(Abu Daud, Mishkat)
According to another text "the
dust of riba will reach him."
The Prophet (SAW) thus made it abundantly
clear that the greatest danger to the integrity of the Ummah and of the iman of
the believers would come from riba. This confirmed the warning from Almighty
Allah (SWT) Himself which was pronounced in the choice of riba as the subject
of the last Revelation.
The prophecy of the Prophet (SAW)
concerning the prevalence of riba has today been fulfilled. Indeed it has been
fulfilled in our own miserable lifetime! Specifically it has been fulfilled
during the seventy years which have now elapsed since the Ottoman Khilafah was
abolished in 1924. Up to 1924 riba based capitalist Europe could succeed in penetrating
only the regimes which presided over the affairs of Muslims. The Ottoman Khalifah,
for example, had borrowed money on interest from Europe to such an extent that he
was forced, in 1857, to succumb to European financial blackmail and, as a consequence,
to abolish jizyah and ahl al-dhimmah in all the territories of the Ottoman Empire
as a quid pro quo for debt and interest payment's relief.
This, incidentally, was a classic example
of financial imperialism. But it was also the beginning of the process of the dismantling
of the sacred model of a public order (or State) in the world of Islam (Dar al Islam),
and of replacing it with the secular European model in which sovereignty was taken
away from Allah (SWT) and given to the State. And that was an act of shirk! Since
1924, however, riba has penetrated the total economic life of Muslims all around
the world. The financial imperialism inherent in riba has delivered the entire world
of Islam by its very throat into the hands of enemies with sharpened knives. Indeed
all of mankind is now trapped in the world of riba.
Not only has the prophecy of the Prophet
(SAW) been fulfilled through the total victory of riba based banking all over the
world, and through the riba which is inherent in non-redeemable artificial paper
currency, plastic and electronic money, but it has also been fulfilled in the total
corruption of the free and fair market. Today's so-called free market has become
a dog-eat-dog market, something anticipated by Ali Ibn Abi Talib (RAA) who said:
"A time is certainly coming to
mankind when people will bite each other..."
(Abu Daud)
It is also a matter of absolutely critical
importance that Muslims should carefully study the prophecy of the Prophet (SAW)
in which he has prophesied the collapse of artificial secular currency (i.e., paper,
plastic, and electronic money, etc.).
Abu Bakr Ibn Abu Maryam (RAA) reported
that he heard the Messenger of Allah (SAW) say:
"A time is certainly coming over
mankind in which there will be nothing (left) which will be of use (or benefit)
save a dinar and a dirham (gold and silver coins)."
(Ahmad)
That prophecy of Prophet Muhammad
(sallalahu ta‘alah ‘alaihi wa Sallam) is about to be fulfilled. Today's monetary
system uses "paper" to make "gold". That is fraudulent! Artificial
money is quite different from real money. Real money has intrinsic value, paper
money has none. Its only value is that conferred upon it by market forces. Its market
value will last only for as long as, and to the extent that, there is demand for
it in the market.
Demand is based on confidence. So long
as governments controlled the so-called free currency markets they could intervene
to protect public confidence. But the currency market is now controlled by the most
vicious of all speculative forces — forces fueled by compelling greed with no loyalties
and no patriotism.
Anything which seriously disturbs market
confidence will cause the speculative stampede which will fulfill the prophecy of
the Prophet (SAW).
Here is an example:
If Muslims gain control over their oil
resources and demand that they be paid for their oil exports with gold rather than
dollars made of non-redeemable artificial paper money, there will be significant
loss of confidence in paper currency. Why should this be so? Non-redeemable paper,
plastic or electronic money has value only to the extent that people are prepared
to recognize it as possessing value.
When public confidence in a currency
is shaken, its value will collapse. A demand for gold, as payment for oil, will
have the effect of shaking confidence in paper money. Speculative forces in the
currency market will greedily seize that opportunity to make the killing of a lifetime.
That in turn can cause the collapse of today's fraudulent international monetary
system based on non- redeemable paper money.
Money is the very foundation of capital.
The collapse of money in what may best be described as a money melt-down, will witness
the collapse of riba-based capitalism. Those who have real money will survive while
those speculators who successfully exploit the collapse will make the greatest profits
ever. The masses will lose their wealth. They will be caught with worthless paper
parading as money. That is a financial holocaust which is just waiting to occur.
And it has been predicted by others as well, besides the Prophet (SAW).
Judy Shelton, for example, uses it as
the very title of her excellent book "Money Meltdown: Restoring Order to the Global
Currency System."
(New York: The Free Press, 1994)
We should not forget, nor allow the
world to forget, the dramatic, ominous, and unprecedented collapse of the US dollar
in January 1980 when the value of the dollar relative to gold fell to approximately
$850 an ounce! (In 1971 it was $35 an ounce. Its present value is about $380 an
ounce). This collapse of the dollar took place in the immediate wake of the
successful anti-Western Islamic revolution in Iran which gave control of the
vast oil resources of Iran to an anti-systemic Islamic government. Iran's
government is anti-systemic since it is based on non-secular foundations and it
challenges the secular model of society and the political and economic world
order produced by modern Godless European secular civilization. Why should an
Islamic revolution in Iran threaten a collapse of the international monetary
system? The experts in international monetary economics are silent!
The question which we now pose is
this: Who is that enemy who has succeeded in penetrating all of mankind with
that riba which Allah (SWT) Himself eradicated? Is his attack on mankind and
the Ummah with riba something taking place in a vacuum, or does it form a part
of a larger attack directed towards the house of Islam itself?
The answer is quite clear. The forces which
penetrated the world with riba emerged in Europe and produced capitalism and
communism, the secular model of a society, and Godless materialism. Those forces
produced the modern Western civilization. Without modern Western civilization
it would not have been possible for the Jews to force their way back to the
holy land and to re-establish the state of Israel.
The Qur'an speaks clearly
about the Jews being punished by Almighty Allah (SWT) and being driven out of
the holy land of Palestine. It happened twice before the Revelation of the
Qur'an, first with a Babylonian army and then with a Roman army. After the
second destruction at the hands of the Roman army the Qur'an declared that the
Jews would not be allowed to return to Palestine until a special moment
arrived. The fact is that the Jews have returned to Palestine and have
established their state of Israel. It must, therefore, be admitted that the
special moment spoken of by the Qur'an has arrived. What was that special
moment?
There is a ban on a people (the
Jews) whom We have punished (with destruction) that they shall not return (to
the holy land of Palestine from which they were expelled) until Ya'juj (Gog)
and Ma'juj (Magog) break through (the iron barrier built by Dhul Qarnain) and
they swiftly unravel from every direction.
(Al-Anbiya' 21:95,96)
The very forces which emerged in
contemporary history and made the restoration of the state of Israel possible,
are themselves the forces which have penetrated all of mankind with riba. The
Qur'an identifies those forces as the evil Gog and Magog. It is, therefore,
crystal clear that the penetration of the Ummah by the forces of riba represent
an attack on the very house of Islam. The aim of the enemy is nothing less than
to utterly destroy the faith of the believers! Grave Danger of Riba: Allah
Wages War for the Liberation of the Economically Oppressed.
