Tariq Ramadan – Ramadan Chronicles #24 Profitoriented Economy

While we are talking about resistance, there is

one type of resistance again, which is part

of our life, every one of us at

the individual level as well as the collective

level. It has to do with economy. It's

the whole economic system that we have to

consider and the way we are dealing with

our money.

What we understand coming from the very essence

of our,

starting with God, Bismillah.

We are starting with God and we are

doing things in the name of God. Is

that what should be the final goal, the

ultimate

objective of economy is to serve humanity.

It's not to serve profit.

The very essence of the economic,

involvement should be to serve humanity. It should

not be to think only about in which

way I'm going to use the means,

money,

to make only money and to be obsessed

with money. When the center of the economic

activity is money and profit, there is something

which is distorting the whole system, the whole

understanding. So this is where we need to

come to a deeper understanding and not only

to try

to

Having said that, we come back and and

we understand that, yes,

production

and producting,

producing goods and spreading and distributing this this

economic activity. It's part of life, and there's

nothing wrong with this.

But to go from this

to promoting

and to be obsessed with profit and interest

and personal interest

without

understanding that there are rules and there are,

ethical ways of dealing with the whole process.

This is the very corrupting,

process within

the economic system.

And we have it in the Quran

when, for example, people, when you are telling

them, oh, what you are doing here is

corrupting the whole system.

And they are

saying,

that this is because they are saying,

which is a transaction, which is

offer

and demands and and and this way of

dealing with the goods, which is the natural

way,

which is trading.

It's like

the riba, which is interest. And they are

confusing the 2 and saying it's exactly the

same. No. 1, it's about protecting the life,

and this is a very natural procedure and

process within life. The other one is obsessed

with making money out of money, which this

is the the perverted way of dealing with

economy.

And then the answer coming the from the

Quran,

that god is saying that there is one

type which is right

when you are doing this in order to

survive, knowing that at the center, yes, you

are dealing with profit, but in order to

serve your own

way of surviving.

On the other side is using the means

money to make money and then to distort

the whole process.

It's a philosophy. It's economic philosophy that we

have here. And then

the call is

something which is important.

So this is just be,

come which is to this reverential

love. Remember God.

And remove,

stop

everything which has to do with interests, speculation,

and usury. This is not the way.

In Lemtef Alwin, if you are not going

to do this, then will be harbin min

allahiwarasooli.

If you are not doing this, you are

at war with God and his messenger.

That's essential.

The war here that you are promoting through

a distorted way of dealing with economy

is spreading corruption,

not respecting the people, and not having trade

to survive,

but interest, to be obsessed with your interest,

your profit, and forgetting the ultimate and higher

goal of economy.

At our level as human beings, the way

we deal with our money, the way we

trade, the way we are

trying to get money to to life,

to live,

and life and money for life and not

money for the sake of money,

to forget about the dignity of human being.

This is the essential thing, that it's so

important for us not to Islamize the means,

but remember

that there are ethical goals that we need

to

remember and that we need to promote. It's

up to us in our daily life, during

Ramadan,

during the whole year, but this is the

way it should be, resisting

an economy that is distorting the very essence

of using the means and making the means,

the goals. That's shirk in itself, and that's

not acceptable.

Remember to tell the people you love that

you love them, life is fragile.