By ICE – Islamic Finance Advisory and Consultancy: Shaykh Dr Sajid Umar, Umer Suleman and Zain Mahmood

This time last year four pints of Tesco Whole Milk cost £1.09; today the price has risen to £1.15, representing a 5.5% price increase for one of our daily essentials. Tesco Fusilli Pasta likewise cost £1 and is now £1.30 – a 30% increase year-on-year. Heinz Baked Beans and Kingsmill 50/50 bread cost 80p but now sell at £1 each – a price increase of 17.65% for both products. This is just the tip of the iceberg, and these sentiments are mirrored in other daily staples as the UK grapples with the highest inflation rates in the last 30 years.

The Bank of England has been tasked by the government to maintain an inflation rate of 2%, allowing businesses to plan their pricing and consumers to plan their spending. The inflation rate has not met this target since May 2021 for a variety of reasons, causing a knock-on effect on all segments of society that affects the most vulnerable of families the hardest. What are the reasons behind this increase in inflation? What are its latest causes? And what can we do about it? Let’s explore each question and their related topics, as well as possible solutions from an Islamic perspective below.

Full article here.

The famous Maaliki Andalusian 6th Century Scholar- Abu Muhammed ash-Shaatibi interestingly describes all the way back then the pitfalls of some of the scholars of his time, and from them, their use of any fatwa (Legal Edict) available, either from their generation or previous generations, to help their congregations follow their desires, under the guise of the statement “The differences of opinion of the ummah is a Mercy”!

He geniously observes that their modus-operandi is to front their scholarship to their people via actual ‘taqleed’ (blind-following) of the Fatawaa (pl. Fatwa) of other scholars through picking and choosing Islamic Rulings from the range of scholarly views out there which they intellectually find soothing and appropriate to their time and place, without they themselves having any Usool (legal theory/jurisprudence methodology) to build a fiqh ruling as per its epistemic tools and processes upon.

Honestly, it is as if the Imam is living and observing, and commenting in real-time today! Could he be describing those who take an Western Academic approach, as opposed to a scholarly approach when studying the religion?

For further reading, please refer to the Arabic treatise: al-I’itisaam, 2/537, 542).

Allah bless our sister for turning a simple voice message in answer to her query regarding her spiritual levels after giving birth into an article. I never imagined this at the time, subhanallah. Indeed Allah is most kind.

“Women experience numerous changes throughout their lives. One of the most significant of these changes is motherhood. One minute you are living your regular life, and the next you are responsible for the life of another human being.”

Read the full article here.