The Holy Qur’an places charity against interest, encouraging the former and discouraging the latter. It says, “Allah deprives interest of all blessing, whereas He blesses charity with growth.  Allah loves none who is ungrateful and persists in sin. [2:276]The fact stated in this verse is a truism from a moral and spiritual as well ...

The term riba in Arabic means 'to grow, to exceed, to increase'. Technically, it denotes the amount that a lender receives from a borrower at a fixed rate of interest. At the time of the revelation of the Qur'an several forms of interest transactions were in vogue and were designated as riba by the Arabs. Of these one was that the vendor sold an ar...

In an economy with real goods and services, money and financial assets in the form of promises to pay (i.e., debts), exchange can be divided into the following six categories: Goods for moneyGoods for debt Goods for goods Debt for money Debt for debtMoney for moneyCategorizations are rarely all-inclusive or completely free from ...

Equality of MankindThe foundations of the social system of Islam rest on the belief that all human beings are equal and constitute one single fraternity.God created a human couple to herald the beginning of the life of mankind on earth, and everybody living in the world today originates from this couple. The progeny of this couple were initially a ...

Basic PrinciplesThe chief characteristic of Islam is that it makes no distinction between the spiritual and the secular in life. Its aim is to shape both individual lives as well as society as a whole in ways that will ensure that the Kingdom of God may really be established on earth and that peace, contentment and well-being may fill the world. Th...

 Ingrained in mankindA moral sense is inborn in man and, through the ages, it has served as the common man’s standard of moral behaviour, approving certain qualities and condemning others. While this instinctive faculty may vary from person to person, human conscience has consistently declared certain moral qualities to be good and other...

What is the spiritual path in Islam and what is its place in the life as a whole? To answer this it is necessary to study carefully the difference between the Islamic concept of spirituality and that of other religions and ideologies. Without a clear understanding of this difference it often happens that, when talking about the spirituality in Isla...

 Islam’s related concernsIslam has laid down certain principles and limits for the economic activity of man so that the entire pattern of production, exchange and distribution of wealth may conform to the Islamic standard of justice and equity. Islam does not concern itself with time-bound methods and techniques of economic production or...

Basic principlesThe political system of Islam is based on three principles; Tawhid (unity of God), Risalat (prophethood) and Khilafat (vicegerency). It is difficult to appreciate the different aspects of Islamic polity without fully understanding these three principles. Tawhid means that only God is the Creator, Sustainer and Master of the universe...