What is the reality of the attack of Riba? - JERUSALEM IN THE QUR’AN

What is the reality of the attack of Riba?

The very forces that emerged in contemporary history and made the restoration of the State of Israel possible, are themselves the forces that have penetrated all of mankind with Riba. The Qur’an identifies those forces as the people of Y’ajuj (Gog) and M’ajuj (Magog), and the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) spoke at length of Dajjal, the false Messiah. He declared that the age of Dajjal would be the age of the universal prevalence of Riba. 

The outstanding Islamic scholar and sage, Dr. Muhammad Iqbal, startled the Muslim world when he declared, as far back as 1917, that the release of Gog and Magog referred to in the Qur’an, had taken place. It is, therefore, crystal clear that the penetration of the Ummah by the forces of Riba represents an attack by Evil Beings created by Allah Himself. The aim of the attackers is to subject all, including Muslims, to the greatest trial mankind would ever experience from the time of Adam (‘alaihi al-Salam) until the Last Day. The aim of the attackers is to utterly deceive the Jews and lead them to their final destruction. At the centerpiece of that attack is the trial of Riba! We are now living through that trial. The evidence so far is that a spiritually blind world of Jews is failing miserably in its response to that trial. The Muslim world seems just as blind.

Source: Jerusalem in the Qur'an by Imran N. Hosein

to be continued....

The Prophet and the collapse of paper money - JERUSALEM IN THE QUR’AN

The Prophet and the collapse of paper money

It is also a matter of absolutely critical importance that Muslims should carefully study the prophecy of the Prophet (‘alaihi al-Salam) in which he has prophesied the collapse of artificial secular currency (i.e., paper, plastic, and electronic money, etc.):

“Abu Bakr ibn Abi Maryam (ra) reported that he heard the Messenger of Allah 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).” 

(Musnad, Ahmad)

That prophecy of Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) is about to be fulfilled. Today’s monetary system uses ‘paper’ to make ‘money’. That is a manifest fraud! Artificial money is quite different from real money. Real money has intrinsic value, while 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 public confidence in it and demand for it in the market. Demand is itself based on confidence, and confidence is something that can be manipulated (as Malaysia’s Prime Minister has now recognized, and as Indonesia has recognized too late). 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. Anything that seriously disturbs market confidence will cause the speculative stampede that will fulfill the prophecy of the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam).

The collapse of money in what may best be described as a ‘money meltdown’, will witness the final success of the European (who became Jews) in their more than a thousand years of struggle for Jewish rule over the whole world. Those who have real money will survive the meltdown, while those speculators who successfully exploit the collapse will make the greatest profits ever. The masses will lose their wealth and be enslaved. They will be caught with worthless paper parading as money. That is the financial holocaust that is certain to occur.

Others as well, beside our blessed Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam), are now predicting that financial meltdown. Judy Shelton, for example, uses it as the very title of her excellent book entitled: “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 for one ounce! (In 1971 it was $35 an ounce. Its present ‘managed’ value is kept within the range of  $280 - $380 per once.) This collapse of the dollar took place in the immediate wake of the successful anti-Western Islamic revolution in Iran that gave control of the vast oil resources of Iran to an anti-systemic Islamic government.  A similar collapse occurred in 1973 just after the Arab-Israeli war and the imposition of an Arab oil embargo on USA. The US dollar fell in value by a massive 400% from US$40 for an ounce of gold to US$160.

In fact the collapse of the International Monetary System would occur when the Jews consider it opportune to bring down the US dollar. They can do that at any time since the US dollar made of paper is manifestly fraudulent since it is essentially worthless. When the US dollar collapses it will bring down all other paper currencies in the world. The major beneficiary of that collapse will be the State of Israel, since it is those who control banks who would now control money. Governments will no longer be able to issue money. Rather it is banks (controlled by Jews) that would now issue plastic (i.e., electronic) money! 

That money-meltdown will, perhaps, take place when Israel launches its major war against the Arabs and then successfully defies the entire world. That successful display of military and political power together with the new financial control that comes with the collapse of paper-money would deliver to Israel the status of being the Ruling State in the world. This writer believes that that event is likely to take place within the next five to ten years or even earlier. Already Israel has successfully defied the President of USA who demanded on several occasions that Israel withdraw her military forces from Palestinian towns she occupied after a wave of Palestinian ‘human bombs’ took a heavy toll of Jewish lives. 

Source: Jerusalem in the Qur'an by Imran N. Hosein

to be continued....

The Prophet confirms the greatest danger of Riba - JERUSALEM IN THE QUR’AN

The Prophet confirms the greatest danger of Riba

This opinion of ours appears to be confirmed by the fact that the Prophet (‘alaihi alSalam) himself prophesied, in a Hadith received from Abu Hurairah (ra), the eventual total success of precisely such an attack launched through Riba. It would be an attack launched obviously by enemies of Islam, but it would penetrate all of mankind, including the followers of Prophet Muhammad (‘alaihi al-Salam):

“There will come a time,” said the Prophet, “when you will not be able to find a single person in all of mankind who will not be consuming Riba. And if anyone claims that he is not consuming Riba then surely the vapor of Riba will reach him.” According to another text “the dust of Riba will reach him.”

(Sunan Abu Daud)

 

The Prophet ((sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) thus made it abundantly clear that the greatest danger to the integrity of the Ummah and of the Iman (faith) of the believers would come from Riba. This confirmed the warning from Allah Most High Himself that was manifested in the choice of Riba as the subject of the last revelation.

The prophecy of the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) concerning the universal prevalence of Riba has today been fulfilled. Indeed it has been fulfilled in our own miserable lifetime! Specifically it has been fulfilled during the time that has elapsed since the Ottoman Caliphate was abolished in 1924. Up to 1924 the Riba-based capitalist European economy could not succeed in penetrating the economy and the market of the Muslim world. But Europe did succeed in enticing the governments that presided over the affairs of Muslims to enter into Riba. The Ottoman Caliph, for example, had borrowed considerable sums of money on interest from Europe. His financial and economic difficulties grew to such an extent that he was forced, as a desperate means of preventing the collapse of the Empire, to seek membership in the new European secular State system. He achieved this in the Paris Peace Agreement of 1856. But the price he had to pay was to succumb to European/Jewish financial blackmail that extracted from him the abolition of Jizyah and Ahl al-Dhimmah in all the territories of the Ottoman Empire. This was also a quid pro quo for debt and interest payment relief. In doing so the Caliph betrayed Allah Most High Who had Himself established the jizyah tax in the Qur’an (al-Tauba, 9:29).  

The success of Euro-Jewish bankers in targeting the Ottoman Caliph was a classic example of the financial imperialism, which is made possible through Riba. Henry Kissinger was the author of the same strategy that eventually led to the collapse of a super-power in modern times, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). That event should have opened the eyes of the ‘Ulama of Islam. It did not! As a consequence the same strategy continues to be pursued by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, and by so many others. Not only is Israel’s economy based on Riba but Israel is also embracing Arafat’s PLO and other Arab regimes with precisely the same deadly economic embrace which reduces the target of the embrace to poverty, destitution and economic slavery. The success of European/Jewish financial blackmail witnessed the beginning of the dismantling of the sacred model of a public order in the world of Islam (Dar al-Islam), and of its replacement with the secular European model. In that model of a State, ‘sovereignty’ was taken away from Allah Most High and was located, instead, in the State. That was an act of Shirk! 

Indeed, since 1924 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 worlds of Riba and Shirk. Not only has the prophecy of the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) been fulfilled through the total victory of Ribabased banking all over the world, and through the Riba that is inherent in nonredeemable artificial money, but it has also been fulfilled in the total corruption of the free and fair market. Today's so-called free market is, in fact, a ‘den of thieves’, in which the strong exploit the weak. 

Finally, the Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) himself echoed the extreme gravity and dire warning in the Qur’anic revelation by using the strongest possible language in connection with Riba:

“Abu Hurairah (ra) said that the Messenger of Allah said: Riba is of seventy different parts, the least dangerous being equivalent to a man marrying (i.e., having sexual intercourse with) his own mother.”

(Sunan, Ibn Majah; Baihaqi)

“Abdullah Ibn Hanzala (ra) reported that the Messenger of Allah said: A dirham (silver coin) of Riba, which a man receives knowingly, is worse than committing adultery thirty-six times. (Ahmad). Baihaqi transmitted it, on the authority of Ibn Abbas (ra), with the addition that the Prophet continued to say: Hell is more fitting for him whose flesh is nourished by what is Haram.”

“Abu Hurairah reported Allah’s Messenger as saying: On the night I was taken up to heaven I came upon people whose bellies were like houses which contained snakes which could be seen from outside their bellies. I asked Gabriel who they were and he told me that they were people who had consumed Riba.” 

(Musnad, Ahmad; Sunan, Ibn Majah)

“Abu Hurairah (ra) reported that the Prophet said: Allah would be justified in not allowing four persons to enter paradise or to taste its blessings: he who drinks habitually (i.e., drinks alcohol), he who takes Riba, he who usurps an orphan's property without right, and he who is unmindful to his parents.” 

(Mustadrak, al-Hakim, ‘Kitab al-Buyu’) 

The Prophet (‘alaihi al-Salam) also reaffirmed the declaration of war from Allah and His Messenger in connection with the prohibition of Riba in the following Hadith:

“Jabir Ibn Abdullah (ra) said: I heard the Messenger of Allah say: If any one of you does not leave mukhabara he should take notice of war from Allah and His Messenger. Zaid Ibn Thabit said: I asked: What is mukhabarah? He replied: That you have the land for cultivation for a half, a third, or a quarter (of the produce).” (The danger here is that it leads deceptively to slave labour.) 

(Sunan, Abu Daud)

It should be clear from the material presented above that the establishment of an economy based on Riba is a very great sin indeed. Consequently it most certainly violates the divine conditions for inheritance of the Holy Land.

 

Source: Jerusalem in the Qur'an by Imran N. Hosein

to be continued....

The last revelation of the Qur’an - JERUSALEM IN THE QUR’AN

The last revelation of the Qur’an

In the last revelation of the Qur’an Allah Most Wise, chose to return to a subject which had already been dealt with in earlier revelations – in the Qur’an, as well as in the Torah, the Psalms, and the Gospel – namely the subject of the prohibition of Riba. On the authority of Ahadith we know that the last revelation received by the blessed Prophet (sallalahu ‘alaihi wa sallam) shortly before his death, was the passage in Surah alBaqarah (2:279-281) which dealt with Riba:

“Umar ibn Khattab said: The last verse to be revealed was on Riba, but Allah's Messenger was taken without having expounded it to us; so give up not only Riba but also Reebah (i.e., whatever raises doubts in the mind about its rightfulness).”

(Sunan, Ibn Majah; Darimi)

“Ibn Abbas said: O you who believe, fear Allah and give up what remains (due to you) from Riba (from now onwards) if you are indeed believers….And none shall be dealt with unjustly. (al-Baqarah, 2:279-281). Ibn Abbas said: This was the last verse revealed to the Prophet.” 

(Sahih, Bukhari)

That last revelation confirmed the Prophet’s retroactive enforcement of the legislation prohibiting Riba in the khutbah al-wida’a (Farewell Sermon) from ’Arafat. The last revelation is to be found in this passage from the Qur’an. We quote the entire passage with our own explanatory comments in small type:

“Those who spend of their wealth by day and by night, secretly and openly, for such there will be reward with their Lord, nor will they have cause for fear, nor will they grieve.” (Provided that wealth is spent in a manner that is Halal, such spending will stimulate the economy and put wealth into circulation.)

“Those (on the other hand) who consume Riba will not stand (before Allah on the Last Day) except as though Satan drove them to madness with his touch (this is because Riba represents the opposite of ‘spending’ – in Riba wealth is sucked out of the economy until the masses are reduced to poverty and destitution.)”

“That is because they say business and Riba are similar to each other.” (They argue that ‘lending money on interest’ is a legitimate form of business.) 

 

“But Allah has permitted business and forbidden Riba.” (Their argument is false. Allah has made business Halal but has made Riba Haram. And so Riba is not a form of business. This is because the very essence of a legitimate business transaction is that it must admit of the possibility of either a profit or a loss. When money is lent on interest the possibility of a loss is so minimized that it is almost eliminated! Hence the lending of money on interest cannot qualify as a business transaction.)  

“And so, anyone who receives (this) warning from his Lord and thereupon desists (from Riba) may keep his past gains (i.e., the Riba he previously accepted), and his affair rests with Allah (i.e., it will be for Allah to judge him – he will not be forced by the Islamic State to return the Riba he had taken.)

“But as for those who return to it (i.e., persist in Riba by way of lending money on interest, for example, after this revelation of the Qur’an), they are destined for the fire, therein to abide forever!”

 “(And with this) Allah eradicates Riba, whereas He blesses charitable deeds with manifold increase (because the essence of Riba is to ‘take’ and to ‘give’ nothing in return, while the essence of charity is to ‘give’ and ‘take’ nothing in return).”

“And Allah does not love anyone who is stubbornly ingrate and who persists in sin (with particular reference to the sin of consuming Riba).”

“Verily, those who have attained to faith and do good works, and are constant in prayer, and dispense charity, they shall have their reward from their Lord, and no fear need they have, and neither shall they grieve.”

“O you who have attained to faith, fear Allah and give up all the Riba which is outstanding (i.e., which you still claim to be due to you) if you are truly believers. If you do not do so (i.e., if you persist in lending money on interest even after declaring yourselves to be Muslims) then take notice of (a declaration of) war from Allah and His Messenger (i.e., take notice that Muslims who abide by Islam would wage war against you for the liberation of all those who are oppressed because of Riba).”

“But if you turn away (i.e., if you give up Riba) then you shall have (i.e., you will be entitled to reclaim) only your principal sums (which you had lent on the basis of Riba; i.e., you may have only the principal sum – not the principal sum plus a reasonable amount of interest, or not the principal sum plus a service charge).”

“Deal not unjustly and you shall not be dealt with unjustly.” (This might more properly be translated as follows: In accepting the return of only the principal sum lent you will spare yourself from the sin of being unjust to others, and in giving up the interest which was due to you, you will not, yourself, be subjected to any form of injustice.) 

“And if the debtor is in difficulty, grant him time until it is easy for him to repay. But if you remit it (i.e., if you write off the debt) by way of charity, that will be best for you, if you only knew.”

“And fear the Day in which you (i.e., all of mankind including those who consume Riba) will be brought back to Allah, then every human being will receive what it earned, and none shall be wronged." 

(Qur’an, al-Baqarah, 2:274-281)

Why did Allah, Most Wise, choose to send one more revelation shortly before the death of the Prophet (‘alaihi al-Salam)? Why did He choose a time that appears to have been the last possible time to send that revelation? Why did He do this after sending revelation in which He announced the perfection of Din and the completion of His favor to the believers?

There must surely be very important answers to all these questions. It appears to us that such a last revelation could only properly be used to reiterate something that lay at the very heart of the divine guidance. Additionally, it could be used to direct attention to that part of the divine guidance in which the faith of the believers would be most vulnerable to a future attack (the mother of all attacks) by enemies of Islam. Finally, it may have come at the last because it would assume a position of absolutely strategic importance in the Last Age. And Allah knows best!

The choice of the subject of Riba as the last revelation appears to constitute the most dire of all warnings that Riba can pose the gravest of all threats to the faith, freedom, and power of the believers. This subject is of supreme importance for herein lies the potential for the most dangerous, destructive, and devastating attack on the faith of the believers and the integrity and power of the Ummah of the Prophet (‘alaihi al-Salam). 

 

Source: Jerusalem in the Qur'an by Imran N. Hosein

to be continued....