Muslims will never be free unless we do this...
You’re probably wondering what poverty has to do with investing.
I said I would talk about investing in Muslims in the daily insights but so far I’ve only been going into details about poverty.
No, it’s not because I think Muslims are poor.
A reader asked me today how it would be possible to invest in Muslims if we don’t know of any reliable opportunities. This is precisely where the problem is.
Let me tell you a story:
I was born and brought up in an immigrant community in a western country. There were no mosques when the first Muslims arrived.
In those early days the Muslims would pray in someone’s house. I still remember my grandfather’s living room with the furniture removed and they placed bedsheets on the floor to pray on.
The Muslims soon put their money together and bought standalone houses to be used as mosques. As the community grew they would renovate these houses to accommodate more worshippers.
Eventually, the community bought land and erected purpose built mosques. As the Muslims progressed, the mosques got bigger.
They did this because the House of Allah was a priority for the Muslims. This was the case up and down the country where pockets of Muslims prioritised the building of mosques for the community.
At the same time, Muslims were signing mortgage agreements.
Today, many Muslims don’t know or don’t care what riba even is. There are no real ethical solutions for Muslims—many so called solutions are just riba in disguise.
Why were the Muslims able to build mosques and have halal supermarkets and get into public office…
But not able to come up with better Islamic financial products?
It’s because they prioritised building the mosques… so they had to come up with solutions.
It’s deeply engrained in our psyche. You have to have a mosque!
The people demanded it. And continue to demand better facilities, more space and so on.
After all… necessity is the mother of invention.
But the people didn’t demand riba free solutions.
Likewise… the Muslims, as of yet, are not prioritising knowing each other, loving each other or investing in each other.
There is a stark lack of desire for Muslim to Muslim investment. It’s just something that sounds nice when you mention it. But where is the real demand?
Demand that has us screaming for solutions?
I want to spark demand for Muslim to Muslim investment.
I’m laying the foundations. I want you all to think differently, clearly, about what money really is so we can come up with real solutions to our problems.
We can’t simply say “yes it’s important… let’s do it”. We need to truly internalise the desire for change. Otherwise it will just sound nice for a while then fade out…
Like being fearful of riba.
And I feel like understanding, together, the financial realities of the Muslims is the crucial first step towards building the desire for change (not just platitudes about charity, gold, silver, crypto…).
Are you with me?
P.S.
If you think this is a worthwhile cause, why not hit the restack button and also share this with more Muslims?