The material for this article has been taken from the lecture delivered by Mufti Taqi Usmani.
It is now common knowledge, especially among the scholars, that since the values of western civilisation have taken hold of the entire world, religion is reduced to only places of worship, educational institutes and private homes. Religion has lost its grip in politics as well as economic issues of almost every nation. This is due to the fact that the concept of religion is different in the west.
In the west, religion is considered to be a person’s private matter and whether a person adopts a religion or not, it is not of any particular importance. In addition, west views religion as means to achieve spiritual satisfaction, and that is why there is no notion of right and wrong religion among the majority in the west. Consequently, a person can adopt any faith he likes: if he thinks that his pleasure lies in idol worshipping then that faith is suitable for him, and if he feels that worshipping one God brings him contentment then that faith is appropriate for him. Since it is a private matter, religion should not interfere in other facets of life. All this is the basis for secularism; the philosophy is that human beings have got intelligence, and combined with their observation and experience, humankind can make decisions to run all aspects of life: issues such as economic, political, social etc and religion should be restricted to private life.
Now it is even being said that all the systems in the world have failed, and after the collapse of USSR, only secular democracy will last forever.
Islam, on the other hand, totally disagrees with this ideology. Islam is not restricted to beliefs and worship; it also provides a comprehensive system pertaining to politics, economy, social matters etc. Islam is not only limited to the betterment of private life, but it provides a complete set of rules and regulations for all facets of life on a global scale.
Among the Muslim countries, this secular philosophy has taken hold, and religion, nowadays, is restricted to beliefs and worship only. Anyone, who prays five times a day, has a beard or a woman who wears the hijab is considered religious, even though that person’s other aspects of life are totally devoid of Islamic teachings.
Forget about the masses, our religious institutions (the madaaris) have fallen in this trap to some extent. A lot of stress is laid on the issues of beliefs and worship (prayers, fasting, hajj etc) and not much is taught with respect to business and political matters.
The end result of all this is that even some of our learned scholars are not aware of what is happening in matters of economy and politics. Some of our esteemed scholars are totally unaware of the modern problems regarding trade, business and economy. Most of their research is restricted in this regard, and they lack the understanding of modern finance.
Due to this, the gap between the modern educated businessmen and the religious scholars has widened. Even those who consider themselves very religious (i.e. pray and fast regularly) do not employ Islamic practices in their trade. Some of them have big beards, but if you look at their business transactions, they are totally against Islamic teachings.
Some of the scholars cannot satisfy the modern man in regards to issues concerning commerce. It is difficult even for a normal person to make them understand of what is happening in the market place. That is why majority of the questions the scholars are asked concern the matters about prayers, fasting, divorce, marriage etc. Not many go to them and inquire about the share market or modern interest based economy. I am not saying that everyone falls into this category; there are some very knowledgeable scholars in the matters concerning the world economy and finance (but they are a minority). That's why many in the business community are of the opinion that it is a waste of time to go to the religious scholars and ask them about our day to day business transactions (and this mentality has given rise to the idea that Islam does not possess answers to the intricate issues of the modern economics).
The need of the hour is that our scholars should understand what is really happening in this world. The requirement is to be aware of the contemporary issues. The old jurists used to say that those who are not aware of the matters of their time are not scholars but are ignorant. That is why our scholars need to understand that until they do not comprehend the day to day issues, they can never come up with the correct solutions. One of our great scholars of the past, Imam Muhammad (may Allah blessing be on him) used to spend almost everyday in the marketplace. When someone enquired of his presence in the bazaar, he said that I cannot give the correct fatwa (ruling) if I am not aware of what is happening in the markets.
If someone hands over the government to our religious leaders and tells them to run the country, it would not be an exaggeration to say that our scholars will not be able to change the situation a great deal in years. Unless one is not aware of the modern day problems, how can one expect to implement solutions for these issues.
So, it is my humble request to the Islamic scholars to spend a lot of time researching the contemporary issues. Not only should they learn about them by reading books, but they should spend time in the markets as well. They must learn how the share market works, how our banks function and how the modern economy as a whole operates.
Islam is the religion which has provided solutions for the whole mankind until the Day of Judgement. Unfortunately, there are not enough of us who have thoroughly researched and learned about the modern world. We need people who are well versed with not only beliefs and worship, but all aspects of life. If Islam is to provide a global system in this day and age, we would require scholars of immense knowledge in the current matters. Otherwise, this unjust capitalist system will continue to ruin the lives of the majority of the world for some time to come.
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