Voices of Islam (168 page)

38. Ibid., 134.

1. Firdaws
   is a synonym for Paradise. It is referred to twice in the Qur’an (18:107 and 23:11). See Duncan B. Macdonald, ‘‘Firdaws,’’ in
   Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam,
   eds. H.A.R. Gibb and J.H. Kramer (1953 repr., Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1974 ), 108.
   

2. Sulami,
   Zalal al-fuqara’
   in
   Three Early Sufi Texts,
   147.
   

3. John Stratton Hawley, Introduction to
   Saints and Virtues,
   ed. John Stratton Hawley (Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, 1987), xi.
   

15
‌

I
SLAM AND
B
USINESS

•

Abdulkader Thomas

Do not consume one another’s wealth unjustly, be aware that lawful gain should be only through business based on mutual consent among you, and do not destroy one another.

(Qur’an 4:29)

The Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, was a merchant. As a young man, he earned the nickname
al-Amin,
‘‘The Trustworthy,’’ for his conduct when entrusted with the business of others. On the one hand, this prophetic legacy meant that Muslims have always found honor in trade. On the other hand, Islam has established a well-developed juristic tradition gov- erning commerce. This tradition is bounded by a concern for the believer’s eternal soul. The moment trade engages in what is forbidden or opens a door that may lead to such a direction, more than just profi and losses are concerned. The Prophet Muhammad, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said: ‘‘The lawful is self-evident and the unlawful is self-evident. However, between the two are matters that may give rise to confusion, because they are not well understood by many people. He who guards against doubtful things keeps his religion and his honor blameless, but he who indulges in doubtful things actually indulges in unlawful things.’’
1

Because of such concerns, Islam imposes on Muslims rules and regulations relating to such matters as how to draw up a contract, what actions render a contract invalid, and the obligation to think of the greater social welfare in one’s business dealings. Although Islam fi st emerged in the Arabian Peninsula, Muslims rapidly found themselves trading widely beyond their frontiers and engaging in commerce in three continents. Each new market brought with it new customs, new ideas, and new tests for the application of Islamic concepts. Until today, these challenges have required fresh investi- gations into the nature of Qur’anic dictates and the teachings embodied in the Prophetic Sunna. The research required to explore new Islamic responses

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Voices of Life: Family, Home, and Society

to modern business practices is not conducted in a vacuum. In the words of the Sudanese scholar Mohammad Adam El-Sheikh, ‘‘New research should seek to meet the needs of contemporary life in light of the critical evaluation of modern experience.’’
2
For instance, the Shari‘a as it is traditionally under- stood does not accommodate the corporation, which is conceived legally as a fictitious person, with rights and duties similar to that of a natural person.
3
However, all Western law codes do so. This and a variety of other legal and organizational matters pertinent to changes in global commerce require high-quality research into authentic Islamic resources in order to identify permissible commercial outcomes for the devout Muslim with respect to relevant transactions and structures. In this chapter, we examine the evolving consensus of modern Islamic scholars on the core methods of commerce within the underlying legal framework of the Shari‘a. We will also look into the challenges that Muslims face in applying and understanding the Shari‘a in commerce.

THE PURPOSES OF THE SHARI‘A (
MAQASID AL-SHARI‘A
)

Commerce is a way to improve our lives in the most basic of manners. The exchange of our surpluses, whether in money, commodities, or skills, in a mutually satisfying way allows both parties to feel that commerce has made their lives more complete. A Muslim, however, remembers that true compli- ance with the Shari‘a means that the satisfaction of one’s desires in this life may only be achieved by keeping in mind one’s eternal life. Hence, the Muslim generally seeks to understand how to be guided by the Shari‘a and accepts this guidance in the context of the Shari‘a’s purposes: ‘‘The aim of Shari‘ah is to make people happier in this world and the Hereafter.’’
4

For this reason, the Shari‘a embodies a concept called
taysir,
which means, ‘‘making things easier.’’
Taysir
relates closely to the concept of the removal of hardship (
raf’ al-haraj
). Such important objectives of the Shari‘a are meant to assure that faith is not made distasteful by excessive or unnecessary rules and regulations in the believer’s life. When it comes to commerce, these twin concepts have an inherent complementarity. Business allows for the removal of many hardships from our lives. One merely needs to examine a modern kitchen in a developed country to understand how commerce has delivered greater ease to a homemaker than could ever have been imagined by the homemaker’s great-grandparents. Even in the poorest countries, commerce and the innovation stimulated by commerce have delivered modest effi encies in the preparation of meals. Such improvements in the lives of homemakers allow them more time to devote to the care of their children, religion, or work. Is this not what is meant by making things easier or remov- ing hardships?

Islam and Business
199

The Hadith compiler Tirmidhi reported that God told the Prophet Muhammad, ‘‘You have been sent in order to make things easy, not to make them difficult.’’
5
An important anecdote tells of the opposition to television in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In the face of ultraconservative opposition, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia pointed out two great benefi of the new invention. On the one hand, it could be used to transmit religious knowl-

edge. On the other hand, television could be a tool to advise people of impending danger or important news. The concepts of ‘‘making things easy’’ and ‘‘removing hardship’’ are cornerstones of the concept of public interest (
maslaha
) in Islamic law. Thus, a pious Muslim businessman is necessarily bound by a sense of what the public good is in this life and how one’s actions have consequences that affect others in their daily lives and may even affect one’s own prospects for the afterlife.

Islam denies its adherents the opportunity to secularize personal behavior. One cannot manage a liquor store from Saturday through Thursday and devote Friday to prayer and charity. The believer is obliged to seek knowledge of what is permissible and not permissible in Islam and to have at least a rudimentary knowledge of the Shari‘a rules that govern business life. Most important, the Muslim should know that it is wrong to sell or facilitate the sale of what is forbidden in Islam, such as liquor, or to obscure the essence or important elements of a transaction.

A Muslim must have a rudimentary understanding of the theological and philosophical underpinnings of the Shari‘a, as these govern one’s eternal life. The first principle of Islamic theology is
tawhid,
acceptance of the oneness of God. This is the most stringent approach to monotheism and constitutes the fundamental message of the Qur’an. Adherence to ‘‘Tawhidic’’ theology means that the Muslim accepts the rules established by God and His Messen- ger, the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him. These rules seek to define the Tawhidic lifestyle and protect the most important values relating to this life, namely, human life, human intellect, property, honor, and con- science.
6
The safeguarding, in order of priority, of these five values allows each human being to live a quality of life in which she is free to exercise her

conscience and worship God in the most uninhibited and loving manner. The protection of these five values leads to two clear principles that are repeti- tive themes in the conscience of the Muslim businessperson. First, within the specific framework of the Shari‘a, the individual has substantial freedom of choice in almost every aspect of life, including commerce. Second, personal property may be freely held, sold, or traded.
7
These principles help give clarity to the notion of the goals or objectives (
maqasid
) of the Shari‘a.

An understanding of the objectives of the Shari‘a leads one to understand why Islamic law gives considerable leeway for the exercise of discretion or permissibility (
ibaha
). This is a defining principle of the law of interpersonal relations (
mu‘amalat
) and commerce in Islamic jurisprudence. The Muslim businessperson is obliged to pay attention to the details of a contract.

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Voices of Life: Family, Home, and Society

However, she can find comfort in the opinion of the classical Islamic scholar Ibn Taymiyya (d. 1328
CE
) about the permissibility of contracts. For Ibn Tay- miyya, nothing was forbidden unless God and His Messenger had decreed it to be so. This principle allows considerable latitude in drawing up new types of contracts that reflect changing economic conditions: ‘‘God Most High has never prohibited a contract in which there is a benefi for the Muslims and does not infl ct any harm upon them.’’
8
Modern juridical scholars such as Mohammad Hashim Kamali have taken this statement by Ibn Taymiyya to mean that there is no need to seek affirmative evidence in the scriptural sour- ces to declare a transaction valid, so long as one has taken care to observe the basic rules of what one may buy and sell, and the general terms of contracts.
9

SPECIAL OBLIGATIONS OF STEWARDSHIP

The freedom that Islam gives to the practice of commerce and the drawing up of contracts is bounded by the Qur’anic notion of the human being as
kha- lifa,
God’s warden or trustee of the created world. According to this notion, businesspeople have a broader obligation than just the profi motive. Like other morally conscious human beings, the businessperson must consider the impact of his actions on all aspects of creation. Not only must the objec- tives of the Shari‘a be protected, but the stewardship with which God has charged us also enjoins us to prevent waste (
israf
).
10
When the believer’s obligation of stewardship is combined with the obligation to prevent waste, one finds that a Muslim businessperson is obliged to share the concerns underpinning many modern, secular movements of planetary reform, such as those to protect the environment, to defend wildlife, and to understand the ethical implications of genetic modifi ations. Such global thinking may be nontraditional, but it is fully in accordance with the message of the Qur’an. God’s infinite wisdom leads us to practice mercy, for human beings find it difficult to avoid exaggeration when selling, negotiating profits to an unnec- essary degree, and taking shortcuts with their responsibilities when engaged in industry and commerce. This human inclination to overdo things in a way that may cause noncriminal harm is checked to a certain extent by the Qur’anic prescription of
Zakat,
the ‘‘purifying’’ tax on wealth that must be paid by every Muslim. These purifying dues are a balancing feature that reminds the Muslim of his role as custodian or steward of God’s creation. Since wealth and the ownership of property are bestowed on us only tempo- rarily, we are obliged to manage such benefits in a way that is beneficial to all, without causing harm.
11
The petty harms that businesspeople and others find so diffi to avoid require a direct and simple form of purifi tion.
Zakat
‘‘purifi ’’ the giver by providing a social outlet for the wealth that one accumulates. This tax is paid only by those with a minimum level of wealth