A Mask Does Not Change A Person's Being!!!

Shaykhul Islam Taqi ad-Deen Ahmad ibn Abdul Halim ibn Taymiyah al-Harrani said: "The name you give to things does not change their reality."

We live in an era where Zina (adultery and fornication) is called 'an affair' 'a one night stand' 'love-making'.

Riba (usury) is so despicable that it attracts a declaration of war by Allaah against any such person that indulges in it yet the demonic civilization of our era has given it a convenient name of 'interest' or 'service charge'.

Riba is forbidden according to the unadulterated evidences of Qur'an and Sunnah and the general consensus of the scholars.

Today, the enemies of Allaah and Islam will stop at nothing in misguiding the Muslims.

A friend asked me a Fatwa regarding a contemporary issue that has to do with the telecommunication industry in respect to a package known as XtraTime which allows eligible customers access to airtime on credit when they run out of airtime.

I thought the answer is not only good for him but relevant for the Muslims as a whole.

The XtraTime attracts a service charge of 10% of the airtime borrowed. And this in fact is the reality of Riba.

If the company had charged a particular fee for registering a customer to have access to such packages it would have been in conformity with Islamic financial system but charging a percentage of the airtime borrowed is Riba and Haram in Islam.

Brothers and sisters in Islam, the system of Riba is there to milk the desperation of the poor. You are desperate to make a call but no credit hence they milk your desperation by offering you an airtime on credit attracting 10% interest.

Brothers and sisters in Islam, I'm a traveler in this world and I guess we all are, what do I have to gain from pleasing you, I will die and be solely answerable to my Lord.

You will remember what I am telling you, and my affair I leave solely to Allaah.

Help spread the message. May Allaah forgive our shortcomings and take our souls as sincere believers in Islamic Monotheism.