Perbankan dan Kewangan Islam yang kehilangan ruh 'Islam'nya

Dalam menyiapkan diri untuk menyambung pengajian, ramai di kalangan teman-teman mengingatkan agar jangan ditinggalkan al-Quran dan al-Sunnah. Jangan biar ekonomi Islam rosak binasa seperti rosak binasa perbankan dan kewangan Islam. Eh, bagaimana pula begitu?

Kata mereka, inilah akibatnya apabila kekayaan mengatasi agama. Perbankan dan kewangan Islam yang ada sekarang, benarkah ia Islam? Atau sekadar halal memenuhi syarat-syarat teknikal fiqh? Mana ruh dan objektif Islam yang memperjuangkan keadilan dan membantu golongan kurang bernasib baik?

Pengalaman dan pemerhatian penulis seakan membenarkan tuduhan tersebut. Perbankan Islam yang ada, benarkan ia membantu contohnya orang miskin dan anak-anak yatim? Orang-orang miskin yang tidak memiliki rumah tidak mungkin dapat memiliki rumah dengan meminjam dari perbankan Islam. Sama saja seperti perbankan konvensional.

Pernah penulis hadir ke persidangan perbankan dan kewangan Islam. Ada seorang professor dari Pakistan yang membantah riba al-fadl dengan alasan ia bercanggah dengan al-Quran. Maka yang ada hanyalah riba yang disebut dalam al-Quran, kerana al-Quran itu lebih tinggi daripada al-Sunnah. Lantas penulis bangun membantah. Sayang sekali pengerusi ketika itu dengan selamba menegur perbuatan penulis kerana bantahan tersebut bersifat akademik dan bukannya bersifat praktikal. Asalkan sesuatu produk itu boleh mendatangkan keuntungan, lantas diberi cop lulus.

Zakat juga begitu. Jika bersolat subuh mestilah berqunut kerana bermazhab al-Syafi'e, tetapi membayar zakat boleh saja dengan wang, padahal mengikut mazhab al-Syafi'e zakat tidak boleh dilunaskan melainkan dengan makanan ruji yakni beras di Malaysia. Duit punya pasal, keluar mazhab tidak mengapa. Bayangkan jika zakat dibayar dengan beras, pasti pusat pungutan zakat tidak akan menyimpan lama beras-beras tersebut. Sebaliknya akan terus diagih-agihkan kepada faqir miskin sebelum ianya rosak. Jika faqir miskin menjual beras tersebut, biarkanlah itu hak mereka. Lihat apabila zakat dikutip dalam bentuk wang, maka dibiar berkepuk dalam bank pun tidak mengapa sebab takkan rosak. Yang faqir miskin perlu menunggu.

Banyak kontrak-kontrak perbankan dan kewangan Islam yang diragui. Biarpun syarat-syarat teknikal fiqh dipenuhi, malangnya kontrak-kontrak ini tidak menjurus kepada ruh dan objektif yang dibawa Islam secara menyeluruh. Disebabkan itu ramai yang beranggapan kontrak-kontrak ini hanya sekadar ditukar nama daripada istilah konvensional kepada istilah Arab. Mudharabah? Tidak mungkin kerana berisiko tinggi. Bay' al-Ienah? Yes, pasti sebab boleh jamin untung riba dengan buat helah.

Macam-macam lagilah kegagalan perbankan dan kewangan Islam hari ini. Biarpun begitu, jangan dinafikan sumbangan perbankan dan kewangan Islam. Mungkin sekarang masih peringkat yang terlalu awal. Banyak ruang yang tersangat perlu diperbaiki. Insya-Allah, harapnya ekonomi Islam tidak akan menjadi seperti itu.

The Bald, The Beard & The Ugly

Who should be blamed on the current financial crisis in the U.S.? A nice article from Salvatore Dali:

The Bald, The Beard & The Ugly

Based on this article, the blame game is as follows:
30% - Management of Investment Banks & Mortgage Lenders
15% - Alan Greenspan
35% - Ratings Agencies
15% - The Regulators
5% - US Treasury chief Henry Paulson & Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke

I think those banks and people who are affected should have known the risk associated with their investments a.k.a. usury-based transactions. Financial market is a place where great fortunes are made, and of course great losses also happen. English people say: No pain, no gain. When an individual losses in the financial market, we say that it is normal that people make money and loss money from it, so no need to help him. But when big banks loss, we quickly say that we need to bail them out. Otherwise the economy will be badly affected. Huh?

Malay translation: Siapa yang patut dipersalahkan atas masalah kegawatan ekonomi yang melanda Amerika Syarikat sekarang ini? Yang botak, yang berjanggut & yang hodoh. Siapa tu? Yang botak ialah Henry Paulson, Setiausaha Perbendaharaan A.S.; yang berjanggut ialah Ben Bernanke, Pengerusi Lembaga Gabenor Bank Pusat A.S.; manakala yang hodoh ialah Alan Greenspan, mantan Pengerusi Lembaga Gabenor Bank Pusat A.S.

Bank Rakyat vs. Tabung Haji

Last year I opened a saving account for Maryam with Bank Rakyat. I decided to go with Bank Rakyat because of two things. First, Bank Rakyat's operations are 100% syariah-approved. Second, recently Bank Rakyat has gained high profit and gave high dividends to their members. High profit means their whole business operations are good, so there is a big chance that the hibah-rate for their savings is high. Furthermore, there is a branch near to my hometown in Sungai Ara, Penang. Since the account is to save money for Maryam's future, the officer suggested to me to choose Tilmiz account, where only one withdrawal is allowed per month.

After one year, it seems that putting money in Bank Rakyat is not efficient. First, there is no branch near to our home in Kuala Lumpur nor my office in Gombak. So we can only put money when we go back to Penang, or through my parents. So my mother always go and deposit the money for her granddaughter. However, she used to complaint to me that the officers are not friendly. She expect that an old lady like her should at least get a smile and a nice greeting from the teller officer, plus all the helps available. Besides, the area is always congested and it is very hard to move, what else to find a place for parking.

Today, I have discussed with my wife and we closed Maryam's saving account with Bank Rakyat (actually my wife did not like the idea in the first place). We transferred her money to Tabung Haji and also opened another account for Aiman. It's time for the whole family to start building funds for pilgrimage to Makkah.

Monkeys and Stock Market

A story about how stock market really works.

Once upon a time in a village, a man appeared and announced to the villagers that he would buy monkeys for RM 10. The villagers seeing that there were many monkeys around, went out to the forest and started catching them.

The man bought thousands at RM 10 and as supply started to diminish, the villagers stopped their effort. He further announced that he would now buy at RM20. This renewed the efforts of the villagers and they started catching monkeys again.

Soon the supply diminished even further and people started going back to their farms. The offer rate increased to RM25 and the supply of monkeys became so little that it was an effort to even see a monkey, let alone catch it!

The man now announced that he would buy monkeys at RM50! However, since he had to go to the city on some business, his assistant would now buy on his behalf.

In the absence of the man, the assistant told the villagers: "Look at all these monkeys in the big cage that the man has collected. I will sell them to you at RM35 and when the man returns from the city, you can sell it to him for RM 50."

The villagers squeezed up their savings and bought all the monkeys. Then they never saw the man nor his assistant, only monkeys everywhere!!!

Welcome to the Stock Market!