As I was looking through a “Post Grad” Higher Education booklet over the weekend, I came across a course being run at La Trobe University – a Masters in Islamic Banking. The short article on the course said that some of the distinctive of Islamic Banking were that it insisted on a strong asset backing for loans; prohibited “short selling” and perhaps most significantly, a ban on charging interest on loans. Instead of interest, both the borrower and the lender invest in the asset or development project and share in either the risk or profit of the venture. Sounds like a good idea to me...
It sounds like a nice, friendly way to do banking... Get in there and see what we can make of the venture, together. If it goes well, then we both do well, and if it doesn’t go well, then we go down together. Islamic banking, it seems, is a more asset-based system, rather than our current debt-based system which is at the centre of the Global Financial Crisis.
The article went on to say that, “Even the Vatican has praised the tenets of Islamic banking while condemning the excesses of Western capitalism.” Many people would be familiar with the saying, “the love of money is the root of all evil”. This is from the Bible. And given that money can cause so much “evil”, it should not come as a surprise to us that God has had quite a lot to say about money and how it should and shouldn’t be used. The Bible has more to offer on the subject than just this generalised warning about the danger of money. In the Old Testament particularly, whole economic systems are proposed that prevent the accumulation of too much debt by anyone and that protect the poor from the rough end of the cycle of poverty and debt.
In relation to property, no-one owned the land. It was not the people’s to buy and sell. Instead families or tribes looked after the land for God and leased it out to others if they so desired. Every 50 years, the land returned to the “owners” so that the leasing process could begin over again. In this way, families and tribes had a regular opportunity to free themselves from the cycle of debt through a renewable asset (Leviticus 25:10). Alongside this, God set up provisions for the poor in the land at any given time. People were commanded to leave the corners of their fields “un-reaped” so that the poor could take advantage of what was left over (Leviticus 19:9-10). People were also not allowed to charge interest to someone who was poor (Leviticus 25:35-38). Why? Because it’s not right to take advantage of someone who is doing it tough! Simple stuff... Some of you may remember the “Jubilee 2000” campaign that went alongside “Drop the Debt” heading towards the year 2000. These campaigns were based on Biblical ideas of debt release that work today and "Jubilee Australia" is still working on these issues today.
Anyway, there are more examples than this. This is just a handful to paint a broad picture of what religion has to offer in the field of economics. We are often told that religion should be left out of the public realm of politics and economics, yet it seems to me, time after time, that the public realm is starving for the kind of guidance and wisdom that spirituality can offer. Let’s keep chipping away...
Shalom...
It sounds like a nice, friendly way to do banking... Get in there and see what we can make of the venture, together. If it goes well, then we both do well, and if it doesn’t go well, then we go down together. Islamic banking, it seems, is a more asset-based system, rather than our current debt-based system which is at the centre of the Global Financial Crisis.
The article went on to say that, “Even the Vatican has praised the tenets of Islamic banking while condemning the excesses of Western capitalism.” Many people would be familiar with the saying, “the love of money is the root of all evil”. This is from the Bible. And given that money can cause so much “evil”, it should not come as a surprise to us that God has had quite a lot to say about money and how it should and shouldn’t be used. The Bible has more to offer on the subject than just this generalised warning about the danger of money. In the Old Testament particularly, whole economic systems are proposed that prevent the accumulation of too much debt by anyone and that protect the poor from the rough end of the cycle of poverty and debt.
In relation to property, no-one owned the land. It was not the people’s to buy and sell. Instead families or tribes looked after the land for God and leased it out to others if they so desired. Every 50 years, the land returned to the “owners” so that the leasing process could begin over again. In this way, families and tribes had a regular opportunity to free themselves from the cycle of debt through a renewable asset (Leviticus 25:10). Alongside this, God set up provisions for the poor in the land at any given time. People were commanded to leave the corners of their fields “un-reaped” so that the poor could take advantage of what was left over (Leviticus 19:9-10). People were also not allowed to charge interest to someone who was poor (Leviticus 25:35-38). Why? Because it’s not right to take advantage of someone who is doing it tough! Simple stuff... Some of you may remember the “Jubilee 2000” campaign that went alongside “Drop the Debt” heading towards the year 2000. These campaigns were based on Biblical ideas of debt release that work today and "Jubilee Australia" is still working on these issues today.
Anyway, there are more examples than this. This is just a handful to paint a broad picture of what religion has to offer in the field of economics. We are often told that religion should be left out of the public realm of politics and economics, yet it seems to me, time after time, that the public realm is starving for the kind of guidance and wisdom that spirituality can offer. Let’s keep chipping away...
Shalom...
Amidst pressure to the contrary, my husband and I chose to purchase a small home to keep our debt to a minimum and the repayment of our loan a reality.
ReplyDeleteThe banks seemed to want to lend us an extraordinary amount of money.
My family believed that we needed to at least buy a modern 4 bed, 2 garage home (there are only 2 of us!!).
I am thankful to God for the biblical teaching which contrasts the ideals of our Western world.