This post was authored by Dr. Aliaa Remtilla
Reverence (Fear) of God as a Fetter for Free Market Economies?
Much of this latter portion of Surah Baqra speaks to how one must spend - and produce - their wealth as God lays out for us the ethics of trade agreements, what to do with excess wealth, and even gives clear - and specific - injunctions against usury (2:261-283):
Some ayahs include...
The parable of those who spend their wealth in the way of God is that of a grain that grows seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains. And God multiples for whomsoever He will, and God is All-Encompassing, Knowing. ( 2:261)
Those who devour usury shall not rise except as one rises who is felled by the touch of Satan. That is because they say, "Buying and selling are simply like usury," though God has permitted buying and selling and forbidden usury. One who, after recieveing counsel from his Lord, desists shall have what is past and his affair goes to God. And as for those who go back, they are the inhabitants of the Fire, abiding therein. (2:275)
And if one is in difficult circumstances, let there be a respite until there is ease, and it is better for you to give [it] as charity, if you but knew. (2:280)
Reading these verses today, I couldn't help but wonder (a la Carrie Bradshaw) whether the point of these verses was really about outlawing usury and securing one male or two female witnesses to each trade agreement. Is that the message God intended for 21st Century American capitalism? From in between the verses with these specific dictates about economic practice emerge these tiny, seemingly insignificant and easily ignorable phrases, "Reverence God" (or according to Tarif Khalidi's translation, "Fear God") (2:278; 282; 283). Of course, God quickly tells us that he is also forgiving of those who repent, but the Sura climaxes with a strong reminder of God's omnipotence, and of our constant need to remember this:
Unto God belongs whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is on the earth. And whether you disclose what is in your souls or hide it, God will bring you to account for it. He forgives whomsoever He will, and punishes whomsoever He will, and God is Powerful over all things (2:284).
If we were to actually be able to constantly remember God's qadr (His Power), and everything that stems from that - our need to account to Him for all of our actions, our duty to take care of His creation, our need to leave this world improved - would we need the specific rules that He also (graciously) gives us? Or would we be able to find new ways to fetter our own actions, enabling a free market to function that is also imbued with an all-pervasive morality that ensures maslahah? We all know the trickle-down effect doesn't work. Free market capitalism is not going to help us care for God's creation - neither the environment, nor those suffering from rapidly increasing global inequality. But would outlawing usury and enforcing the paying of charity be enough to fix it? What would a truly Muslim economy look like? Commerce is a core part of it. Undoubtedly. So too is morality. Do we have the strength of faith to fetter ourselves by our deepest reverence for God and have that be the fetter that re-imbues the free market with morality? Or...as we asked yesterday...are we still too human, too fallible, to be able to transcend the specificity of rules (or in yesterday's post, of rituals) to be able to move into a more all-pervasive taqwa?
It's scary to think. Dasond. Zakat. Khums. Tithes. Alms. Charity. It's not enough. Do we have the guts to bring our remembrance of God - and all that entails - into our next business deal?
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