THIS refers to the letter ‘SBP taking sides’ (Jan 21). Pandora’s box has opened and credence has been lent by the regulators that in order to keep our soul and heart at peace, we should go for Islamic banking.

We brand utilisation of funds in plots as investment, whereas when the same funds are deposited in a bank — other than an Islamic bank — the nomenclature changes from profit to interest, so implies the Islamic banking advertisement, ‘interest-free investment’. Why?

If we go by that logic, how would we define the profit earned on the sale of files of plots without physical possession, and the plots of land allotted to civil and military bureaucracy by the government at discounted rates that are subsequently sold in the open market at exorbitant prices — the beneficiaries getting away with a respectable tax/zakat-free income, without having put in any effort.

Do such windfall earnings fall within the parameters of Sharia? It would be wise on the part of the regulators not to stoke such controversial issues. Instead, they should let the people exercise their right of free will.

Farhat Jawed

Canada

Published in Dawn, February 1st, 2015

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