Mu’amalat: A True Islamic Alternative to Riba and an Unjust Financial System

We are in an age where many people are becoming fabulously wealthy as a result of wars across the world, the widespread usage and dependence on drugs (legal and illegal), the merciless ravaging of the planet’s natural resources and of course the military wars and politics connected to all of this. At the same time poverty is on the rise, life expectancy is decreasing and the number of political and economic refugees across the world has reached unprecedented levels.

Yet within Islam there are clear instructions of how to get out of this mess. Beginning with the establishment of the mosque in the illuminated city of Madina, the Prophet (pbuh) went on to establish the physical marketplace of the Muslims and stipulated certain rules. It continued with the condemnation of riba/usury.

In this presentation Amal Abdalhakim-Douglas will outline some of the things we, as Muslims, can and should be doing and some of the things we should actively oppose and not accept, in order to please Allah while contributing to making things better.

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Amal Abdalhakim-Douglas is Senior Consultant at the DMC Consultancy specialising in fundraising, training and enterprise development, and coaches under the brand Olympic Sprint Business Coaching (www.olympicsprintbusines.com). He is also the Muslim Chaplain at SOAS, the University of London – School of Oriental and African Studies.

He is founder of the Open Trade Network (OTN) a charitable company promoting entrepreneurship and fair trading practices, with a focus on real currencies, establishing and accessing open markets and the use of fair contracts, all based on Islamic principles and practices. He was also a tutor, Financial Director and helped to establish the Norwich Academy for Muslims an educational institute in Norfolk, UK.

Hajj Amal has authored several books including Zakat – Raising a Fallen Pillar (with Shaykh Abdalhaqq Bewley) which has already been translated into Spanish, Indonesian and Danish. Seven Secrets of Successful Fundraising, a handbook for professional fundraisers. Then more recently Call of The Twice Removed, a hard-hitting collection of previous writing on politics, economics, race, religion and other key issues inspired by his own experiences and historical research.