Overview (Verse 87)

Religion and Financial Dealings

The people of Madyan were hardened in their corrupt practices. Their reply was sarcastic. Every word of it smacked of sarcasm. Yet it also indicated their ignorance and mulish obstinacy: “They said: ‘Shu`ayb, do your prayers compel you to demand of us that we should renounce all that our forefathers worshipped, or that we refrain from doing what we please with our property? You are indeed the one who is clement and right- minded!’” (Verse 87)

They did not realize, nor wanted to realize, that prayers are required by faith, as a manifestation of true submission to God. Faith cannot be established without the recognition of God’s oneness and the renunciation of everything else they or their forefathers worshipped. Likewise, it cannot be established unless God’s legislation in matters of trade and finance, as well as in all spheres of life, are implemented. All these are a complete whole, and faith cannot be separated from prayers or legislation which caters for all aspects of human life.

The people of Madyan, who had such an ill-conceived idea of the connection between faith and worship, and between the two and business transactions lived a long time ago. But rather than denounce their attitude at length we should remind ourselves that people today stick to certain concepts which are not much different from those of Shu`ayb’s people. The world of jāhiliyyah which we see around us today is not much better or more intelligent than the earlier one. The sort of ascription of Godhead to other beings alongside God, which was practised by Shu`ayb’s people, is still practised today by most of mankind, including those who claim to be Jews, Christians, or Muslims. All try to establish a barrier separating faith and worship on the one hand and law and business transactions on the other. They claim that faith and worship belong to God and should be conducted according to His instructions, while the law and business do not concern Him. These should be conducted according to the bidding of some other authority. This is indeed the essence of attributing partners to God.

We must not forget that the Jews today are the only people who are determined to conduct their transactions according to their faith and religious law, regardless of the distortion that has crept into their faith.

The Knesset, Israel’s legislative body, once held a stormy session debating the case of an Israeli ship serving its non-Jewish passengers with meals which were not approved by the Jewish religion. The company and the ship concerned were compelled to serve only kosher food, even if it meant that the company would incur financial losses. This incident should serve as a lesson for many of those who today call themselves Muslims.

We find among us today some who claim to be Muslim questioning the validity of any link between faith and morality, especially when they consider financial dealings. Some of our intellectuals who have higher degrees awarded by various universities affect amazement as they wonder: what has Islam got to do with personal affairs? Why should Islam be concerned with how we dress on the beach, or how a woman appears in public, or how we satisfy our sexual urges? Why should Islam concern itself with drinking a glass of wine, or indeed with anything done by those who classify themselves as civilized? Now we ask what is the difference between such questions and those put by the people of Madyan to their Prophet Shu`ayb? “Do your prayers compel you to demand of us that we should renounce all that our forefathers worshipped, or that we refrain from doing what we please with our property?” (Verse 87)

The second part of their question implies a very strong objection to religion having anything to do with the economy. To them, business dealings have no connection whatsoever with faith or even with moral values, taken separately from faith. Why should religion be concerned with financial transactions or with devious business methods which evade man-made laws? Indeed these people, living in our midst, arrogantly claim that the economy would collapse if moral values were allowed to interfere with it. They object even to some Western economic theories, such as the moral theory, and label it as confused reactionary thinking.

Let us then not claim for ourselves a standard much higher than that of the people of Madyan in their ancient jāhiliyyah, when we live today in an even darker jāhiliyyah which boasts of its enlightenment, advanced knowledge and civilization. Our state of jāhiliyyah today motivates many among us to accuse those who maintain that there is an important link which groups together faith in God, personal behaviour in all spheres of life and financial dealings, of being reactionary, advocating obsolete ideas.

Faith in God’s oneness cannot be rightly and firmly established in people’s hearts when God’s laws, which regulate individual behaviour and social and financial dealings, are abandoned in favour of manmade laws. It is not possible for faith and unfaith to coexist in the same heart side by side. Unfaith, or the acknowledgement of other gods alongside God, can take different forms such as the ones which prevail in our societies today. This still represents the acknowledgement of other gods, which is a criterion common to all unbelievers throughout history.

The people of Madyan were sarcastic when they addressed their Prophet Shu`ayb, just as certain people today resort to sarcasm when they speak of those who advocate submission to God alone in all affairs. They said to Shu`ayb: “You are indeed the one who is clement and right-minded!” (Verse 87) They obviously meant the opposite. To them, wisdom and right meant that they should follow in their fathers’ footsteps and worship the same gods they worshipped. It also meant that they should separate worship from business. The same ideas are advocated by present-day intellectuals who do not hide their sarcasm when they speak of the advocates of Islam and describe them as reactionary.