Debt and Social Justice




In this current situation where poor countries are made to pay millions of pounds in servicing their debts but have no way of providing their citizens with basic services is clearly morally and ethically wrong.

Frequently poor countries are spending more on debt repayments than on providing for their citizens’ most basic needs. The fact that these unjust debts have not been cancelled in full by fair and transparent methods means that the world’s poorest countries are trapped in a cycle of poverty unable to invest in education, child diseases, HIV, prevention and treatment, and the preservation of precious environmental resources.

 Yet as well as the moral and ethical arguments, for Muslims there are also strong and clear faith-based reasons for supporting debt cancellation. Here it comes the concept of social justice is paramount in Islam. Muslim teachings advocate for a fair and equitable distribution of wealth, the protection of the weak against economic exploitation and providing the poor with the basic needs for life.

Conversely the debt crisis, and the resultant structural adjustment programmes, has forced countries to strip down their social ‘safety nets’ and prevented them from providing their populations with basic needs such as public health and education systems.

 For example, workers that obtained RM3000 per month in Kuala Lumpur, are still in the poverty, or as we call it in Malay, "miskin bandar", which means, they are still poor to live in the city. That's why, Islam supports the equitable distribution of wealth and warns against wealth circulating amongst a few rich individuals.

‘Wealth should not circulate between the rich amongst you.’ (Qur’an 59:7)

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