Dinar Dirham Exchange Booth in Singapore

(www.tumasiktradenetwork.org)

On Wednesday, 21/11/2012, the Dinar and Dirham Exchange Booth was opened and within a few days since the launch, three traders agreed to accept payment in Dinar and Dirham. One was White Cat Inc’s neighbor who sells keris (Malay Art Gallery – House of Keris), another a bicycle rental shop (WSS – Outside The Sleepy Kiwi backpackers’ hostel) and the third, a tailor (Rose Dafea). They are all on Bussorah Street.

This is a sign that there is immense barakah in this work through which Allah is uniting the hearts of the Muslim traders in Kampong Glam. Kampong Glam used to be an Islamic area where the royalty and aristocracy used to live and gather. The Istana (palace) was at Kampong Glam and the mosque, shop houses of residence and marketplace were all at Kampong Glam. It was a place which gathered the Muslims.

Now it has become a place of tourist attraction. The market area now rests on Capitalist foundations. There is high rent charged on traders (who are allocated permanent lots to trade) due to landlords who want to earn off the mere ownership of land, which becomes unlawful in Islam when it functions as a market. In the fiqh, a marketplace is supposed to be on waqf property and no rent is charged for traders and anyone is allowed to come into the market and trade as long as there is space. Due to the secular modernist kafir culture, now, the once waqf land of Kampong Glam has been privatised and adding on to, that there is also other haram elements there. For example, firewater is served right in front of the mosque by one despicable Turkish trader. There is firewater served at a number of other restaurants and clubs around Kampong Glam.

However, the most important element of the market is the money. The money that flows in the marketplace is like the blood in the body. Halal and clean money must first be established so that the marketplace founded on sound shari’ah rulings can follow. Then other foundational elements of muamalah can fall in place one by one.

In this respect, first of all, traders in Kampong Glam must accept halal and shari’ah currency. The three traders, within a few days since the launch, having come forward willingly to accept the coins produced by WIM as payment, is a sign from Allah that Kampong Glam is undergoing change to please Allah; that halal money is beginning to flow in the market like clean blood coming into a diseased body to refresh the old blood.

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Soon haram elements will insha Allah begin to disappear one by one. Insha Allah all the traders will soon accept Dinar and Dirham as payment. Allah is Al-Lateef and the subtlety of this change and what great changes it will cause or force to follow only time will tell. Because the change is for Allah, the immense barakah and reward in this place will begin to unfold one by one.

Jamal Kazura Aromatics, Bushra Café, Global Ikhwan restaurant, Café Rouge, and a number of other textile and clothing stores were interested to hear about the coins and responded positively when the TTN team went around visiting the shops. They are positive even though they have not yet accepted the coins as payment. That is enough for now. May Allah enlighten their hearts and our hearts and join our hearts in the establishment of His Deen.

MediaCorp personnel who visited Arab Street to interview a particular old trader who sells hats and baskets in one of the streets, stumbled upon us while asking directions and we soon spoke to them about the Dinar and Dirham. They are now interested to make a small video report on this interesting change that is occurring in Kampong Glam.

Three madrasah students came to know about the booth while strolling Bussorah street and bought two coins just to spend them and experience what people think is primitive and not practical. They said it is something which is easy and not as difficult as critics make it seem. Another three ladies came to the booth and bought a number of coins. They were so excited to use the coins that they walked into a shop and enquired whether the coins are accepted as payment there and when they were told no, they decided not to sit there. This was very surprising to me. Their fervour in advancing this cause is far greater than TTN activists, I thought.

“Their fervour in advancing this cause is far greater than TTN activists..”

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Another trader came to exchange his coins back to fiat. This privilege is given to traders only, those who accept the coins as payment in their shop. We exchanged his coins without any deduction. Though we offer buy-back services there at the booth to traders, we discourage them from selling the coins back to us because this will stop the circulation of the coins. Money is meant to be circulated. It is meant for payment. However, we offer such a service so that TTN traders will know that TTN is sincere and we do this for Allah.

We call on all our readers to come visit us at Bussorah street during our opening hours and also take active part in visiting the shops to speak about the coins and the booth.

Hasbullah Shafi’iy
hasbullah.shafi@gmail.com

What Choice You Have ?

In the “Technique of the Coup de Banque”, Shaykh Abdal Qadir As-Sufi also wrote:

“In the new world model of the Democratic State its citizen, clutching his Lottery ticket and seated before his interactive television set, flicking through two hundred channels in order to participate in life by interrupting the football match he views by re-running some excellent goal, may in the back of his mind have a darkening thought—that his political choice has now been reduced to choosing his Lottery number and his TV channel. It is to this that the great Enlightenment has brought the diminishing world of the Democrat. What will guarantee his inability to turn off his TV and start to ask the vital questions which might begin a liberating train of thought, for he is already far from rushing into the streets to demonstrate like is grandfather, is that he is already beset with deep financial anxiety“

He does not understand the economic and psychological oppression that has been put on him. The only oppression that he knew was coming out from that brand new TV, flashing images of crying women and children of Iraq and Afghanistan.  As long as he gets his monthly pay check, his life and his family is fine. All he needs to do is to transfer a sum of money to the charities on television and he feels he has done a small part to restore his humanity.

“The horror of this modern age is not the annihilation of millions in Nazi Death Camps and Stalin’s Gulags, nor is the obliteration of a whole society in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is not the slaughter and torture of the innocents. The horror of this age is the somnambulistic helplessness of the masses to ACT in order to stop the global holocaust. It is this unarguable condition of mankind which permits us to define the technic society as a psychosis.” [Ian Dallas, The Interim Is Mine]

The fact that we do not even want to spend some time to ponder on these events is proof itself that we are suffering from the deepest forms of financial anxiety. To ponder and try to change the circumstances around us will cause us to waste precious time or waste our annual leave or even lose our jobs. Among our own circles of friends we would sigh and complain about the dire state of affairs but that is as far as we can go. Because to ACT is to make a sacrifice we cannot logically comprehend. “They are too powerful so we just have to follow along,” we say. “We must be practical,” we say. “How are we going to sustain our family if we lose our jobs?” Sooner or later this hypocrisy will consume us.

Allah mentions in the Quran in Surah Taha verse 132:

“And bid your family to prayer, and be steadfast in [the maintenance of] it. We do not ask of you, We [do not] charge you with [the procurement of], any provision, [either] for yourself or for anyone else. We [it is Who] provide you, and the [best] sequel, Paradise, will be in favour of God-fearing, for such people.”

To believe that Allah is Ar-Razzaq is a vital part of our iman. We must re-establish this in our hearts if we have fallen short. Only after we have affirmed ourselves, then alone will we see that we are able get up from our couches and begin to ask a series of questions as Shaykh Abdal Qadir As-Sufi mentioned, “start to ask the vital questions which might begin a liberating train of thought.”

And we will not stop there. We will start to act and find ways to change our surroundings from any oppression that is put on us. The establishment of Muamalat is the way to remove the oppression that has befallen mankind. But first and foremost, we must remove this financial anxiety, this psychological oppression that is mentally infiltrated from a young age.

“The moment your rizq (sustenance) stops, is when you die.  So why worry about your rizq?”
- Shaykh Ghazali al-munawar-

Part 2: Lahore Future Ummah Capital....

On the west is Afghanistan. Further up north, Kazakhstan has already taken it up. The new coins are being minted in Kazakhstan. We ask Allah that this spreads to the people all over the subcontinent. Today, Shaykh Umar is in Karachi. There he will also visit the politicians, leaders and universities.

The kuffar may have removed Gaddafi because he was on the verge of demanding gold for oil and working towards the African Union. Erbakan of Turkey pledged to establish the Dinar and Dirham and export the resources of Turkey in exchange for dinars. He was removed from his post. The kuffar may disallow this. But they cannot stop people from choosing their own currency. They cannot stop a nation of 200 million Muslims in Indonesia if they choose the dinar and dirham as their medium of exchange. They cannot stop 180 million Muslims in Pakistan and 20 million in Kazakhstan and 20 million in Malaysia from choosing their means of exchange as the Dinar and the Dirham. When this spreads to India, it will be more than another 300 million Muslims. No kafir government can stop this.

Shaykh Umar said the movement now is at its early stage and there are immense rewards from Allah in joining to work together in the establishment of the shari’ah. When this matter is well established in the future, more people will come and join the movement then but the rewards will not be the same. This is what Allah mentions in the Quran in Surah al-Hadeed, verse 10:

“And what aileth you that ye expend not in the way of Allah, when Allahs shall be the inheritance of the heavens and the earth! Those among you who expended and fought before the victory shall not be held equal They are mightier in rank than those who expended and fought afterwards; Unto each hath Allah promised good; and Allah is of whatsoever ye work Aware” 

May Allah bless Shaykh Umar and his work and increase him in light and gnosis. May Allah open the gates of India and Pakistan for the Dinar and Dirham to be established and for the oppressed people to regain justice in their possessions and their exchange. May Allah destroy the kuffar and make them blind them.

Hasbullah Shafi’iy
hasbullah.shafi@gmail.com

Sh.Umar Vadillo and Pakistan Islam Revival..

This week was an important week for the world and all Muslims who are concerned about the re-establishment of the Deen. Capitalism has suffered another heavy blow. I remember Shaykh Abdal Qadir As-Sufi mentioned in a talk once that Islam will return from Indonesia and the Indian subcontinent. In Nusantara we do witness this as the work of Shaykhh Umar and Pak Zaim become more and more politically significant. We see this revolution happening before our eyes and some of us are taking part in it. Nobody will deny that historical events are occuring in this part of the world. But nothing of such had as yet taken place in the Indian subcontinent  until we received news that Shaykh Umar Ibrahim Vadillo is in Lahore and is waiting to meet the Chief Minister of Punjab.

Lahore is the gateway to the subcontinent. India was one. Pakistan, Bangladesh (formally East Pakistan), Myanmar (formally Burma), and some parts of eastern Afghanistan was all one territory in the past. During Sultan Tamerlane’s rule, from whom Mughal rule in the subcontinent traces its origin, his territory extended further north to include Uzbekistan (the capital of his rule being Samarkand), and some parts of China too. The land is vast and powerful with resources and populations, it has great giant-ulama of the Hanafiyyah who lie asleep and it has high voltage Chishty Tasawwuf, the path of love for the Messenger of Allah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. There are of course darkness too there, which we are not concerned about. The greater darkness is what Riba has done to this vast and rich territory.

When Khwaja Mu’inuddeen Chishty, may Allah sanctify his soul, was sent to the subcontinent under instructions from the Rasul sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he went first to Lahore and stayed at the grave of Imam Hujweri radiyallahu ‘anhu, a great Shaykh and the author of the celebrated early Persian treatise on Tasawwuf – Kashf al-Mahjub. There Shaykh Mu’inuddeen Chishty showed his respect for Imam Hujweri in the following couplet:

گنج بخش فیضِ عالم مظہرِ نورِ خدا

ناقصاں را پیرِ کامل، کاملاں را رہنما

Ganj Bakhsh-e faiz-e aalam, mazhar-e nur-i Khuda / Naqisaan ra pir-e kaamil, kaamilaan ra rahnuma

Ganj Bakhsh is a manifestation of the Light of God for all people

A perfect guide unto the imperfect ones and a guide unto the perfect ones

There he was given instruction to go east to Ajmeer and give da’wah to the Kings and the people of India. By his hands 100,000 people became Muslim and Hindu Kings submitted to his instructions.

Shaykh Umar Vadillo’s first political visit to meet the Chief Minister of Punjab in Lahore for Allah for the establishment of Allah’s Deen reminds us of Shaykh Mu’inuddeen Chishty’s entrance into the subcontinent through the gateway of Lahore. The people of Lahore have received Shaykh Umar very well, they have honoured him and Shaykh Umar has expressed only positive and remarks about the people there which are delightful to hear.

Orya Maqbool reported on the lecture:

“From Gilgit in the extreme north to Rahim yar khan in the middle, from Quetta in the west to Karachi in the southern coast ; people had gathered from all over the country to participate in this Dinar / Dirham conference. They all had the same thing to say : if its Allah and Prophet’s (pbuh) war against interest, then we are with Allah and His Prophet.”

Shaykh Umar said a day later, “Yesterday I gave my first public lecture in Lahore about Dinar and Dirham. The reception was enthusiastic, the best I ever had in 25 years of speaking on this subject. The people of Lahore are passionate about the Shariah currency. Tomorrow, I will meet with the Chief Minister of Punjab. Inshaallah. Subject: How to introduce the Dinar and Dirham in Punjab. And victory belongs to Allah.”

After the meeting with the Chief Minister, he said, “This morning we met with the Chief Minister of Punjab together with some his members of the bureaucracy. I saw nothing but good in the meeting. We mentioned the Name of Allah and we spoke good of Him. Allah opened a door and we will advance through it. The Dinar of Punjab is closer. I gave a second lecture in Lahore in Punjab University enthusiastically received by the academicians. The support is there and we are working on creating a Muamalat Course in the University. Tomorrow I will meet with Jama’at al Islamiya. Oh Allah, what a great thing it is to serve You.”

He said in one of his lectures there, “In Islamic societies there is no inflation, in Islamic societies there is no unemployment. It is impossible to have inflation with the Dinar and Dirham. It is impossible to have unemployment when you have Suqs, Caravans and Guilds (muamalat)” In other words, when the currency is free and the markets and production processes are free inflation and unemployment will be impossible.

The Rupee in India and the Rupee in Pakistan and the Taka in Bangladesh do not deserve the status they have been given by the world commuity given all the rich vast resources present in the whole of the subcontinent. The problem of unemployment given the richness of the land is unjustified. From Lahore the entrance of a freely chosen currency into the hands of the people will spread throughout the vast lands. The nawabs and the descendents of the former nawabs will come together one by one taking up this matter. They will collect zakat and distribute these coins to the people for free. 

Mahmud Ghazni conquered Sind and Punjab, he went around distributing gold and silver coins. The people flocked to him. When zakat is established once again in the subcontinent, people will flock to the Sultans and the Umara (pl. for Ameer), defend them and leave the unnecessary politicians and turn away from them. Nobody can stop the force of a united Muslim community who expect to meet Allah on the Day of Judgment and who therefore live to establish and defend the shari’ah that was brought by the Messenger of Allah sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Allah mentions in Surah al-Baqarah, in verse 249 about those who were fighting with Talut against Jalut:

 they said: We have no strength to-day against Jalut and his hosts. But those who imagined that they were going to meet Allah Said: how oft hath a small party prevailed against a large party by Gods leave! And Allah is with the patiently persevering.