Our students or all students?
INsights 048, Friday 19th July 2024
Our students or all students?
INsights 048, Friday 19th July 2024
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Last time, after sharing some ideas about how our mosques could be run in the future, I said that I would next write about student loans, home finance and aspects of national economic policy.
It turns out that was a bit ambitious! Ever so slowly, I’m learning that less is more.
In order to keep it simple and stick to a 1,000-word limit for INsights, I’m only going to take the example of student loans today.
In doing so, I hope to further elaborate on the difference between our current insular mode of engagement and a much better universal one which we can start adopting for a brighter future.
The problem of funding education
This is a core concern of a typical young conscientious believer who wants to go to university in the UK:
I want to study and become educated so that I can get a good job and earn a living in a lawful manner. But I can’t afford to pay the very high university tuition fees. My family can help a little but that might only cover my living expenses.
The only option that I can see is to take a loan. But the loan carries interest. Some scholars seem to be saying it’s fine but others are really against it. I feel scared to take a risk with interest because the punishment for it is so serious. I really need a solution, otherwise I might not go to university after all.
In response to this widespread concern, some of our leaders and institutions have come together to work with the government on producing an alternative student finance mechanism that they are happy to label as “Shari’ah-compliant” and which is supposed to start becoming available from 2025.
So now students from our community will have an option to satisfy their consciences and pursue their education freely. They’ll still be in debt of course but at least, they will have been assured, the financing is legitimate.
A great outcome… or is it?
My purpose here is not to get into whether the alternative mechanism really is “Islamic” or whether the conventional student loan is in fact legitimate.
What I want to highlight is the problem of us focusing fully on our own technical legal compliance as a community without consideration for broader, more universal solutions that are underpinned by the morality and utility that divine law exists to promote.
Let me continue to explain what I mean in the context of student loans.
What if, instead of just focusing on a technical, tick-box solution for our students, we also turned our minds to proposing an ethical solution to the challenging issue of student finance for all students in the country?
You see, if being in debt is such a burden and if dealing with riba is so harmful, then these aren’t issues that just affect us. They affect everyone.
Our current mode of engagement, where we only seek solutions for ourselves, seems to assume that all God wants us to do is comply with certain arbitrary rules to show that we are indeed His obedient servants.
But of course, there’s much more to it.
Divine prescriptions, like avoiding riba or not becoming intoxicated or not eating certain kinds of food, aren’t random tests of obedience.
They each exist to establish certain benefits or avoid certain harms, advancing human flourishing in the process.
Riba isn’t just a problem when a believer receives or pays it. It’s a problem when anyone does so, not only for those directly concerned but for everyone else too. The more widespread it becomes, the more harmful for everyone.
Context is key
If this is the case, why aren’t we concerning ourselves with understanding and then mitigating or solving the problem at a much more universal level?
Why, when it comes to student loans, do we only care about our students, not all students?
Why can’t we question existing assumptions, apply our values and employ our creativity to come up with ideas that help solve the university education funding problem more comprehensively?
Why aren’t we disseminating proposals that we think are authentic to God’s will, deeply cognisant of the context in which we live, and are of benefit to all?
The context point is important.
Sometimes we seem to pretend as though the real world in which we function doesn’t exist or that it can never change. Unable to play meaningfully at a societal level, we draw up our own court and set of rules, and play amongst ourselves.
Surely our task isn’t to create a ghetto filled with our own regulations and jargon that no one else can understand or in which they can’t participate. After all, we are inextricably bound into the economic and financial system in which we live. What happens out there affects us, whether we like it or not.
I’m not saying for a moment that we should accept this reality as the best one. But we must accept that it is our reality and seek to shift it in a positive direction for everyone’s tangible benefit.
We can continue living in our own bubble and complying with the rules for reasons we don’t always fully understand, almost pretending that the wider context doesn’t exist with all its difficulty and complexity.
Or we can realise that our role is to propose solutions that are founded on the principles of monotheism and revelation, adding value and enhancing our social capital, gradually taking society from its current darkness into the light.
So what's the specific answer?
What's the best way to solve the problem of funding university education in Britain?
I don’t know exactly. Do you have any ideas?
I can contribute to the discussion, but I don’t see it as my role to come up with the specific solution to each of the problems that exist out there.
That’s why we’re a community, a team of believers: so that everyone can focus on fulfilling different aspects of the overall vision based on their expertise, all working towards the same overall goal.
The specific problem that I am focused on solving is our lack of shared direction and vision, as well as our uncertainty as to what principles should inform our efforts.
My purpose is to paint a picture of a possible future, inspire people to work towards it, and help you figure out how you can serve God’s cause most effectively. That’s why the Last Day Leader programme exists, and why I do the rest of what I do.
But amongst the thousands of people who read this newsletter and beyond, do we have the talent to come together and deal with this specific student finance issue - that I was only using to illustrate a wider point - and frankly every other issue out there?
Do we have the resources to convey the beauty and value of monotheism to all people in a way that’s relevant to every aspect of their lives today?
Sure we do.
I’m trying to do my part.
The only question for you is whether you’re doing yours.
Are you?
Until next time.
Peace.
Iqbal
~~~
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Have a blessed week. I'll send you the next edition next Friday, God willing.
