My Position on Islamic Finance
NOTE : links will be added below as I publish more articles
Statement 1
Islam provides us with a firm and timeless foundation for understanding economic life. It sets out clear principles for the equitable and competitive distribution of capital within society. By guiding us through prohibitions, Islam directs us — with certainty — toward what is good, proper, and just.
Supporting links [1] [2] [3]
Statement 2
Debt, in its commercial and interest-bearing form, is discouraged or outright forbidden. Yet modern Islamic finance, a relatively recent phenomenon, claims to be built on these moral foundations while, in practice, constructing itself upon the very debt structures our faith warns us against.
Supporting links [1] [2] [3]
Statement 3
The choice was made to anchor this modern Islamic finance system in debt and credit. Genuine development of equitable, risk-sharing commercial structures — those that truly embody Islamic ethics — has been negligible, and remains so to this day.
Supporting links [1] [2] [3]
Statement 4
The subordination of our Shariah — the divinely revealed legal and moral framework of Islam — to debt-based products is starkly demonstrated by the manipulation and sophistry required to make such products appear compliant. This is not alignment with our Maqasid al-Shariah, the higher objectives of the Shariah which seek to secure justice, mercy, and benefit for humanity; rather, it is a distortion that serves the logic of the modern debt economy.
Supporting links [1] [2] [3]
Statement 5
This process of bending our sacred law to fit a debt-based system consumes virtually all the professional resources we possess: our Muslim workforce in research, risk, governance, law, and even Shariah itself. This monopoly of talent and attention acts as a powerful barrier to genuine, beneficial innovation — the kind needed to create fair, ethical, and truly Islamic modes of capital mobilisation and distribution.
Supporting links [1] [2] [3]
Statement 6
As a result, the existence and growth of modern Islamic finance have placed Muslims in a worse position than if this project had never been undertaken.
Worse still, modern Islamic finance has taught our community that Shariah can be interpreted to justify products and systems that contradict the moral essence of our faith. In doing so, it has devalued and weakened both our Shariah and our scholarly authority.
Supporting links [1] [2] [3]
Statement 7
Projects that seek genuinely beneficial outcomes for Muslims — those aligned with the moral integrity and spirit of the Shariah — are now treated as marginal. They are left in the hands of a few sincere individuals and entrepreneurs who, by necessity, operate outside the established system, denied access to the vast resources devoted almost entirely to debt and credit.
Supporting links [1] [2] [3]
Statement 8
The development of modern Islamic finance has therefore caused immense harm — intellectual, moral, and economic — and has diverted our collective effort from the path of genuine Islamic revival.
Supporting links [1] [2] [3]
Vision for Change
We must educate ourselves and one another on the true nature of this project. More importantly, we must begin the work of envisioning and building a system that is faithful to our Shariah, beneficial to Muslims, and capable of offering a real alternative to the global debt economy — a system that embodies justice, equity, and shared prosperity.
Supporting links [1] [2] [3]
Your Role
If you share this vision, I invite you to subscribe, stay engaged, and help support the development of a movement committed to restoring authenticity and purpose to Islamic economic thought. Please share this with others who care deeply about our Deen and the economic future of our Ummah.
True change cannot be left solely to those in authority; it is the people themselves who must become the catalysts for transformation. As believers, our commitment to worship our Lord and Creator calls us to uphold justice, speak out against wrongdoing, and act courageously as part of a global community accountable to ethical and moral truth.
By subscribing, you can stay connected and be informed of the many next steps we can take together as a community, working collectively to uphold justice, integrity, and the true principles of our faith.