Loans with Interest in Early Christianity and Islam
Rami Ibrahim
0641174
BADM 4370 – History of Business
Instructor: Michael Morrone
Individual Assignment
Loans with Interest in Early Christianity and Islam
February 7, 2012 When an individual thinks of religion, the first thing that comes to a believer’s mind is the nonnegotiable worship of a supreme being(s) as a source of tranquility whenever he/she is in distress. On the other hand, to a pro-secularization individual, religion only causes pricey conflicts between different cultures and is considered an outdated practice which should not have a place in today’s society. What people in general tend to forget about religion is that it their respective figures like Prophet Muhammad and Jesus wanted to promote a way of life that would aim to achieve a standard of living that would see all members of the community equal. And a big part of any way of life is fair trade and decreasing the gap between the rich and the poor. This essay will compare and contrast the early Christian and the current Muslim prohibitions against lending money at interest in the context of today’s constant recession-threatening environment. In order to be able to relate both the Muslim and Christian stance on the topic of lending money at issue it is integral to highlight the why countries tend to fall into a recession. In 2008, the US recession related to Americans buying houses they could not afford. In North America, investing in real estate is seen as a bullet-proof way of making money; making a low down payment expecting the value of their house to increase but it didn’t which leads foreclosure and eventually huge losses for banks. Today, movements such as Occupy Toronto protest the lack of social responsibility of bankers who give out mortgages knowing the client would not be able to pay it off – it’s an economical concern of using money people simply don’t physically have. In Islam, the term for interest is
0641174
BADM 4370 – History of Business
Instructor: Michael Morrone
Individual Assignment
Loans with Interest in Early Christianity and Islam
February 7, 2012 When an individual thinks of religion, the first thing that comes to a believer’s mind is the nonnegotiable worship of a supreme being(s) as a source of tranquility whenever he/she is in distress. On the other hand, to a pro-secularization individual, religion only causes pricey conflicts between different cultures and is considered an outdated practice which should not have a place in today’s society. What people in general tend to forget about religion is that it their respective figures like Prophet Muhammad and Jesus wanted to promote a way of life that would aim to achieve a standard of living that would see all members of the community equal. And a big part of any way of life is fair trade and decreasing the gap between the rich and the poor. This essay will compare and contrast the early Christian and the current Muslim prohibitions against lending money at interest in the context of today’s constant recession-threatening environment. In order to be able to relate both the Muslim and Christian stance on the topic of lending money at issue it is integral to highlight the why countries tend to fall into a recession. In 2008, the US recession related to Americans buying houses they could not afford. In North America, investing in real estate is seen as a bullet-proof way of making money; making a low down payment expecting the value of their house to increase but it didn’t which leads foreclosure and eventually huge losses for banks. Today, movements such as Occupy Toronto protest the lack of social responsibility of bankers who give out mortgages knowing the client would not be able to pay it off – it’s an economical concern of using money people simply don’t physically have. In Islam, the term for interest is
Bibliography: Evans, T. T. (1987). Islamic Banking and the Prohibition of Usury in Western Economic Thought. National Westminister Bank Quarterly Review. Lewis, M. K. (2007). Handbook of Islamic Banking. Edward Elgar Publishing Inc. R, R. (1993). Does It Matter What We Do With Our Money? Umar, I. (n.d.). Sunnah. Retrieved from http://sunnah.com/search/riba