The Garden of Knowledge

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

15 Muharram 1446/11 June 2025

All praise is due to Allah, the Cherisher, Sustainer, Nourisher and Provider of the entire creation. May peace, blessings and salutations be upon our Beloved Prophet Muhammed ﷺ.

From an Islamic perspective, all wealth and money belongs to Allah and it is given to us as a trust. As reminded to us by Allah in Surah Hadid, verse 7:

ءَامِنُوا۟ بِٱللَّهِ وَرَسُولِهِۦ وَأَنفِقُوا۟ مِمَّا جَعَلَكُم مُّسْتَخْلَفِينَ فِيهِ ۖ فَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مِنكُمْ وَأَنفَقُوا۟ لَهُمْ أَجْرٌ كَبِيرٌ

“Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and donate from what He has entrusted you with. So those of you who believe and donate will have a mighty reward.”

Money is not seen as a commodity rather it is seen as a medium of exchange and it is seen as a unit of measurement. The basic principles of money in Islam is that interest is impermissible and instead of lending on credit, partnerships are formed. The sharing of risks and profits are promoted and the notion of self-interest and personal gain at the expense of our fellows are eliminated.

Muslim scholars have discouraged money from being stagnant and they should be used to purchase items of intrinsic value. Profit on money cannot be generated as it is not seen as a commodity. There are two views regarding what is money. There are a group of scholars that believe money should be limited to gold and silver. It is believed that the current monetary system has created injustices especially to economically developing countries. Part of the reasoning for this is that gold and silver was approved by the Prophet ﷺ and gold and silver are relatively more stable when compared to other forms of money. Scholars of this view also believe there to be riba on only gold and silver. The second group possesses the view that money should not be limited to gold and silver only because it is not required by the Shariah. The principle “الأصل في الأشياء الإباحة – The natural disposition of everything is it is permissible” applies, where everything is permissible unless there is an explicit prohibition.

Nevertheless, implementing an Islamic monetary system contributes greatly in the adverse of controlling inflation. Firstly Islamic monetary systems, whether it is restricted to gold and silver or not, it is not influenced by greed. It is printed and used in a manner which would benefit the society. The prohibition of riba, eliminates the necessity for more money to be printed to get rid of debts. Debt will be decreased as the Islamic monetary system is not based on debt and credit rather it is based on partnerships and investing. This is where we see sharing of risks and sharing in surplus. Increasing in the investments and partnerships also creates more jobs in the economy which in turn creates a demand for goods as people will have money and means.

May Allah accept our efforts from us and grant us understanding In Sha Allah!