Assalamualaikum wbt.
In the name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful. Blessing upon our beloved Prophet SAW and his family and companions.
This article is written in response to a video presented by my dear fuqara Tuan Hj Shauki, Kota Bahtu.
MasyaAllah tn Haji, a good exposition on the subject of arrogant and betrayal of amanah. When exploring this, one cannot but dive into the root cause of evil
We can refine into The Destruction of the Earth - Beyond Climate Change experience by the whole world.
The destruction of the earth cannot be understood merely as a consequence of carbon emissions, deforestation or industrialisation. These are visible manifestations of a deeper problem: the way human beings have organised their relationship with wealth, power, nature and one another.
The Qur’an gives us a profound principle:
“Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of people have earned.”
— Surah al-Rum, 30:41
This verse invites us to look beyond the symptoms and ask what lies behind the systems and behaviours that produce destruction.
Among the elements that deserve serious reflection is ribā.
Ribā: More Than a Question of Bank Interest
In contemporary discussion, ribā is often reduced to the question of interest charged by banks. While interest-bearing lending is certainly an important manifestation of ribā, the Islamic prohibition cannot be reduced to a technical discussion about banking alone.
The Qur’an presents ribā as a serious violation of the moral order of economic life. Allah says:
“Allah has permitted trade and forbidden ribā.”
— Surah al-Baqarah, 2:275
And the warning becomes exceptionally severe:
“If you do not, then be informed of a war from Allah and His Messenger.”
— Surah al-Baqarah, 2:279
Why is the warning so severe?
Because the issue is not merely the percentage charged on a loan. At its heart is the question of justice in the creation, circulation and distribution of wealth.
Islam distinguishes between legitimate trade, investment and the sharing of risk, and a financial arrangement in which a return is stipulated upon a debt irrespective of whether the productive activity succeeds or fails. The former is connected with economic activity and risk; the latter can create a relationship in which the creditor’s claim grows while the burden falls increasingly upon the debtor.
From Debt to Structural Inequality
When debt becomes the foundation of economic life, the consequences can extend beyond the individual borrower.
Debt can become a mechanism through which:
* wealth becomes concentrated;
* the poor become increasingly dependent upon creditors;
* productive assets are transferred away from those who cannot service their obligations;
* economic decisions become driven by financial returns rather than human needs;
* governments become constrained by debt obligations;
* businesses prioritise financial extraction over long-term productive value;
* natural resources become commodities for generating financial returns; and
* future generations inherit the consequences of decisions made for present financial gain.
This does not mean that every form of debt, finance or modern banking is automatically ribā, nor that every environmental problem can be directly attributed to ribā. Those conclusions would go beyond what Islamic jurisprudence or empirical evidence establishes.
Rather, the deeper question is whether an economic system encourages justice, productive activity, risk-sharing and stewardship, or whether it systematically rewards extraction, excessive indebtedness and concentration of wealth.
Ribā and the Exploitation of the Earth
This becomes particularly significant when we consider the environment.
The earth is not merely a warehouse of resources waiting to be converted into financial assets. In the Qur’anic worldview, creation belongs to Allah and humanity has been entrusted with its care.
When the primary objective becomes the maximisation of financial return, forests can become timber, land becomes a speculative asset, rivers become commodities, agriculture becomes an industrial input, and even human labour becomes merely a cost to be minimised.
The problem is therefore not commerce itself. Islam does not condemn wealth creation or trade. Indeed, lawful trade is explicitly permitted.
The problem arises when wealth ceases to serve human beings and human beings become servants of wealth.
The Connection Between Ribā and Fasād
This gives greater meaning to the Qur’anic concept of fasād—corruption, disorder and destruction.
“Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of people have earned…”
— Surah al-Rum, 30:41
The verse does not identify a single economic mechanism as the cause of all environmental destruction. Rather, it establishes a profound principle: human actions have consequences that extend into the natural and social order.
Thus, environmental destruction, economic exploitation, social inequality and political domination can be examined as interconnected manifestations of a civilisation that has lost its balance.
The Prophetic Warning
The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ gave strong warnings concerning ribā. In the well-known hadith, he ﷺ condemned not only the one who consumes ribā but also those who facilitate the transaction, indicating the seriousness of creating a social environment in which ribā becomes normalised.
This is significant because it moves the discussion beyond the individual act towards the social system surrounding it.
The question therefore becomes:
What kind of society are we creating when financial gain is allowed to become detached from real economic activity, shared risk, social responsibility and justice?
This is where the Islamic understanding becomes particularly profound. The prohibition of ribā is not simply a restriction on how a bank calculates its charges. It is part of a larger economic ethic involving justice (’adl), excellence (ihsan), lawful trade, zakat, sadaqah, waqf, inheritance, prohibition of fraud and exploitation, protection of property, fulfilment of contracts and care for the vulnerable.
The Alternative: An Economy of Amanah
The Islamic alternative is therefore not an economy without wealth. It is an economy in which wealth operates within the framework of amanah.
Wealth should circulate rather than become permanently concentrated:
“…so that it does not merely circulate among the wealthy among you.”
— Surah al-Hashr, 59:7
This principle has enormous implications.
An economy based upon trade, partnership, risk-sharing, productive agriculture, waqf, zakat and real assets creates a different relationship between wealth and society from one dominated by debt and financial extraction.
This is also why the revival of waqf can be so important. Waqf transforms private wealth into enduring social benefit—land, education, agriculture, water, healthcare, housing and community institutions can become productive assets serving generations.
In this sense, a project such as a zawiyah, agricultural college, agro-ecological farm and community waqf can become more than a physical development. It can represent an experiment in rebuilding an economic culture based upon amanah rather than extraction, production rather than speculation, cooperation rather than exploitation, and service rather than accumulation.
The Deeper Crisis
Perhaps, therefore, the destruction of the earth is ultimately not only an environmental crisis.
It is simultaneously a crisis of economics, politics, society and spirituality.
When the human being forgets that he is ’abd before he becomes khalifah, stewardship can become domination.
When wealth becomes the objective rather than the means, economic activity can become exploitation.
When debt replaces productive partnership, relationships can become unequal.
When consumption becomes the measure of prosperity, nature becomes expendable.
And when adab disappears, technological power can become a means of accelerating destruction.
The real challenge, therefore, is not simply to ask:
“How do we save the planet?”
We must also ask:
“What kind of human being and what kind of economic order are producing the destruction in the first place?”
That is perhaps where the discussion of ribā, fasād, amanah, khalifah and spiritual decay needs to begin.
Will continue on this in the next round of discussion
Wassalam
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