few lies, misrepresentations, over-explanations etc come handy. Explanations of why Islam prohibits interests on loans (including the one cited by Renox in the above message) fall in this category and fall short.

An easy explanation would be that the writers of the Sharia and Islamic finance did not fully understand how money as an instrument works. Sticking to 1400 year old rules blindly is the true problem. This is what our Muslim friends need to understand.

In the current context, negative interest rates are stupid, low single digit rates may be kind, high single digit interest rates may be justifiable, low double digit rates may be questionable, high double digit rates may be exploitative, and very high double digits may be tantamount to slavery.

There is nothing wrong or criminal in it. Low to high interest rates constitute an understandable continuum and Allah need not interfere in it or be worried about it 24x7. Such simple things Muslims need to understand.

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