E-COMMERCE IN ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVES

            As far as Islamic welfare is concerned, islam accords a dominant importance to the trading sector as a major source of wealth and the engine of the economy.

            In this respect, the holy Qur’an  has many references to trade and commercial activities. For example, the Quranic ayats that support this statement are:

“Woe to almutaffifin [those who give less in measure and weight (decrease the rights of others)]” (83:1).

‘O you who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves unjustly except it be a trade amongst you, by mutual consent. And “do not kill yourselves (do not kill one another). Surely, allah is most merciful to you” (4:29).

            What is more striking for a prophetic authority dated back to as long as fourteen centuries ago, is that Islamic teachings had been aware of what is conventionally known as “Trading Data Management”. This is justified by the fact that the religion of Islam is broken into four major legalistic sections, among which is “Islamic Business Transactions” (fiqh al-mu’amalat). It is not necessary to speak about the very ample provisions set by Islamic laws in regard to the efficient treatment of wealth. However, this research draws on the meaning of the smooth functioning of business transactions and commercial activities from the islam cater for E-commerce? Right from the very outset, our eminent sunnah (act of prophet p.b.u.h), in some aspects, preached the same quality values offered by ‘E-commerce”, particularly, accuracy and veracity, flexibility, convenience, contract standardization, speed, cost effectiveness, and others. Our prophet (p.b.u.h) said:

“Allah showers his mercy and compassion upon the one who is tolerantly flexible, both when buying and selling”.

            Nonetheless, there are a number of serious legal drawbacks that are likely to arise in the field of “E-commerce”, particularly, short selling, and absence of concrete (hand to hand) delivery, uncertainty (gharar), juridical authentication’s problems and much more.

            According to an analysis, it is found that islam accepts the conduct of e-commerce as a new way or technology to facilitate economic transactions. This is based on the Syariah (Islamic law) legal values, namely the obligatory (wajib), recommended (mandub), permissible (mubah), reprehensible (makruh), and forbidden (haram). In an interview with ustadz Mustafa Omar, he mentioned that Islam is not against E-commerce as one of the new ways of conducting business. He further explained that traditionally, business was conducted verbally face to face but today the two contracting parties are connected together via computer. In the event that the persons who are engaged in businesses should not meet directly, they still need to make an agreement. However, he added that what is much of a consent in conducting E-commerce is the moral perspective that leads to a more accountable and responsible trader. As such, a few shariah issues may be referred while discussing matters related to the ethical principles of islamic business.

Adapted from: E-commerce in islamic perspectives

Vocabularies in context:

Ample (adj): banyak

Authentication (adj): keabsahan

Cater for (v): menyediakan

Consent (n): persetujuan

Conventionally (adj): biasanya

Convenience (n): kemudahan

Drawback (n): kelemahan

E-commerce (n): jual beli via internet

Eminent: terkenal

Encourage (v): memotivasi

Offer (v): menawarkan

Gale (n): angin

Legal (adj): berkaitan dengan hukum

Measure (n): takaran

Mutual (adj): bersama

Paramount (adj): utama

Property (n): harta benda

Provision (n): persyaratan

Striking (adj): menghebohkan

Treatment (n): perlakuan

Unjustly (adv): secara tidak adil

Value (n): nilai

Veracity (n): keaslian

Weight (n): timbangan