The Handy Islam Answer Book. John Renard
anything else. So how do Muslims manage? Many, of course, have simply been going along with the “system.” But there has been increasing interest in new attempts to devise creative ways to make money work according to the principle that all parties to financial transactions—not just the borrower—must share equally in the risk as well as the profits. In other words, the focus of all parties is on the success of the project being funded rather than on the financial transaction. In addition, investors must screen their options carefully; the final criterion is not the promise of highest returns, but the certainty that the eventual product will be compatible with Islamic religious values (e.g., no stock in companies that produce weapons, alcohol, or pornography, or have gaming concerns). In that same spirit, Islamic banking provides for interest-free loans to the truly needy.
A Muslim woman shops at a vegetable stand in Delhi, India. Muslim values concerning economics are much less adversarial than in many Western cultures; the customer is considered a partner, not merely a consumer to be used.
What is the ultimate goal of Islamic values regarding economics?
Muslims engaged in implementing traditional Islamic values in today’s global marketplace face a major challenge, but the goal is to ensure social equity and keep the profit-motive subordinate to a higher principle. This is Islam’s major contribution to the evolution of “business ethics” in our time. Less adversarial than the financial arrangements most people have become accustomed to, the emphasis in Islamic banking is on cooperation, so that the customer is primarily a partner. Attempts to define “Islamic economics” as a discipline began in India during the 1930s and 1940s, not long before the creation of Pakistan.
A detail from a stained-glass window at the Saint-Julien cathedral in Sarthe, France, shows Adam and Eve's temptation in the Garden of Eden. Muslims and Christians share this and other stories from their holy books.
Where does this perspective fit on the spectrum of modern economic systems?
In theory, Islamic economics stands somewhere between capitalist free enterprise and socialist control: it seeks to maintain market forces, but within the limits of broad social consciousness. But there is as yet nothing like consensus on a coherent theory among Muslim economists. The Quran, for example, forbids riba (ree-BAA), a term generally understood to mean “taking interest,” but economists do not agree precisely with what that means for today. In practice, developments are largely limited to the field of banking. The first modern Islamic bank was established in Dubai in 1975, but over the past twenty years or so, the experiment has grown dramatically. Magazines pitched to Muslims now include increasingly numerous ads for businesses that invite participation from people looking for sound investment opportunities that are also religiously acceptable (halal, ha-LAAL).
Are there Islamic websites?
Since the Internet has become such a handy way to communicate and advertise, naturally Muslims are finding ways to use it to good advantage. A cursory flip through the pages of almost any popular magazine published for a Muslim readership turns up dozens of interesting items. As expected, publishers and bookstores specializing in Islamic materials are among the most numerous advertisers. A close second are vendors of miscellaneous supplies of interest to Muslims, including clothing and jewelry with religious calligraphy; devotional materials such as prayer rugs, pictures of Mecca, and wall plaques with Quranic calligraphy; educational tools such as a “Pilgrimage to Mecca” board game; recorded versions of Quran recitation; and a growing array of software items to aid in the traditional religious sciences. Next come ads for special services such as arrangement of travel for pilgrimage, both the Hajj and the Umra (minor pilgrimage outside the formal season of Hajj) to Saudi Arabia, and programs in Islamic Studies at Islamic colleges. Muslim social service agencies seeking to raise funds for the care of orphans and the indigent are increasingly visible on the Internet as well. A type of advertising that seems to be generating increasing interest in this category of special services for Muslims consists of listings of financial options and banking and investment services that take into account the ethical concerns of those who believe Muslims ought to avoid the established institutions of mainstream capitalism if at all possible.
Are there any Quranic teachings that relate to contemporary understandings of the material world?
Beginning with the Quran, important Islamic texts and thinkers have addressed themselves to environmental issues. Take this text from the Quran for example: “Do they not see how each thing God has created, down to the very least, most humbly prostrates itself to God as its shadow revolves from the right and the left? To God all in heaven and on earth prostrates itself; from beasts to angels none withholds haughtily. In reverent fear of their transcendent Lord they do what they are bidden” (Quran 16:48–50). Unlike the Bible, the Quran contains no integrated narrative of creation, suggests that God would surely need no rest after his “work,” and hints that a “day” might actually be a very long time. In both sources Adam is the first human being, but the Quran’s descriptions of the material vary from dust to semen to water to a clot of blood. Though the Quran’s Adam also knows the names of all creatures, the emphasis is on God’s knowledge rather than Adam’s. In the Quranic stories, human beings are not created in God’s image, for that would compromise the divine transcendence.
A view of the Old City of Jerusalem, Israel. The Church of the Holy Sepulchre is at the top, right. Jerusalem is considered a holy city by Christians, Jews, and Muslims alike.
How do the Bible and Quran differ with respect to the creation myth?
In general the Quran seems to place greater emphasis on God’s sovereignty and power than does the biblical account. Whereas the Bible describes creation as a single original action, the Quran suggests that God is involved in creation as an ongoing activity, reasserting His creative prerogative with the emergence of each new living being. In the Bible, God seems to commission the first people unreservedly to take charge of the earth. Islamic tradition also regards the creation as given to humans to use, but God seems to hesitate a bit in turning the operation over to Adam and Eve. God offered to Heaven, Earth, and the Mountains the “trust” of watching over creation. They declined out of fear, so God offered the Trust to humankind. Adam accepted, unjust and foolish as he was—and ungrateful in addition. When God informed his angels he was preparing to entrust creation to Adam as his representative (literally, caliph, vice regent), they warned the Creator that human beings would surely act wickedly. God assured the angels that the risk was worth taking. God reckoned it was a gamble worth taking for He had called forth from Adam’s loins and assembled all of his yet unborn descendants and asked them, “Am I not your Lord?” They had responded as one and without hesitation, “Yes, we are witnesses to that!” (Quran 33:72, 2:30, 7:10, 172).
Can Muslims and Christians come together on matters of environmental stewardship?
Any discussion of religious attitudes toward the care and keeping of the planet is bound to run head-on into the unpleasant fact that virtually no major religious community can boast a very impressive record in implementing its stated values. Unfortunately, greed quickly swamps lofty but fragile ideals in its wake. However unrealistic it may seem to speak of a tradition’s ideals without taking a hard look at how human beings have actually behaved, ideals do need to be restated. Muslims and Christians as communities need to get serious about understanding their own traditions’ mandates about environmental concerns. Then there may be more solid ground on which to discuss shared responsibilities about confronting the global tendency to sacrifice the earth on the altar of the great god Profit.
ISLAM AND CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST
What is the role of “sacred place/space” in contemporary international affairs, especially in the Middle East?
Islamic tradition has expressed the most expansive