Corruption is a hurdle for development and good governance in the least developed countries, and emerging and development economies. In Islam, corruption is best known as “fasad” which means as rottenness or depravity, discussed 50 times in the Quran and people who are corrupt are considered as sinners and need to repent to Allah. In Islamic Shariah it is a great sin as it has a bad impact upon the socio-economic development of any nation. Holy Quran (Surah Al-Baqarah verse 11), warns Muslim to avoid themselves causing corruption on the earth. Generally speaking, corruption exists when a person in power has the right to make decisions that concern others whose interests are at stake and the interested parties will try to find ways and means of getting what they want. One of the common ways is to offer the person in power certain favours so that the decision is made in his/her favour. This could happen only if the decision maker is willing to accept the favours offered to him. On the other hand, if the person in power is not willing to accept such favours, then the process stops there. Unfortunately, it is not as simple. The interested party is not going to stop there either. If he thinks that the stake is too big to loose, he may be willing to give more until it becomes too much to refuse. Once we become obliged, we tend to find it difficult to refuse the next time around. It is also true that the disease can start from the person in power. By making things difficult the interested party will start to entertain the idea that there is another way of doing things. Of course, at the early stages, most of the corrupt practices are carried out very discretely so that the integrity of the person is never questioned. One can appear to be super clean in public, but in actual fact, those involved are the only people who know what goes on behind those innocent faces. The problem becomes gigantic when corruption is practised openly. Those in power starts demanding what they want and those who give are very open about it too. Both parties have regarded it as a norm because everybody else is doing it anyway. Those who do not do it are considered as either stupid or a thorn in the group. These are the people who will have to make the choice to join them or leave the group. Corruption too has different definitions. What is considered corruption for some may not be so for others. It depends entirely on the norm that is accepted by certain societies. For instance, some of the advanced countries have allowed huge bribes paid out by multinationals to high ranking officials in other countries as tax deductible. You call it by any name which is regarded as an expense and that amount is surely tax deductible. The implication cuts both ways. The countries where these multinationals reside will loose in the form of corporate tax. The countries whose high ranking officials accept the huge bribes will end up paying much more than the real price of the service or product. In the end, the people who gain are the high ranking officials, while both the countries involved, loose out. What is even worse is when decisions tend to be made based on the amount of bribe or commission they could get. There is also bribery in implementing judgment and in appointing people, it is a betrayal of the Trust because the better and the more efficient person should be appointed to the job. Allah The Almighty Says (what means): {The best one you can hire is the strong and the trustworthy.} [Quran 28:26] Moreover, there is bribery in the field of education, construction and many other fields that are too numerous to mention here. Bribery is a crime that has grave effects and serious consequences on the individual and the society. Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated: I said to the Prophet (PBUH): O Messenger of Allah, will you not appoint me to a public office? He stroked my shoulder with his hand and said: “Abu Dharr, you are weak and authority is a trust. And on the Day of Judgment it is a cause of humiliation and regret except for one who fulfills its obligations and (properly) discharges the duties.” (Muslim). Ubaydullah ibn Abi Bakr said: I heard Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) saying: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) talked about the major sins, or he was asked about the major sins. Upon this he mentioned: “Associating anyone with Allah, killing of a person, being undutiful to parents.” He (the Prophet further) said: “Should I not inform you about the gravest of the major sins?” And then he said: “It is false utterance” or he said “false testimony”. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim) Corruption is also said to be highly related to materialistic tendencies, which can be due to real needs caused by income or greed and desire to live well beyond one’s means. When this happens, it can easily lead to gross inefficiencies both financially and productivity wise. Those involved will find ways and means of applying pressure on others whom they can prey upon, instead of providing genuine service to such victims. It is quite common for those intending to receive bribes to delay approval or payment process so that they can expedite the service in return for some bribes. Following hadith is a best example for todays people to follow. A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated: The people of Quraish worried about the lady from Bani Makhzum who had committed theft. They asked, “Who will intercede for her with Allah’s Messenger?” Some said, “No one dares to do so except Usamah ibn Zaid the beloved one to Allah’s Messenger.” When Usamah spoke about that to him, Allah’s Messenger said, “Do you try to intercede for somebody in a case connected with Allah’s Prescribed Punishments?” Then he got up and delivered a sermon saying, “What destroyed the nations preceding you, was that if a noble amongst them stole, they would forgive him, and if a poor person amongst them stole, they would inflict Allah’s legal punishment on him. By Allah, if Fatima, the daughter of Muhammad stole, I would cut off her hand.” (Al-Bukhari) The real and true scholars of Islam are a big blessing from Allah to this Ummah. We suppose to bring the message of Islam to non-Muslims which is based upon peace, love and respect by our good character and justice. Among the previous nations, the people of knowledge divided the religion and now among the Muslims the people of knowledge are doing the same thing. Anas ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (PBUH) said: “Help your brother whether he is the doer of wrong or wrong is done to him.”
The Companions asked, “O Messenger of Allah! We can help a man to whom wrong is done, but how could we help him when he is the doer of wrong?” The Prophet replied, “Hold him back from doing wrong.” (Al-Bukhari) Most of the Islamic Scholars, are God fearing people and they teach and propagate the correct knowledge of Islam. It is because of them that we get the correct understanding of Islam and we should be very thankful to them. The true Islamic scholars are the scholars of truth (Ulama-e-Haq) while, the scholars who has created division among Muslims are false scholars (Ulama-e-Soo). An intellectual difference of opinion among scholars is a very healthy sign for a nation. Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that the difference of opinion in my Ummah is a blessing. This means that the constructive difference of opinion is healthy and should be encouraged. In previous nations, the entire scholar community got agreed to change the divine commandments in order to please the rich, powerful and themselves. They changed the Shari’a of their religion and people followed them. But Insha-Allah (God willing), this will never happen in Muslim Ummah. Muslim countries are facing several problems. The causes of these problems could be economical, educational, political, social, ethical, scientific, technological etc. It is a general opinion, false scholars of Islam (Ulama-e-Soo) are the major reasons for our problems. In many muslim countries, some Moulvees have created huge corruption and unrest in the lives of innocents Muslims that the true scholars of Islam, Ulama-e-Haq are hiding just to save their dignity and livelihood. These false scholars of Islam are damaging Islam and are responsible for turning away Muslim Youth from the religion or turning Muslim youth into intolerant people. For example, issuing futwas in favour of one party without listening other, performing marriage without walis etc causes panic in the society. It is obvious their futuwas are not valid nor accepted by people only causes division among people. We must not follow the false scholars who create division among Muslims based upon their designed beliefs. These Corrupt people are so successful in managing their corruption that whenever they are asked by the government or by the true scholars of Islam (Ulama-e-Haq) they diverted peoples attention from their corruption and moved it towards the government or the West. They always blame Western countries for the sufferings of the Muslim world in order to hide their own corruption and cruelty. It is very easy to blame others but it is very difficult to correct ourselves. The misguided people talk about the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Companions of the Prophet (May Allah be pleased with them) and good manners and behavior but when it comes to prove it, most of them fail. Allah asked the Prophet to stay away from such people who divide religion and breakup into sects. In fact, Allah is asking all of us that we should not follow such people and do not associate with them. Brothers and Sisters, Lets not to get trapped by these false scholars. Allah has given us very clear instruction that we should not join them. Having difference of opinion is permissible in Islam as long as it does not contradict Qur’an and Hadith. Who should define what contradicts and what’s not? The answer is simple. Its, Allah, his Prophet (peace be upon him) and you. Unfortunately, Head of Islamic State (Ameer ul Mo’mineen) does not exist at present times. What we need to do is try to read Qur’an and understand it. Do not use only one Tafseer from one school of thought. Consult at least three or four Tafaseer of different school of thoughts, compare their translation and interpretations and sincerely ask Allah to guide us in understanding his glorious book. Apart from the obvious damages that we cause to society through bribery and corruption, Islam provides another view on this menace. The Holy Prophet of Islam used to appoint a number of his companions as the collectors of zakat, during the Medina period. They were to make proper assessments on the items where zakat become payable, collect the proper amounts and distribute to the recipients in the same locality. One of these collectors of zakat came back and told the Holy Prophet, “This amount is what I have collected less what I have distributed to the rightful recipients, but this is mine”. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was very upset and rebuked him saying, “What right have you to put aside something that does not belong to you. If you were to remain in your father’s house, would you get what you are taking?” The Holy Prophet (PBUH) had also been reported to have said, “If you get from the people because of your position is bribery. Would you get it if you are not holding that position, or if you stay in your father’s house?” These hadith provide us with the strict definition of bribery and corruption in Islam. Gifts that we get, could be considered as bribery if it is meant to oblige us to abuse our position or power. However, if it is customary for those in power to receive gifts because of the respect, love and services that they have rendered to the people, then of course it cannot be regarded as bribery. We know that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) himself used to accept gifts of various forms from heads of states in his time. He also used to give similar gifts to others. This is surely not bribery because it is customary to do it. Moreover, it is often given out of love and respect for the person. All benefits derived from sinful activities are definitely unlawful. To this applies the famous hadith that states that the flesh that grows out of unlawful income has no place in the hereafter but hell. The problem that we have to sincerely question is whether the bribe that we have paid for will bring about future streams of income to us or not. If the stream of income that we receive is clearly the result of the bribe that we have paid for, then naturally, the stream of income that we derive is unlawful in the eyes of Islam. For instance if we bribe to get to a certain position, the stream of income that we enjoy from such a position is also questionable Islamically. This is the real danger of all our sinful actions. Whether we pay zakat or donate our wealth for a very noble cause from such wealth, there is no benefit to us. This is because, neither zakat nor good charitable deeds are counted from unlawful income. After all, we are all accountable to Allah in every action that we do on this earth. A famous hadith has it that Allah will call us to account how we spend our life, our youth, our wealth and our knowledge. Abdul Rahman ibn Auf, the richest companions among the famous ten whom the Holy Prophet (PBUH) had predicted will enter paradise will have to account for all his wealth, the way he got and spent them, before being allowed to approach the gate of heaven. The other nine would have little wealth to account for and hence will speedily reach heaven. God knows best. Let’s follow Qur’an and the Prophet (peace be upon him) not the false ones. Let us follow Companion’s of the holy Prophet and the Family Members of the Prophet (peace be upon them), avoid false scholars. We just need little time to spend on acquiring Islamic knowledge on daily basis. Remember, the best Tafseer of Qur’an is by Qur’an itself and then the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) and then his Family’s (AHL-E-BAIT) and the Companion’s (SAHABAH). May Allah show us the right path? Ameen!
(The authors write regularly on Islamic topics exclusively for “Kashmir Horizon”. Views are their own)
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