Re: Pakistan Supreme Court outlaws interest

["Harry Veeder" <veed0001@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

>There is an entire literature on this,
>under the rubric of Islamic economics.
>There is nothing new or revolutionary here.
>
>Pragmatically, such restrictions simply lead
>to  the hiding of the payment of interest
>in alternative financial arrangements,
>which is what we ought to expect.
>So the ruling, if accurately described,
>simply favors deceit and posturing
>over transparency.
>
>Alan Isaac

Why does the ruling favour "deceit and posturing over
transparency"? If you think the interest is simply being
disguised through "alternative finanacial arrangements"
then I submit your theory of interest is wrong or atleast
incomplete.

Those who pay interest give up their *present* time
(ie. their "now") and it can never be regained by them.
One can't buy back "now" no matter how much income
one gets in the future. Interest is the price
of relinquishing "now" in favour of an earned future, but
for some faiths, the "now" of people should not be bought and sold.
They find it morally objectionable the way other people find the sex
trade objectionable, although unlike the sex trade which has
essentially be made illegal, Islam is simply enshrining their
freedom not to practice "Riba".

Since we live in a monetary world economy where some
engage in "riba" and some don't, the two groups
must interact financially sooner or later. Special financial
meeting grounds or "alternative financial arrangements" must
be devised and practiced so that the moral/religious differences
can coexist without strife.



>
>Mason Clark wrote:
>
>> quote:
>>
>> The highest constitutional court in Pakistan, The Supreme Court, in a
>> recent landmark judgement has prohibited the charging of INTEREST on
>> any financial transaction in the economy. This prohibition is based
>> upon the KORANIC injunction banning interest (Riba'  in Arabic) from
>> the economy.
>
>