STILL ON ISLAMIC BANKING

CBN Governor

"I see clearer now. You have carefully painted two positions seemingly polarised. I am a bit alarmed at Mr Governor's extreme position. However …let me ask you….what could be a way out of this? Do you think there is a divine providence prodding the Christian community (assuming the true motive is to empower the poor), which the Christian community have not given adequate attention. Can you look beyond what the normal eyes can’t see?"

I had this brief dialogue with one of my friends and brothers during the week. He had read my last piece titled, “Islamic Banking and the Nation”, and he sounded displeased with my position or lack of it. The chat went thus:

HIM: Remy. I‘ve not been able to pin your perspective on this sharia thing. I think people should take definite positions about what is happening.

ME: Which is the "sharia thing"?

HIM: The Islamic Banking and the Sharia Law.

  

ME: Oh that. Perhaps I am simply too naive to make the connection between "non-interest, profit-sharing and ethical banking" which is what "Islamic Banking" is, at its core; and imposition of Sharia Law in Nigeria. I chose not to indulge in the "baby and birth water" syndrome that is the hallmark of many a national discourse. My position was stated clearly, I believe, in the paragraphs preceding my suggestions for the way forward in these words:

‘The vocal cleric’s (meaning Cardinal Okogie) position is broadly representative of the views of Christian leaders who have opposed the introduction of the so-called Islamic banking. A fair reading of this statement and the many others I have read would seem to betray a misunderstanding of the concept and/or distrust of the motive of its proponents all within the context of protection of Christian interests within the plurality known as Nigeria.

‘It has dawned on me that while Islamic banking can correctly be said to be harmless to Christians, as I stated the last time; its introduction at this time; the brazen attitude of Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi and the choice of language of the likes of Sheikh Ahmad makes it potentially harmful to the Nigerian State, as we know it..." Forgive me, if that's not 'definite' enough…’

HIM: I see clearer now. You have carefully painted two positions seemingly polarised. I am a bit alarmed at Mr Governor's extreme position. However …let me ask you….what could be a way out of this? Do you think there is a divine providence prodding the Christian community (assuming the true motive is to empower the poor), which the Christian community have not given adequate attention. Can you look beyond what the normal eyes can’t see?

ME: My brother, how I wish we could all be like you, seeking out God's will in situations as they arise! That is what your question has shown and it’s absolutely scriptural to accept that if God allows a situation, even if we can't see Him orchestrating it, He is able to make it work for our good. So, yes, I think it’s an opportunity to revisit banking as it is today vis-a-vis the Christian. It’s a theme I was led to discuss in the 'heat' of the economic meltdown. I just might return to it soon. To answer you directly, I believe we must fight against the nomenclature "Islamic"; and once we succeed encourage Christians and Christian institutions to invest heavily in Non-Interest banking. Handled well, it will, in my opinion, add tangible value to the economy, as distinct from the mere bubble that trading in money does.

HIM: …I shall join you in making declarations…and would not want to pray based on prejudice, until this beast is defeated…  

Now, I wasn’t flattering my friend when I said I wished we were all like him, “seeking out God's will in situations as they arise!” I truly admire him for daring to ask if God was trying to get the attention of the church on the issue of how banking is done, while we are too preoccupied with the “sharia factor”.

 

It’s all the more instructive that every Christian leader who has spoken publicly (at least those whose comments I’ve read or heard) on this vexed issue, seemed to have ignored the spiritual, moral and economic angles to the debate. We have tended to be too combative, too political to bother about these areas. Yet, when you come to think about it, these are the angles that should have formed the basis of our response. Such a redirection of focus would have revealed a need for us to rethink banking as it is practiced today, particularly as it has to do with poverty reduction, value-added and socio-economic development of our nation.

An honest appraisal of the banking system in general would show that profit is the dominant essence of the system. This, while legitimate, has tended to be pursued with such ruthlessness that the well-being of the borrower hardly ever comes into the picture, unless, of course, he is of the elite well-connected class, who can afford the huge fees of lawyers, if push comes to shove.

In the heat of the economic meltdown in 2009, a re-think of the capitalist system, (dominated by the money and capital markets) came on the front-burner. 

As I tried to join the debate in my small corner, a characterization of the operators of the system that caught my attention was an old one by Pope Pius XI (1857 – 1939), which read like this: "…It is patent that in our days, not wealth alone is accumulated, but immense power and despotic economic domination are concentrated in the hands of the few, who for the most part are not the owners but only the trustees and directors of invested funds, which they administer at their own good pleasure…This domination is most powerfully exercised by those who, because they hold and control money, also govern credit and determine its allotment, for that reason supplying, so to speak, the life blood of the entire economic body, and grasping in their hands, as it were, the very soul of production, so that no one can breathe against their will..."

Now, Pope Pius XI went to be with the Lord a whopping 70 years ago, and you could be forgiven for wondering if he spoke yesterday! Shouldn’t that be food for thought for us as Christians? If Non-Interest Banking, along with its profit/loss sharing and ethical investment policy components, deemphasizes inordinate profit, afford the ideas person who has no money the opportunity of institutional partnership, and divert funds from production of goods that don’t help our moral health, shouldn’t we Christians be in the vanguard of promoting it? Shouldn’t we?