how to curb the curroption an islamic perspective(2)

8/4/2019 How to Curb the Curroption An Islamic Perspective(2)

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How to curb the corruption – An Islamic perspective

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Imanguide.com series-1

How to curb the

Corruption

(An Islamic perspective)

B y

Abdul Shaheed Azhary




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PREFACE:

I s l a m h a s l u c i d p e r s p e c t i v e a b o u t c o r r u p t i o n . I t s t r i v e s t o

e l i m i n a t e e v e r y c h a n c e s o f o c c u r r i n g t h i s b a d h a b i t . Q u r a n

v e r y c l e a r l y s t a t e d t h a t c o r r u p t i o n i s a s t r i c t l y p r o h i b i t e d s i n .

T h e d r a s t i c p u n i s h m e n t i s d e c l a r e d f o r c o r r u p t p e o p l e .

H e r e a l i t t l e a t t e m p t i s m a d e t o u n c o v e r t h e w a y o f c u r b i n g

t h e c o r r u p t i o n a c c o r d i n g t o I s l a m . A d e t a i l e d s t u d y c a n

d i s c l o s e t h e w i d e r r a n g e o f I s l a m i c s o l u t i o n t o r e s t r a i n t h i s

s h o c k i n g p r a c t i c e .

I n t h e w a k e o f l o k p a l a n d b r i b e i s s u e s g e t t i n g b i g s p a c e i n

m e d i a i n r e c e n t d a y s , t h e p a p e r i s p r e p a r e d t o s h e d l i g h t o n

i t i n t h e I s l a m i c p e r s p e c t i v e .

I m a n g u i d e . c o m , t h e g r o w i n g b i l i n g u a l I s l a m i c w e b p o r t a l

f r o m I n d i a b r o u g h t t h i s p i e c e o f k n o w l e d g e t o t h e p u b l i c .

R e a d e r s ' o p e n i o n s a r e w e l c o m e .

-

--

- i m a n g u i d e . c o m

i m a n g u i d e . c o m i m a n g u i d e . c o m

i m a n g u i d e . c o m

([email protected])




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INDEX

Preface: ..................................................................... 3

i . M e a n i n g o f C o r r u p t i o n : .......................................... 7

i i .

C o r r u p t i o n i n I n d i a : ................................................ 8

i i i .

C u r r e n t a n t i c o r r u p t i o n m o v e m e n t i n I n d i a ................. 9

i v .

C a u s e s o f C o r r u p t i o n : .......................................... 12

v .

C o n s e q u e n c e s o f C o r r u p t i o n ................................. 13

v i .

H o w t o g e t r i d o f t h e c o r r u p t i o n .............................. 15

v i i .

I s l a m i c s u g g e s t i o n s t o c u r b t h e c o r r u p t i o n ............... 16

1. The good choice of the human resource: ......................... 16

2. Justice ................................................................................ 173. No to perjury ..................................................................... 18

4. Non- cooperation in sin .................................................... 20

5. Public Properties should not be abused: .......................... 21

6. Money laundering is not allowed ..................................... 22

7. Theft is a crime .................................................................. 23

8. Bribe is haraam ................................................................. 24

9. Hisbah system ................................................................... 26

10. Accountability: .............................................................. 27

11. Earning through halal means ........................................ 29

End............................................................................................. 30




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I

II

I .

..

. M E A N I N G O F

M E A N I N G O F M E A N I N G O F

M E A N I N G O F C O R R U P T I O N

C O R R U P T I O N C O R R U P T I O N

C O R R U P T I O N :

::

:

Corruption is one of the worst popular

phenomenon in modern politics. Corruption

has different dimensions: economic, social

and environmental as well as ethical. The

definition of ‘corruption’ depends on the

context in which it is being used. Many

definitions are given for the word. It has vast

range of meaning , but generally this word

meant for political corruption which means

the abuse of public power, office, or

resources by government officials oremployees for personal gain, e.g. by

extortion, soliciting or offering bribes1. My

preferred definition is “use of public office

for private gain, or the use of official

position, rank, or status by an office bearerfor his own benefit”2

1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption2 (Myint, 2000: 35) quoted from http://www.islamic-relief.com




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I I

I I I I

I I .

..

. C O R R U P T I O N


C O R R U P T I O N I N I N D I A :

I N I N D I A : I N I N D I A :

I N I N D I A :

A 2005 study done by Transparency

International (TI) in India found that more

than 50% of the people had firsthand

experience of paying bribe or peddling

influence to get a job done in a public office.

India tops the list for black money in the

entire world with almost US$1456 billion in

Swiss banks (approximately USD 1.4 trillion)

in the form of black money. According to the

data provided by the Swiss Banking

Association Report (2006), India has moreblack money than the rest of the world

combined. To put things in perspective,

Indian-owned Swiss bank account assets are

worth 13 times the country’s national debt.3

But luckily India is the not the most corrupt

nation in the world. Even it does not come

3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corruption




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under most ten corrupt countries worldwide.

It was ranked 87th out of 178 countries4

I I I

I I I I I I

I I I .

..

. C U R R E N T A N T I

C U R R E N T A N T I C U R R E N T A N T I

C U R R E N T A N T I C O R R U P T I O N


C O R R U P T I O N M O V E M E N T I N

M O V E M E N T I N M O V E M E N T I N

M O V E M E N T I N

I N D I A

I N D I A I N D I A

I N D I A

Indian democracy is mostly exploited for

political corruption. Indian political arenawas accompanied by corrupt leaders since

the time of independence. But recent

discovery of huge corruption cases led the

people to very bad feeling about Indian

political system. All the people began to askwhy there is no curb on this bad habit which

is likely to sabotage the whole country. This

general sentiment was exploited by a crowd

of people. Mr Hazarre led the crowd. After

couple of weeks, Mr. Baba Ramdev also

showed up himself as the caretaker of this

crowd. Later this crowd was painted as the

"Civil Society" by all media.

4http://www.transparency.org/policy_research/surveys_indices/cpi/2010/r

esults




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So called "Civil Society" argued that they

represent whole people of India. But theirinitial demand was not as the same demand

of the whole people. Their initial demand

was to investigate and bring back the Indian

black money from the foreign banks, while

the common people was more afflicted by

other corrupt issues, first of all they wanted

to do their job successfully in the public

offices without bribe, they wanted the land

that was forcefully taken by mafias, they

wanted to keep all the natural resources of

India. These are their first concern of thepeople although they took seriously the issue

of black money.

Another issue was regarding the inclusion of

the prime minister within the purview of Lokpal. They argued that Prime Minister

should come under the ambit of Lokpal. Pro

and anti arguments were made. Many

analysts disclosed their worries about this

discussion. The question remained valid:




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what is the use of electoral democratic

system if some persons go to the extent of hijacking the power of highest political seat.

Consequently many accused this "Civil

Society" of having planned political vested

interests. Think-tanks opined that Mr.

Hazare's team is hijacking the democratic

system of India. We have already the elected

represents of the civil society in the

parliament. They are representing the

common men in each constituency they

contested. But the crowd was successful inmaking the publicity in media. The question

of the common man didn’t reach the media.

He kept asking; if we are not able to believe

in the members of parliament who are legally

elected by the people, how can we trust thiscrowd without any background? Those

parliament members are elected but who

selected this Hazaree?




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Couple of days after the showdown of

government on Ramdev, sources in thecorporate ministry said that Ramdev owns an

island off the coast of Scotland, and he runs

business with turnover of 1,100 crore in

2009-20105. The peoples' concern of this

crowd increased after this statement, their

speculations were not wrong.

I V

I V I V

I V .

..

. C A U S E S O F C O R R U P T I O N

C A U S E S O F C O R R U P T I O N C A U S E S O F C O R R U P T I O N

C A U S E S O F C O R R U P T I O N :

::

:

Corruption can be triggered by forms of

institutional inefficiency; bureaucracy,political instability, and weak legislative and

judicial systems (Mauro, 1998:12) From an

institutional perspective, corruption arises

where public officials have wide authority,

little accountability, and perverse incentives.

This means the more activities public officials

control or regulate; the more opportunities

exist for corruption6

corruption is likely to

5http://news.in.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=51960536 http://www.usaid.gov




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occur where restrictions and government

intervention lead to the presence of suchexcessive profits. Examples include trade

restrictions (such as tariffs and import

quotas), favoritist industrial policies (such as

subsidies and tax deductions), price controls,

multiple exchange rate practices and foreign

exchange allocation schemes, and

government-controlled provision of credit.7

In short, corruption is caused by the desire of

individuals either to reap illegal gains or to

escape from paying their dues8

V

VV

V .

..

.

C O N S E Q U E N C E S

C O N S E Q U E N C E S C O N S E Q U E N C E S

C O N S E Q U E N C E S O F C O R R U P T I O N

O F C O R R U P T I O N O F C O R R U P T I O N

O F C O R R U P T I O N

Corruption has a devastating effect on the

process of social and economic development

and the prospects of achieving sustainable

development. In its anticorruption overview,

the World Bank indicates that corruption is

7 http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/1998/03/pdf/mauro.pdf 8islamiccenter.kau.edu.sa/.../ Corruption%20and%20development%20by

%20Yousif%20Khalifa




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among the greatest obstacles to economic

and social development; it highlights thatsuch practices distort the rule of law and

weaken the institutional foundation on which

the process of economic growth depends.

Furthermore, such practices put the poor at

an even greater disadvantage as they are the

least capable of paying the extra costs

associated with corruption (World Bank,

2009)9.

Corruption poses a serious development

challenge. In the political realm, itundermines democracy and good

governance by subverting formal processes.

Corruption in elections and in legislative

bodies reduces accountability and

representation in policymaking; corruption inthe judiciary suspends the rule of law; and

9 www.islamic-relief.com




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corruption in public administration results in

the unequal provision of services10

V I

V I V I

V I .

..

. H O W T O

H O W T O H O W T O

H O W T O G E T R I D O F T H E

G E T R I D O F T H E G E T R I D O F T H E

G E T R I D O F T H E C O R R U P T I O N


C O R R U P T I O N

Efforts to fight corruption include

institutional reforms and societal reforms.

Institutional reforms include measures toreduce government authority, increase

accountability, financial disclosure,

ombudsman/anti corruption agency, hot

lines and whistle-blower protection,

elections, judicial reform and align officialincentives to public ends. These measures

target government institutions and processes

in all branches and levels of government.

Societal reforms, on the other hand, include

measures to change attitudes toward formal

political processes and to mobilize political

will for anti-corruption reform.11

10 http://www.usaid.gov11 www.usaid.gov/policy/ads/200/crpthdbk.pdf (with some changes)




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V I I

V I I V I I

V I I .

..

. I S L A M I C S U G G E S T I O N S

I S L A M I C S U G G E S T I O N S I S L A M I C S U G G E S T I O N S

I S L A M I C S U G G E S T I O N S T O C U R B T H E

T O C U R B T H E T O C U R B T H E

T O C U R B T H E

C O R R U P T I O N C O R R U P T I O N C O R R U P T I O N C O R R U P T I O N

1. The good choice of the human resource:

Islam gives more important to moral code of

conduct. Qualifications and certificates are

the essential parts of the evaluating acandidate at the time of recruitment, but

they are not enough to run a company or an

institution in proper way. As per the Islamic

view, there are other standards as well which

are more significant than the qualificationsand certificates. It looks to the right of the

consumers along with the rights of

producers, the right of the ruled with the

right of the rulers. Here comes the big

difference between the Islamic point of view

and secular point of view. Therefore, it is

recommended to check his behavior and

moral conduct before hiring the employee. If

he found guilty after the hiring, it is

obligatory to remove him, because his work




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may lead either to the violent of company’s

regulations or consumers’ rights.

2. Justice

Indeed, Allah orders justice and good

conduct and giving to relatives and forbids

immorality and bad conduct andoppression

12. Justice is the foundation of

Islamic economy on which all the regulations

are made. In a Muslim country13

a non-

Muslim is given full economic rights. All the

establishments are strictly monitored and

scrutinized by the ruler. The justice is the one

of the foremost requirement of an Islamic

ruler.

The prophet (PBUH) said “There are three

classes of judges, one of whom will be in theHeaven and the other two in Hell fire. The

one who will be in the Heaven is a man who

12 Al Nahl (16:90)13 Please note that strict Islam based country didn’t continue after 30

years of the demise of prophet Mohamad (S.A.S).




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knew the truth and Judged accordingly. The

one who knew the truth but misjudged andthe one who judged for the people in

ignorance will be in the Fire.14

Judiciary

system is the core of a society and the

double standard in applying the rule of law is

forbidden in Islam. A prophetic sayings

reported "People before you have

experienced decay because when a strong

man among them committed theft, they let

him loose, but when a weak man commits

theft, they punished him"

3. No to perjury

Whenever the conflict arises in the mutual

transaction or agreement that occurred

between two parties, Islamic jurisprudence

asks for the witness. To accept the statementof a witness (shaahid), he should be just and

fair (aadil). At the time of establishing a case,

the Islamic court should not approve the

14 Abu Daoud, al-Tirmidi, and Ibn Majah




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statement of a witness if he is not just and

fair.

When the corruption and illegal activities

grow in a company or in an organization? The

corruption grows when the employer or the

manager understands that his staff can be

used as a tool for concealing his illegal

doings, when he makes sure that his

assistance is ready to give perjury at the time

of investigation. The staff becomes corrupt

when he is encouraged by his co-workers.

When he feels that the men surrounding himare not supporting him, his corrupt attitude

gets discouraged. Quran advised the believer

to be careful of the perjury. It is said in Quran

with idolatry, one of the biggest sin in Islam.

"So avoid the uncleanness of idols and avoidfalse statement"15

15 Al Hajj (22:30)




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4. Non- cooperation in sin

Quran says: And cooperate in righteousness

and piety, but do not cooperate in sin and

aggression. And fear Allah; indeed, Allah is

severe in penalty.16

Many corruption

scandals are reported that they are done by

the co-operation of more than one person. Itis haram for the admin assistant to help the

Administrator by writing a letter on behalf of

him if it leads to corruption. It is prohibited

for an accountant to issue cheque if he is

sure that that is going to be used as bribe. Adriver will be punished by Allah for moving

the looted goods to the destination if he

knows it. By this way Islam tries to build a

strong economic system based on the

morality and truthfulness.

16 Almaida (5:2)




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5. Public Properties should not be abused:

Islam makes every effort to protect private

and public properties against theft, damage

or unauthorized intervention. Individual

property belongs to the individual and so

public property is the common heritage of all

which cannot be enjoyed legally by individualand selected group of people based on their

social status.

Therefore, individual properties must not be

misappropriated while public funds are notto be abused. Anything to the contrary will

be considered as peculate. The Holy Prophet

(SAW) warned believers in his farewell

address during the Hajj al-wida’ (farewell

pilgrimage) thus, “your lives and properties

are forbidden to one another till you meet

your Lord on the day of resurrection”. A

caution similar to the above warning on the

need to uphold the inviolability of property




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and its sanctity is contained in the Qur’an17

where Allah (SWA) states; “O you whobelieve! Eat not up your property among

yourselves unjustly except it is a trade among

you, by mutual consent …”

6. Money laundering is not allowed

Money laundering is the practice of

disguising the origins of illegally-obtained

money. Ultimately, it is the process by which

the proceeds of crime are made to appear

legitimate. The money involved can be

generated by any number of criminal acts,

including drug dealing, corruption,

accounting fraud and other types of fraud,

and tax evasion.18

It is clear from this

definition that money laundering is act that

involves couple of prohibited areas. Moneylaundering entails the practice of hiding the

origin of earnings from illegal activity by

17 al-Nisa’: 2918 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_laundering




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giving it the appearance of legal sources.

Prophet (S.A.S) said; All the flesh that growsfrom haram(prohibitions) will be cast into

fire19

The Islamic legal opinion of money

laundering could be found in deposit (al-

wadiah system that Islam has approved. As

for Islamic stand, the deposit is allowed for

safe purpose. Money laundering through

bank deposit (al-wadiah) is obviously a bogus

transaction. Thus, the intention of the

launderer who deposits money in Islamic

bank and financial institutions is not for safe

custody but rather to take advantage of thefacilities offered by Islamic banks to actualise

his/her criminal activity20

7. Theft is a crime

Theft in Islamic view attracts the strictpunishment. In order to maintain the safety

19 Reported by tabrani20 www.unilorin.edu.ng quote from Certified Islamic Finance

Professional – Part 1, Study Material, Applied Shariah in Financial

Transaction, International Centre for Education in Islamic Finance

(INCEIF), 2006, Topic 17, page 426




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and security of the people Islam proposed a

punishment that likely to be a great warningto all those who want to do the offence. The

fraud intention of the stealer should be

addressed with some kind of bitter

punishment. There are complex procedures

to prove the guilt in the Islamic court, but

once proved guilty, he should be punished

otherwise the theft phenomenon will

continue to exist. The prophet was asking

those Arab who intends to embrace Islam to

take the pledge not to associate partner with

Allah, not to steal, not to do fornicationetc...

21

8. Bribe is haraam

Bribery is one of the worst economic

practices according to Islamic law. ProphetMuhammad (S.A.S) categorically cursed

those three people who are involved in

bribery. He said, “Allah has cursed one giving

21 Bukhari & Muslim




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bribe and one receiving bribe as well as the

go between.”22

As a precaution to discouragepossibility of defending the bribe, prophet

discouraged top officials from taking gift

from the common man. Abdullah bin Al

luthbiyya Azid was sent to collect the zakat

(obligatory charity). When he was delivering

the collected zakat fund to the prophet

(S.A.S), he told that a portion of the

collection was given to him as a gift. Then

prophet (S.A.S) said: If you were sitting in the

house of your father or your mother would

any one give you that gift if you are reallytruthful.”

23 The Caliph dismissed the man and

asked him to go to the people now for

donation (after losing the job) and deposited

both the bags to the treasury. Caliph Umar

(RA) was reported to have sent to all hisgovernors the following message;“Beware of

gifts because they form part of bribe”24

.

22 Tirmudi23 Muslim 183224 Sunan by Bihaqee




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Quran says:“Do not eat up one another’s

wealth to no good purpose, nor try to bribeauthorities with it so you may consume a

share of [other] people’s wealth viciously

while you realize [what you are doing.]”25

9. Hisbah system

The Hisbah is a religious institution under the

authority of the state that appoints people to

carry out the responsibility of enjoining what

is right, whenever people start to neglect it,

and forbidding what is wrong, whenever

people start to engage in it26. The appointed

person to do hisbah is called muhtasib. The

muhtasib’s responsibility includes overseeing

the marketplaces, businesses or any other

places where possible violations are being

made. They also follow up their commitmentto quality standards in production.

25 2:188 Al Baqarah26 http://www.islamic-world.net/economics/hisbah.htm




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In India, prior to 16th century most of the

Delhi Sultans had the institution of hisbah. Inthe 16th century Sikandar Lodi (d. 923/1517)

also had this institution. After him and during

Mughal rule the position of muhtasib did not

exist. Some of the functions of muhtasib

were performed by other o ffices. It was

emperor Awrangzeb (d. 118/1707) who

restored the institution of hisbah in Mughal

India (Ansari, 1971, 3: 491)27

10. Accountability:

Primary Islam tries to shape the world view

to curb the practice of bribery. A Muslim

believes in two worlds, the world after his

birth and the world after his death. The

second one is eternal and thus very

important to him. He tries to get maximumprofit by calculating the costs (worldly pains)

and benefits (pleasure after death).

Therefore, accountability is the part of his

27 http://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/18445/1/Market_Supervision.pdf




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iman ( belief) and it is a built in ingredient of

a Muslim's inner faith. Its source is primarilyinternal. Verily the accountability that stems

from the heart (internal) is far better, more

effective and lasting than any external one.

Prophet says: Truly in the body there is a

morsel of flesh which, if it be healthy, all the

body is healthy and which, if it be diseased,

all of it is diseased. Truly it is the heart”28

(It

was related by al-Bukhari and Muslim).

Legislative body should represent the

intesters of people Its decisions should bebinding to the head of the state who himself

should be guided by the declaration of Abu

Baker, the First Caliph (May Allah be pleased

with him) on his first day as a leader of the

Muslim Ummah in which he stated that “ Astrong Man among you is weak in my eyes ys

his dues, and a weak man among you is

28 The Hadith was related by Al-Bukhari and Muslim




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strong in my eye until he gets back his

rights”29

The Prophet (may peace be upon him)

specifically prohibited the public servants

from accepting gifts from people, as this can

be an indirect way of indulging in corruption.

Abu Umamah reported that the Allah’s

messenger (may peace be upon him) said: “

He who makes for his brother a

recommendation and then (the latter) offers

him a gift for it and he accepts that, entersinto a big gate of riba.”

30

11. Earning through halal means

There are a large number of ahadith of the

Prophet, which emphasize earning throughhalal means and prohibit earning by haram

means. It is not possible to reproduce all of

them at this place.

29 Ibraheem, H, Political History of Islam, Third Edition.1/220.30 Abu Dawood al-Sajistani b. al-As’ath, Kitab al-Buyu’, ch. 82.




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END

This short piece of writing discussed the

corruption and shed light to some dangerous

aspects of it. Islamic way of curbing the

corruption is put forwarded.

The conclusions are as follows:

1. Islam not only prohibits the practice,

but also eliminates any possible way of

falling into it.

2. In a true Islamic society, the motivation

to refrain from the corruption comes

from their inner belief in Allah.

3. Islam has obvious stance regarding to

social life. Eliminating the corruption

comes as part of it.

The readers are advised to study in detail in

this matter. Your opinions are welcome :

[email protected]

how to curb the curroption an islamic perspective(2)

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