Loans with Interest in Early Christianity and Islam Essay

When an individual thinks of religious belief, the first thing that comes to a believers mind is the nonnegoti adequate worship of a supreme being(s) as a go forthset of tranquility whenever he/she is in distress. On the other upset, to a pro-secularization individual, religion more(prenominal)(prenominal)over causes pricey conflicts between different cultures and is considered an kayoeddated practice which should non have a place in todays society.What masses in general tend to forget virtually religion is that it their various(prenominal) figures like Prophet Muhammad and Jesus wanted to promote a counseling of life that would aim to achieve a standard of living that would knock against all members of the community live. And a big part of any route of life is fair trade and decreasing the gap between the teeming and the poor. This essay will compare and contrast the early Christian and the incumbent Muslim prohibitions against loaning money at interest in the sco pe of todays constant recession-threatening environment.In order to be able to relate both the Muslim and Christian stance on the proceeds of lending money at issue it is integral to highlight the why countries tend to fall into a recession. In 2008, the US recession link to Americans buying houses they could not afford. In North America, investing in trustworthy estate is seen as a bullet-proof way of make money making a low down payment expecting the value of their house to attach but it didnt which orchest sends foreclosure and eventually huge losses for banks.Today, movements much(prenominal) as Occupy Toronto protest the lack of social responsibility of bankers who give out mortgages knowing the client would not be able to pay it polish off its an economical concern of using money people plainly dont physically have. In Islam, the term for interest is Riba which literally means a gain in the Arabic language. The Prophet said, The sell of wheat for wheat is Riba ( vig orish) except if it is gifted from hand to hand and equal in amount.Similarly the selling of barley for barley is Riba except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount, and dates for dates is vigorish except if it is from hand to hand and equal in amount. (Umar). From an economical perspective, what the Prophet of Islam is referring to here is the idea that only the actual value of dates should go in any trade transaction. For example, a bank giving out a loan for 100,000 dollars with an interest of 10% means that the 10,000 interest to be paid does not actually exist in the economy and hence to the prophet this is considered riba because the bank is gaining money out of nowhere.In the Sharia, the modern day solution to this banking issue is Islamic banking which offers .. more just and equitable distribution of resources more responsible and profitable lending due to the necessarily closer bank-client relationship less volatile caper cycles and more stable banking systems . (Evans, 1987) Similarly, early Christianity has the same general imagine of vigorish, In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord God. (Exekiel 2212).However, Islam tends to be stricter about preserving authenticity of teachings of Allah or Prophet Muhammad because the teachings were meant to be implemented in the governing of the Islamic state shariah. Ambiguity, over time, has led to an equivocal view of usury in the Christian faith, .. to the extent that Christian doctrine be on an Aristotelian foundation it was vulnerable to the charge of being, at heart, anti-trade and commerce. Aristotle choose the view, later followed by the Physiocrats, that the natural way to get wealth is by skillful management of house and land.Usury was diabolical and clearly the wrap up way of making money. But there was also something degraded about trading an d exchanging things rather than actually making them,as summed up in the gothic saying,Homo mercator vix aut numquam Deo placerepotest the merchant can scarcely or never be pleasing to God. By contrast, the Holy Quran endorsed trade, so long as it was not usurious. (Lewis, 2007) On the contrary, with the when Islam and Muhammad did rise to power in the Arabian region, trade was something the Arabs were know for and was also religiously encouraged there were virtually no disputes or new philosophies.A lack of a solid implementation of the no usury rule (which only strictly existed in Early Christianity) lead to more lenient rule as times changed and the numerous Scriptures were considered more and more ambiguous. As the ages progressed since early Christianity, it went from no exceptions to usury to exceptions made such as allowed usury as long as the interest rate for the loan was fair and reasonable.In one of Rustons books he mentioned usury passed from being an offence against p ublic deterrent exampleity which a Christian governing was expected to suppress to being a matter of private sense of right and wrong and a new generation of Christian moralists redefined usury as exuberant interest (R, 1993) Hence, since Islam and Christianity are both Abrahamic religions, the view on the concept of usury is fairly similar in essence however politics has constantly had an influence on trade since the beginning of time.In todays world, with Muslim nations trading with Christian and secular nations and likewise with banking, it has become progressively difficult to impose shariah or the teachings of Jesus in our dependent global economy. Globally, the concern of usury has transformed to become more of a concern of social responsibility and social justice. While Islamic and Christian share similarities and some slight political differences with regards to interest, it remains an important moral reminder of preserving financial stability even if it might sound a little too unrealistic and utopian in our world today.