In our contemporary economy, Islamic concepts of business and finance seem, at best, dysfunctional. When the concept of interest-free dealings was discussed in Multaqa al Fatemi, many regarded it impractical. Banks, investment, company shares, home equities were based on interest; interest was the cornerstone of the economy. Time and again, MaulaTUS urged and exacted his followers to discontinue interest, likening it to a cancer that would grow and multiply until it devoured the capital itself. Over the years, albeit gradually, several mumineen, in obedience for their Maula alone, discontinued interest transactions, at the cost of incurring short term loss. But instead of getting marginalized, as economists might logically predict, mumineen rose from a small community from India into a world-wide, business community, with individual worth in billions. Last year when the financial crisis brought people to the streets, as banks crumbled and credit froze, mumineen were safe and grateful for the foresight of their Maula, and for his invaluable words of dua, “Khuda barakat aape”.
