Don’t hesitate to share your questions and comments. They will be highly appreciated. I’ll reply ASAP if I know the answer. Send at mubashirnazir100@gmail.com .
Dear Mubashir Sb,
Aslam-o-alikum,
I want to ask following two questions:
1 ) Your personal resume at your website shows, you have a professional career related to “Audit and Financial” sector. Don’t you think both of these sectors somehow relate to “Interest” based transactions and businesses. Though you may not be directly involved with “Interest” but for a God-Fearing Muslim , anything which even has a minor element of “Riba” shall be avoided ? Why you never thought to join an alternative source of income/career ?
2 ) Who is your teacher for islamic studies ? If you are not associated with any institute of scholar , how did you manage or plan to do self study at such deep level and then come up with writings ?
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Kind Regards,
Muhammad Faisal
Sharjah, UAE
April 2011
Dear Brother
Wa alaikum us salam wa Rahmatullah
How are you? How the life going on? Contact after a long time!!! I’ve appended the answers under your questions. I hope it will clarify my position. If some question still appears, please don’t hesitate to write.
wassalaam
Mubashir
1 ) Your personal resume at your website shows, you have a professional career related to “Audit and Financial” sector.Don’t you think both of these sectors somehow relate to “Interest” based transcations and businesses. Though you may not be directly involved with “Interest” but for a God-Fearing Muslim , anything which even has a minor element of “Riba” shall be avoided ? Why you never thought to join an alternative source of income/career ?
MN: I fully agree with you. I try my best to avoid any element of Riba or interest in my life. In order to do so, I did the following during my career:
1. I never worked in a riba-based financial institution. For some time, I worked in a leasing company after making sure that its business is not based on Riba. Subsequently, I left the job.
2. I’ve never worked in Treasury Department of any company. Mostly, my career is in Accounting, Internal Audit and Risk Management. Accounting involves only recording and reporting business transactions, Audit involves providing assurance and Risk Management involves managing risks. There is no involvement in giving, taking, or supporting a riba-based transaction.
3. Before joining a company, I always make sure that its sources of revenue are Halal. I’ve worked in a software development company, a leasing company, a fast-moving consumer goods company, an oil refining and transportation company, two consultancy firm and a real estate development company. 99% of income of such companies was Halal. However, a minor portion of interest may always be there which is included in the other income of such companies but it was not the prime source of their business. Almost all companies have some portion of interest in their income / expenses. This is beyond our control. However, I’ve tried to avoid such transactions as much as possible in Accounting / Auditing.
2 ) Who is your teacher for islamic studies ? If you are not associated with any institute of scholar , how did you manage or plan to do self-study at such deep level and then come up with writings ?
MN: Please see the following link for details about my teachers.
No student can get into depth without self-study. A teacher can only teach a text-book. The role of a teacher is to provide guidance, answer questions and resolve misconceptions. For that, I’m very grateful for all of my teachers.
Regarding self-study, I adopted systematic and unsystematic approach of study during various stages in my life. Since 1986, I’ve been reading religious books with an average of 50-100 pages per day (for most of days in these years). Sometimes, I studied books just at the time when I found them. Sometimes, I made a plan to study on a specific topic and collected books about it. Whenever, I decided to write a book, study of that subject was very systematic. Reading and studies remained my No. 1 priority in time management and I usually utilize travel or waiting time for reading. My nature of work is that it is a project-based job. So whenever I do not have some project, I utilize that time in reading / writing.