Kalau nga salah, Nabi Muhammad pernah berdoá kepada Allah agar dia dijauhkan dari hutang... Dan, begitu banyak ayat Quran yang melarang melakukan riba... Riba bukan berarti bunga uang (interest) saja, tapi juga menyangkut pemberlakuan hal-hal "fiktif" atau berpotensi "fiktif" dalam ekonomi serta ketidak adilan ekonomi lainnya (seperti upah yang tidak adil) dsb...
Dubai debt woes give Islamic finance its first big crisis http://www.dur.ac.uk/sgia/news/?itemno=9171&rehref=%2Fsgia%2F&resubj=%20Headlines (11 December 2009) DUBAI, UAE (AFP) Dubai Worlds plan to delay repaying a huge Islamic bond issue may damage the image of sharia finance, not due to inherent problems but rather because investors have ignored key questions, analysts say. In many ways, this has been an extraordinary crisis, but it is the first for the embryonic sukuk industry, said Khalid Howladar of Moodys Investors Service. Another expert, Professor Habib Ahmed of Durham University, said the crisis points to the need for a better understanding of the rules applying to sukuk. This case is a wake-up call for Islamic finance to focus more on ethical and moral issues that it has been ignoring for so long, Ahmed told AFP. A widespread view among economists is that fears about the rights of the Dubai World bondholders relate at least as much to a lack of clarity in the Dubai legal system as they do to the rules of Islamic finance. In addition, much of Dubais spending has gone on speculative construction projects and the 50 percent fall in property prices in the emirate means all real estate-related finance deals face a problem whether using Islamic or Western rules, they say. Islamic sharia rules forbid usury, so anyone lending money is barred from charging interest. Instead, investors are granted a share of the assets and in the case of a property developer, the issuer of a sukuk will typically pay a rent until refunding the loan when it matures. Dubai Worlds property unit Nakheel, developer of Dubais iconic Palm Jumeirah artificial island resort, is scheduled to repay a 3.5 billion dollars sukuk on December 14, so it is the first subsidiary affected by the groups request last week for a six-months halt to debt repayments. The maturity date of the sukuk was December 14, 2009 when Nakheel was supposed to pay the last rental coupon and buy back the assets, but instead declared its inability to perform, said Ahmed, chair in Islamic law and finance at Durhams Institute of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. Theoretically at least, Islamic laws on financial transactions have some inherent features that induce stability, he said. The ban on interest and other rules would prevent Islamic investors investing in certain instruments such as conventional bonds and derivatives, which caused last years global credit crunch, Ahmed said. Until now, Islamic economists have been saying that Islamic finance was not affected directly by the subprime problems. The Nakheel problem shows that Islamic finance can have similar problems if wrong investments are made, he said. One reason for this is that many sukuk are structured to resemble conventional bonds, meaning the risks of ownership are transferred to the issuer rather than shared by the investors, the professor said. This is one of the criticisms of Islamic products: instead of coming up with products that reflect the spirit and substance of Islamic law, they are structured very similar to conventional products, Ahmed said. A source who asked to remain anonymous because his company has extensive dealings in the region said credit ratings agencies have valued Islamic debt on the creditworthiness of the issuer rather than the assets because of doubts over investors claim to the assets. Noone has confidence in sukuk investors to foreclose on the assets they have lent money on in Dubai and several countries using sharia rules, because the legal system in those countries is underdeveloped, he said. The Dubai International Financial Centre, a business district which opened in 2004 with the aim of making the emirate a world-class financial hub, uses English law within its perimeter because of the lack of precision in sharia law, the source told AFP. Moodys Howladar agreed with Ahmed that many sukuks are too similar to convention finance for their own good. The desire for Middle Eastern corporate credit exposure and unsecured debt has created sukuk instruments that, in substance, attempt to be identical to conventional bonds, he said in a study released this week. Restructurings such as Dubai Worlds are common in mature markets, but the immature and opaque nature of Dubais law system and the lack of precedent give little comfort to investors spread across the world, he said. Given the sheer scale and complexity of Dubai World, this event will be an important test of investors rights. If some sukuk are not found to be equivalent to conventional bonds in a default or restructuring, it will have a significant effect on the shape of the sukuk market to come, Howladar said. Neil Mackinnon of Londons VTB Capital said: I am not sure that Dubai damages Islamic finance. Most of Dubais problems reflect the wider problems associated with the credit crisis which is excessive lending for property ie not much different from what we have seen in the US and UK. Cheap money, leverage and expectations of ever-rising property prices generate hot money inflows which ultimately reverse in spectacular fashion when the bubble bursts. So in my view this is a classic case of Western financial capitalism creating a property bubble and ultimate bust, he said. -- AFP Al Baqarah 2:275 Orang-orang yang makan (mengambil) *riba* tidak dapat berdiri melainkan *seperti berdirinya orang yang kemasukan syaitan* lantaran (tekanan) *penyakit gila*. Keadaan mereka yang demikian itu, adalah disebabkan mereka berkata (berpendapat), sesungguhnya jual beli itu sama dengan *riba*, padahal Allah telah menghalalkan jual beli dan mengharamkan *riba*. Orang-orang yang telah sampai kepadanya larangan dari Tuhannya, lalu terus berhenti (dari mengambil *riba*), maka baginya apa yang telah diambilnya dahulu (sebelum datang larangan); dan urusannya (terserah) kepada Allah. Orang yang mengulangi (mengambil *riba*), maka orang itu adalah penghuni-penghuni neraka; mereka kekal di dalamnya. Al Baqarah 2:276 Allah memusnahkan *riba* dan menyuburkan sedekah. Dan Allah tidak menyukai setiap orang yang tetap dalam kekafiran, dan selalu berbuat dosa. Al Baqarah 2:277 Sesungguhnya orang-orang yang beriman, mengerjakan amal saleh, mendirikan sembahyang dan menunaikan zakat, mereka mendapat pahala di sisi Tuhannya. Tidak ada kekhawatiran terhadap mereka dan tidak (pula) mereka bersedih hati. Al Baqarah 2:278 Hai orang-orang yang beriman, bertakwalah kepada Allah dan tinggalkan sisa * riba* (yang belum dipungut) jika kamu orang-orang yang beriman. Al Baqarah 2:279 Maka jika kamu tidak mengerjakan (meninggalkan sisa *riba*), maka ketahuilah, bahwa Allah dan Rasul-Nya akan memerangimu. Dan jika kamu bertaubat (dari pengambilan *riba*), maka bagimu pokok hartamu; kamu tidak menganiaya dan tidak (pula) dianiaya. Al Baqarah 2:280 Dan jika (orang berhutang itu) dalam kesukaran, maka berilah tangguh sampai dia berkelapangan. Dan menyedekahkan (sebagian atau semua utang) itu, lebih baik bagimu, jika kamu mengetahui. Al Baqarah 2:281 Dan peliharalah dirimu dari (azab yang terjadi pada) hari yang pada waktu itu kamu semua dikembalikan kepada Allah. Kemudian masing-masing diri diberi balasan yang sempurna terhadap apa yang telah dikerjakannya, sedang mereka sedikitpun tidak dianiaya (dirugikan). Ali Imran 3:130 Hai orang-orang yang beriman, janganlah kamu memakan *riba* dengan berlipat ganda dan bertakwalah kamu kepada Allah supaya kamu mendapat keberuntungan. Ali Imran 3:131 Dan peliharalah dirimu dari api neraka, yang disediakan untuk orang-orang yang kafir. An Nisaa 4:160 Maka disebabkan kezaliman orang-orang Yahudi, Kami haramkan atas mereka (memakan makanan) yang baik-baik (yang dahulunya) dihalalkan bagi mereka, dan karena mereka banyak menghalangi (manusia) dari jalan Allah, An Nisaa 4:161 dan disebabkan mereka memakan *riba*, padahal sesungguhnya mereka telah dilarang daripadanya, dan karena mereka memakan harta orang dengan jalan yang batil. Kami telah menyediakan untuk orang-orang yang kafir di antara mereka itu siksa yang pedih. Ar Ruum 30:37 Dan apakah mereka tidak memperhatikan bahwa sesungguhnya Allah melapangkan rezeki bagi siapa yang dikehendaki-Nya dan Dia (pula) yang menyempitkan (rezeki itu). Sesungguhnya pada yang demikian itu benar-benar terdapat tanda-tanda (kekuasaan Allah) bagi kaum yang beriman. Ar Ruum 30:38 Maka berikanlah kepada kerabat yang terdekat akan haknya, demikian (pula) kepada fakir miskin dan orang-orang yang dalam perjalanan. Itulah yang lebih baik bagi orang-orang yang mencari keridhaan Allah; dan mereka itulah orang-orang beruntung. Ar Ruum 30:39 Dan sesuatu *riba* (tambahan) yang kamu berikan agar dia bertambah pada harta manusia, maka *riba* itu tidak menambah pada sisi Allah. Dan apa yang kamu berikan berupa zakat yang kamu maksudkan untuk mencapai keridhaan Allah, maka (yang berbuat demikian) itulah orang-orang yang melipat gandakan (pahalanya). Ar Ruum 30:40 Allah-lah yang menciptakan kamu, kemudian memberimu rezeki, kemudian mematikanmu, kemudian menghidupkanmu (kembali). Adakah di antara yang kamu sekutukan dengan Allah itu yang dapat berbuat sesuatu dari yang demikian itu? Maha Sucilah Dia dan Maha Tinggi dari apa yang mereka persekutukan. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ Ingin bergabung ke milis ekonomi-nasional? Kirim email ke ekonomi-nasional-subscr...@yahoogroups.com http://capresindonesia.wordpress.com http://infoindonesia.wordpress.comYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ekonomi-nasional/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ekonomi-nasional/join (Yahoo! 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