ISLAMABAD: The Federal Shariat Court on Thursday declared that the existing system and laws related to interest rate and riba (usury) were in conflict with the shariah.
“It is government’s responsibility to make the laws according to Quran and Sunnah,” the court ruled.
The Shariat Court said banks’ charging extra money on loan lied in the category of riba. “Any kind of bank interest is called riba. No matter what the purpose of the loan is, the interest imposed on it will be called usury,” the court declared.
In his reaction on the federal court’s decision, Finance Minister Miftah Ismail welcomed the court’s verdict in riba case and said the central bank and government would mull over the important decision.
He said the government would also take guidance from the court regarding the decision’s implementation process, measures and timeframe.
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Meanwhile, Ameer Jamaat e Islami Siraj ul Haq congratulated the nation over the Federal Shariat Court’s decision. He said the court had bound the government to make the financial laws according to the canons of Allah and his Prophet (SAWW) within five years.
The JI chief said in 1991 as well, the FSC had announced to ban the usury system, however the then federal government had approached the Supreme Court against it and got stay order on the Shariat Court’s decision.
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