Is Islamic Banking Really Islamic? An Insider's view with Harris Irfan

Comments · 1.2K

• TH

  @TheThinkingMuslim · 3 years ago (edited) · pinned

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• DR

  @Dr_Lahlou · 3 years ago (edited)

  As a professional of islamic finance and economy, for more than a decade, and as a certified sharia auditor as well, and as a PhD in speculation and islamic capital markets, I can confirm that almost 97% of what he said is right.<br>The podcast was really interesting, and I&apos;m very happy to find an english voice for what we&apos;ve been discussing in arabic and french for more than a decade. This voice needs to be known, and these ideas to be spread as so many understand english.<br>Financial markets have made so much damage, and fiat money even more.<br>I know many are wondering what about the 3% (I discuss some of them and others in my channel sometimes btw)<br><br>There you go :<br>- First, fighting fractionnal reserve banking is just moving the main problem one step backward. Even a 100% reserve system, advocated by many islamic finance scholars like Mirakhor, Abbas, Askari... does not solve the main problem, which is fiat money, basically the right for an entity or a group of entities to create money out of thin air. Even in a 100% reserve system, there will stil be a capacity to exponentially grow the monetary mass<br>- Second, stating that bitcoin is the best money system invented so far and that gold is not accurate is dangerous from many sides. Bitcoin is definitely not based on a riba system althoungh nonce mining can hold a certain degree of gharar, and it is definitely better than ribawi fiat system from a practical point of view. But, During the prophethood, gold and silver were used perfectly even though produced by persians and byzantines. With tokenisation, all gold objections evaporate. Gold is diffused around the world whereas bitcoin protocol can be changed if 51% agree on it. There are tons of bitcoin forks, and other cryptos, all claiming to be the best. BTC is a convention, with NO intrinsic value if machines stop, that may disappear in the next decades as only based on trust. While gold has a real use case in industry and has an intrinsic value and a track record of millenia.<br>- Finally, and last but not least and maybe the biggest point, capitalism is NOT a good system and NOT compatible with an islamic economic system, due to the fact that profit is the key criteria (no moral boundaries whatsoever, any deviance can become a profitable market), capital the key component (more important than labor, humans) and financial lobbying the key governance tool (politically and in corporations). All these 3 fundamental elements can NOT in any possible way fit in an islamic economic system.<br><br>Thanks a lot for the Thinking muslim podcast (this is not a full endorsment, as I&apos;m not aware of other episodes content), but this one is a masterpiece.<br>PS : It seems he confused fractionnal reserve system and Riba, and it is not exactly the same thing from a structural point of view. Now we can say FRS is done to increase Riba, but the system differs from riba. It an be done also in other ways, like when someone lends you 100 to be cashed out whenever he wants, but in the same time you lend 90 of these 100, this is franctionnal reserve.<br><br>والله أعلم

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• SA

  @sammu · 3 years ago

  Man have you done a poll on the Ummah for these topics or something?! Super relevant and useful, ماشاءاللہ . Thank you so much!

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• AH

  @ahmedmubarak2238 · 3 years ago (edited)

  Absolutely fascinating, as someone who works in the islamic fiancne industry. He states all my thoughts about it. May Allah help me escape. it.

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• LO

  @locadiakaskayi537 · 3 years ago

  I&apos;m so glad there are still honest Moslem men out there it&apos;s an honour to listen to you guys

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• TA

  @tauqeer_ahmed · 3 years ago

  Undoubtedly a must-watch podcast. Mr. Harris&apos; thoughts on the topic of Islamic Economics are worth listing. <br>Throughout the podcast, he has been uncompromised in explaining the reality of the current Islamic banking system. <br>Jazaka-Allah

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• MO

  @mohamedsoof · 3 weeks ago

  بارك الله فيكم وَأَحْسَن إِلَيكم ونفع بكم ورفع قدركم وأعلى مقامكم

• RA

  @rahmannoble776 · 3 years ago

  Unfortunately we living in society where every money touched by riba! &nbsp;fractional reserve banking !

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• MI

  @mikeumbrellasierra · 3 years ago

  One of the best episodes, thank you for bringing this into debate and waking up the people who are unaware to this subject

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• HA

  @hassansheikh1963 · 3 years ago

  Eye opening points on riba n other finance matters.Jazakallah to the speaker n the organisers

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• KE

  @KehnczhaMehnczha · 1 year ago

  Fantastic discussion. In California we are fortunate to have Ameen Housing Cooperative, which is the cleanest home financing option in the US, مَا شَاءَ ٱللَّٰهُ

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• AY

  @aydarmannanov4622 · 2 years ago

  As salam aleikoum from Russia! The new law on islamic finance in Russia didn&apos;t came out of nowhere. It is a result of 20 years of work by Russian muslims and islamic finance companies. We already have islamic financing companies (not banks) that match the Harris&apos;s vision in Russia. There are some 100% reserve islamic financial houses, which serve real halal business here in Russia. With the new law, there are more companies joining this market.

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