Only Submitting to Allah’s Hukm Can End Human Misery in the Indian Subcontinent

News:

Reuters reported on 11 July, “India’s government on Tuesday (8 July) said it would impose a 28% tax on funds that online gaming companies collect from their customers, in a blow to the $1.5 billion industry that has surged in popularity and attracted foreign investment.”

Comment:

Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh have imposed sanctions on online gaming industry as it is creating problems in the country as students and low income areas are losing hard earned money due to easy access to these online gaming (gambling or betting) apps. Indian high courts and supreme courts are busy arguing about what kind of gambling should be legal? Indian supreme court recently declared that such games (on which betting takes place) where players need a skill set to win should be allowed like chess, poker etc., while those games where no skill is required and only luck plays a role, they should be banned. While high court in Tamil Nadu has put sanctions on all online betting games and Tamil Nadu is asking supreme court for reaffirmation of its law.

Dream11, the largest fantasy sports platform in India, boasts over 180 million users. MPL claims to have 90 million users, and My11Circle claims to have 40 million users. To put it into perspective, Pakistan’s total population is around 235 million. Fantasy gaming apps were the top advertisers on television during IPL-16. The income of fantasy gaming platforms increased by 24 percent during the IPL cricket matches from 2022 to 2023, reaching over 28 billion rupees ($341m). Around 61 million users took part in fantasy gaming activities, nearly 65 percent of who came from small towns.

During PSL (Pakistan Super league) 2023 1XBAT, MCW Sports, WOLF777News, BJ Sports and MelBat were some of the sponsors. They are registered as sports apps, but interestingly all have similar names with betting sites and according to some journalists, betting sites own them. MalBat was Lahore Qalander’s official sponsor.

Recently in Pakistan a man committed suicide due to a loan he took from an online app. FIA Pakistan is investigating and trying to stop these online lending apps. Until now, the government is shutting down these apps on the basis of them committing fraud or scam but not on the basis that these sites are dealing in riba (interest). Although there are some laws regarding private lending in Pakistan but no concrete legislation is available to shutdown these apps. Many of these apps are still functional.

These actions come too late for many families in Pakistan, India and around the world. In India, courts are busy deciding which type of gambling is halal and which is haram and the Indian Supreme Court is debating whether gambling should be allowed in games involving skills and what is the definition of skill, while in Pakistan the government keeps on reinventing the definition of riba for the last thirty years.

Such contradictory and differing laws show the limitation of human mind. Human mind is short sighted and incapable of legislating and this is evident the world over. Whether it is the discussion of being pro-life or anti life (abortion) or the gender identity debate in the West or the debate about laws governing online gaming or interest based lending, the failure of the human mind to produce effective solutions for the problems of mankind is evident. Allah (swt) says in the Quran,

[وَعَسٰۤى اَنۡ تَكۡرَهُوۡا شَيۡـًٔـا وَّهُوَ خَيۡرٌ لَّـکُمۡ‌ۚ وَعَسٰۤى اَنۡ تُحِبُّوۡا شَيۡـًٔـا وَّهُوَ شَرٌّ لَّـكُمۡؕ وَاللّٰهُ يَعۡلَمُ وَاَنۡتُمۡ لَا تَعۡلَمُوۡنَ]

“Perhaps you dislike something which is good for you and like something which is bad for you. Allah knows and you do not know” [TMQ Surah Al Baqarah 2:216].

Humans are not lab rats. One can’t experiment on them by legislating one law one day and another the next day and such experiments on human societies continue indefinitely. Poor and incorrect legislation and solutions drafted by human beings result in widespread human suffering.

In the Khilafah State, sovereignty belongs to Allah almighty and only Allah (swt), Al Aleem and Al Khabeer, is the legislator. Allah (swt) created human beings and knows which laws are best for them. In Islam, human beings are not allowed to legislate for other humans; that’s why for more than 1300 years during the Khilafah, we never needed any revision or amendment of laws. Laws were extracted from Quran and Sunnah, and the same laws were implemented in three continents, and people living in these lands progressed economically and socially. It is time to put an end to this corrupt democratic system which allows human beings to legislate for human societies and strive to bring humanity back under the shade of Allah (swt). Allah (swt) said,

[فَأَقِمْ وَجْهَكَ لِلدِّينِ حَنِيفًا ۚ فِطْرَتَ اللَّهِ الَّتِي فَطَرَ النَّاسَ عَلَيْهَا ۚ لَا تَبْدِيلَ لِخَلْقِ اللَّهِ ۚ ذَٰلِكَ الدِّينُ الْقَيِّمُ وَلَٰكِنَّ أَكْثَرَ النَّاسِ لَا يَعْلَمُونَ]

“So direct your face toward the religion, inclining to truth. [Adhere to] the fitrah of Allah upon which He has created [all] people. No change should there be in the creation of Allah . That is the correct religion, but most of the people do not know.” [TMQ Surah Ar-Rum: 30: 30].

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Engineer Abbas – Wilayah Pakistan