News & Comment
“Buy Muslim-made First” (BMF) Campaign

News:

IPOH 29 Sep. - More sessions of the Malaysia program to “Buy Muslim-made First (BMF) will be done through cooperation with the management of the mosque in the state thereby extending the reach to consumers.

The program which will take place in stages starting this October including bringing entrepreneurs to promote their various products each directly.

Chairman of the Gerakan Pembela Ummah (Ummah) of Perak, Idham Lim said the program is to ensure the BMF campaign known all communities and is not limited to Islam or the Malays only.

Comment:

Recently a number of associations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of Islam called on Muslims to prioritize and support Islamic-made goods rather than non-Islamic-made goods. The campaign is aimed at strengthening the economy of the Muslims while emphasizing the Halalan Toyyiban aspect. There's no denying that there are some parties who are not happy with this campaign, especially among government leaders. They consider such a campaign as a movement to boycott products made by non-Muslim and can even cause racial issues and threaten the unity of the multiracial community in Malaysia.

Actually this campaign is seen as helping the government to boost the economy of Muslims which before this has seen less effective. After over 40 years of the New Economic Policy (NEP), the government was still not able to solve the economic problems of unbalanced economy. Various improvements have been made to the current economic system, but this effort can only solve the certain issues and not the whole.

Muslims must realize that today's economic system based on the system of capitalism that thrives in the system of government now is the democratic system. This capitalist system makes the benefit as a measure to justify any form of manipulation to achieve its goal. Even the capitalist system has produced the practice of usury in the banking system and business on this day. Those who have with large capital will oppress the poor in every transaction. As the result, the rich will continue to be richer while the poor will remain in poverty. It clearly violates the teachings of Islam as Allah (swt) says in Surah Al Baqarah verse 275,

[الَّذِينَ يَأْكُلُونَ الرِّبَا لَا يَقُومُونَ إِلَّا كَمَا يَقُومُ الَّذِي يَتَخَبَّطُهُ الشَّيْطَانُ مِنَ الْمَسِّ ذَٰلِكَ بِأَنَّهُمْ قَالُوا إِنَّمَا الْبَيْعُ مِثْلُ الرِّبَا وَأَحَلَّ اللَّهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا فَمَن جَاءَهُ مَوْعِظَةٌ مِّن رَّبِّهِ فَانتَهَىٰ فَلَهُ مَا سَلَفَ وَأَمْرُهُ إِلَى اللَّهِ وَمَنْ عَادَ فَأُولَٰئِكَ أَصْحَابُ النَّارِ هُمْ فِيهَا خَالِدُونَ]

“Those who eat the Ribâ (Usury) will not rise from their graves except as one rises who is being beaten by Satan into insanity. That is because they say: “Trading is only like usury; however Allah has made trading lawful and forbidden usury”. To whomsoever then the admonition has come from his Lord, then he desists (from usury), so what has already passed (usury he had taken before) is for him and his affair belongs to Allah; and whoever returns (to usury), these are the inmates of the Fire; they shall abide in it forever.”

Thus Islam is a complete religion and is the guide to life in this world and the hereafter. Economics or muamalat is not something foreign in Islam but it is one of the branches of Islam that is at the core of the law of Muslim relations. The Islamic economic system outlined a number of things such as how to own property and develop it, how to spend and manage it, the rights of property ownership, distribution of wealth and economic balance in a multiracial society. The Islamic economic system would not be able to operate without a country with fully implementing of Islamic laws. It is therefore necessary to establish an Islamic state of the caliphate on the basis of method which has been demonstrated by the Messenger of Allah (saw).

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Mohammad Jasman