assalamu `alaykum,
The following is a commentary by a brother I know. It’s a pretty thought provoking analysis on an economic power scheme to change the way society works. It so funny how often times we look back on history and we see how the rich manipulated the poor and we say “subhana’Allah! that was slick! these guys are punks!”
But then when we have theories for the present issues we dismiss them as “conspiracy theories” or “unrealistic.” The reality of the matter is that those in power have been using media, economics, politics and whatever means necessary to retain their power. New times call for new methods. This is not a singular case, but has been repeated through out history.
peace out.
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Assalamu Alaikum,
I feel that the Grameen Bank’s nearly exclusive attention to women is not being understood correctly. Many of us are thinking, what is wrong with helping poor women? Well, visualize this. There is a poor family in our neighborhood and a rich businessman goes to them to help. He knocks at the door. When the husband responds, the man says I am here to help you. The man is happy. But then he is told to go away and send his wife to receive help. She should come and discuss a business plan for a busines that she will have to run in order to receive the micro credit.
A person who really wanted to help the poor family would have offered the help to the man, whose responsibililty it is to earn a living. But this “helper” is on a social engineering project. His real purpose is to remove the wife and mother from the house and disrupt the family structure. I do not know what is noble about that. He is simply exploiting their poverty to dictate his deplorable terms.
And true to his evil social engineering project, his financial model is based on interest. Islam says if you give a loan, it must be for the sake of Allah and you deserve no more to receive back than what you gave. On the other hand, you can offer a legitimate business proposal by sharing in the business enterprise when you provide the capital and the other person provides labor and management. But then both have to take the risks inherent in business and share in the profit or loss.
The capitalist banker rejects that and wants a guaranteed (and big) return for his loan. This is what the Grameen Bank is doing. But, probably this is the first time that such an unethical business has been praised as a model charitable work. Such is the power of propaganda.
Turning to the issue of women in general. Islam certainly provides women rights to own money, property, etc. Islam prohibits any type of oppression in dealing with anybody and especially with women. The Prophet, Sall-Allahu alayhi wa sallam, reminded the men in his Khutbah on the farewell Hajj to be just in their dealings with women.
We also know that this is the same Shariah that generally grants a man twice the share of inheritance to that of a woman. Why? Not because it is nauzubiLlah “unjust” or “discriminatory” or a relic from that time that has no place in today’s “advanced modern” societies. Rather, it is because Islam recognizes that men and women are in some ways different. Thus, it places the economic responsibilities on the man, not on the woman.
A brother mentioned equality. “Equality” is a very vague term. Islam says that both men and women are equal in their accountability to Allah for their actions and their fulfillment of their responsibilities. However, the duties of both are not necessarily the same. Islam never says that men and women are equal in the mathematical sense of the word “equal” ( i.e. man = woman); that would contradict common sense. Obviously, the biological makeup is different. There are other differences. These are present by design not so that we consider one superior to the other, but rather that we realize that both have been created for their own complementary roles in society. If both were exactly equal then there would be no need for two genders.
This may sound strange or even misogynistic to many of us. The media certainly has had a role in our confusion. The constant propagandization of women’s rights has left us feeling weak; so we attempt to respond by showing how Islam also offers the same rights that the West offers. However, let us think more critically. The fact is that the West has gone from one extreme concerning women (where they did not have the right to own property, etc and people even questioned whether they had a soul) to another extreme where it has now forced the woman out of the house and into the workforce to work for total strangers and generate income. This is termed as liberation; it actually is exploitation. The resulting social problems are quite obvious ranging from dysfunctional families, high divorce rates, crimes against women, etc. Unable to solve its own problems, the West is busily exporting them to Muslim countries to try to combat the demographic imbalances that are growing each day.
The Grameen Bank is playing a role in this. For example, one of the 16 Decisions promulgated by the bank includes limiting family sizes (i.e. decreasing population growth), something which the UN and various Western sponsored NGOs have been promoting time and again throughout the Muslim world to deal with the declining populations of the West.
Thus, people within the country are opposing its modus operandi on Islamic grounds as well. An article “Islamic Resurgence in Bangladesh: Genesis, Dynamics and Implications” published by the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies in 2004 has the following to say: [this obviously was before the Nobel prize]
“… the proliferation of Western donors aided NGOs in the country, who have been advancing micro-credit to rural women (albeit at very high interest rates, the average being around 32 percent), running schools and generating jobs, mainly for women, polarized the polity between pro- and anti-NGO groups. Broadly, the former represents the so-called secular-liberal-democrat people (often the beneficiaries of the NGOs) and the latter mainly Islam-oriented and anti-West/anti-globalization groups and individuals.
“The controversial and extortionist modus operandi of NGOs, especially the way the Grameen Bank, BRAC and Proshika operate, preferring women to men as their clients in the name of female empowerment and alleviation of poverty, has alienated village elders and others from the NGOs. In the common parlance of the villagers, the various powerful local and foreign NGOs are described as: ‘CAREer gari, BRACer bari, Grameener nari, aar Proshikar barabari’ (CARE [An American NGO] is known for its vehicles, BRAC for its buildings, Grameen for its women and Proshika for its excesses).” ( http://www.apcss.org/Publications/Edited%20Volumes/ReligiousRadicalism/PagesfromReligiousRadicalismandSecurityinSouthAsiach3.pdf )
The Nobel peace or literature prize is not awarded for nothing. It is an effective tool of social engineering in the post colonial world. It confers “legitimacy” and “honor” on the most evil projects. Like that of Najeeb Mahfouz in Egypt. On the other hand, can you imagine a truly Islamic enterprise, helping Muslims using an Islamic model getting any recognition from the Nobel committee? It is more likely that, if it is effective, it will be branded as a terrorist organization.
To sum up, my main point of the initial post was to wake us up to the fact that the attacks on Islam being perpetrated throughout the world today can come under many guises, ranging from military to social. Let us be more vigilant.
Jazakumullah Khairan.
Wassalam,
