Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Jetlagged in Bukit Jelutong
Jetlagged
Its 3am on the night before the first lecture and the kids are up and about. I slept more than I was awake the whole day before; the kids slept at Maghrib and woke up at midnight. All of us except the wife were anything but sleepy.
But I shut my eyes anyway wanting to be fully rested for the first day of Muamalah’s Two Day Islamic Corporate Financing & Islamic Capital Market Course at Crown Princess KL. I have done it many times before but I still know a good rest before the talk is always essential. Last April it was Cherating first before the talk because of the shorter break and turnaround time; I decided that was not good, I was too occupied with not catching a cold before the Course, my mind did not focus on the holiday. This time it’s Langkawi after, insyaAllah and decidedly that’s a better strategy.
I must admit I have come to enjoy delivering these Courses. Like the traditional medicine seller insyaAllah its almost second nature now, the well rehearsed jokes at the turn of each topic, the controlled silence and pitch to deliver an important point, and the unashamed advocacy of a revolutionary new angle to be reflected on by the audience. How do you change mindsets that have been monopolized by one system for the last 1400 years; how do you extol the virtues of a system that came 1400 years too late? Yes that’s how late Islamic banking and finance came into our lives. Practised by the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the Sahabat in 600 AD, it was then completely ignored and only reintroduced to the Ummah in the 1970’s. During the gap, the riba system flourished unchallenged, so much so it has lodged itself in the minds of Mankind, Muslims or Non Muslims as the only way to do banking. Whole economic theories are expounded on riba platforms; university courses and researches extend the grip of the system further.
What is the riba system? It is a system of doing banking without the need to trust anyone. The whole system hinges on the premise that everyone else except you, are crooks and cannot be trusted. Legal agreements and legal framework are crafted to allow you to safely do business with crooks. The injunction of the Quran to give loans as a matter of good deed to help people in need are laughable matters in the context of modern riba banking. To develop a society based on trust and mutual help are for the birds. Where are we heading if we have yet to abandon a system which our Creator and His Prophet have declared war on? Another constant injunction by Allah swt in the Quran is for us to think. But oftentimes we are too lost in our daily lives to spare the time to think.
If a system is developed where you can safely do business with crooks, would not crooks be empowered in such a system? What about a system that emphasise much trust and much tolerance between contracting parties, would crooks have a place in such a system? Think, says Allah swt in the Quran.
Two kids were up and one again sleeping by the time I got home after the second day of the two day Course. I am always happy, when as usual, there were a lot of non Muslims in our Courses. I admire their tenacity to learn. Quietly I am proud of a Religion that regulates the Economy as well as all parts our lives and not just revolved around strict aspects of worship. I look forward now to meet my in laws in Kota Baru and then on to the soothing shores of Langkawi, insyaAllah.
Wassalam,
Zahid.
Its 3am on the night before the first lecture and the kids are up and about. I slept more than I was awake the whole day before; the kids slept at Maghrib and woke up at midnight. All of us except the wife were anything but sleepy.
But I shut my eyes anyway wanting to be fully rested for the first day of Muamalah’s Two Day Islamic Corporate Financing & Islamic Capital Market Course at Crown Princess KL. I have done it many times before but I still know a good rest before the talk is always essential. Last April it was Cherating first before the talk because of the shorter break and turnaround time; I decided that was not good, I was too occupied with not catching a cold before the Course, my mind did not focus on the holiday. This time it’s Langkawi after, insyaAllah and decidedly that’s a better strategy.
I must admit I have come to enjoy delivering these Courses. Like the traditional medicine seller insyaAllah its almost second nature now, the well rehearsed jokes at the turn of each topic, the controlled silence and pitch to deliver an important point, and the unashamed advocacy of a revolutionary new angle to be reflected on by the audience. How do you change mindsets that have been monopolized by one system for the last 1400 years; how do you extol the virtues of a system that came 1400 years too late? Yes that’s how late Islamic banking and finance came into our lives. Practised by the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the Sahabat in 600 AD, it was then completely ignored and only reintroduced to the Ummah in the 1970’s. During the gap, the riba system flourished unchallenged, so much so it has lodged itself in the minds of Mankind, Muslims or Non Muslims as the only way to do banking. Whole economic theories are expounded on riba platforms; university courses and researches extend the grip of the system further.
What is the riba system? It is a system of doing banking without the need to trust anyone. The whole system hinges on the premise that everyone else except you, are crooks and cannot be trusted. Legal agreements and legal framework are crafted to allow you to safely do business with crooks. The injunction of the Quran to give loans as a matter of good deed to help people in need are laughable matters in the context of modern riba banking. To develop a society based on trust and mutual help are for the birds. Where are we heading if we have yet to abandon a system which our Creator and His Prophet have declared war on? Another constant injunction by Allah swt in the Quran is for us to think. But oftentimes we are too lost in our daily lives to spare the time to think.
If a system is developed where you can safely do business with crooks, would not crooks be empowered in such a system? What about a system that emphasise much trust and much tolerance between contracting parties, would crooks have a place in such a system? Think, says Allah swt in the Quran.
Two kids were up and one again sleeping by the time I got home after the second day of the two day Course. I am always happy, when as usual, there were a lot of non Muslims in our Courses. I admire their tenacity to learn. Quietly I am proud of a Religion that regulates the Economy as well as all parts our lives and not just revolved around strict aspects of worship. I look forward now to meet my in laws in Kota Baru and then on to the soothing shores of Langkawi, insyaAllah.
Wassalam,
Zahid.
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