G

 Islamic Economic Glossary

The agreement was agreed upon by foreign ministers of the member states in 1977. Almost all sates have approved it but not all had ratified it until 1985. The goal is to create a framework for the improved utilization of natural and human resources of the member states. The agreement eases factor movements between member states to promote economic co-operation and development. This is an effort to develop an Islamic common market.

 

A proposed instrument of riba-free banking. The certificate would be offered by commercial banks to savers. Its holder would be entitled to an average rate of profit on all operations of the bank. The GICs would be issued for different maturities ranging between 60 days to 5-10 years. They would also be marketable.

 

Excessive overcharging or over-pricing. Tech: Used for exorbitant or exploitative rate of profit.

 

Natural water course such as canals, rivulets, streams. Lands irrigated by the water of al-ghail are treated as ushri lands and pay ushr at full rate. Al-Ghail are also known as al-fatah.

 

Not owned. See aI-milk al-ammah.

 

Income, revenue yield, crop. Tech: It applies to the yield or rent of land or wages of a laborer or earnings of a servant. It also applies to the coins which are rejected by the treasury but accepted by the merchants in their day-to-day dealings.

 

Taking a thing and concealing it. Tech: Stealing from out of booty before it is distributed by the commander of the army.

 

Waste, empty (land). Tech: Land that is left out of tillage, having formerly been put under the plough. According to some it is the land which is not reached by water so that it has to be irrigated artificially with considerable cost. It may also apply to land, the canal system of which has decayed.

 

Wealth, affluence, sufficiency, adequacy. Tech: Relating to the law of zakat, a state at which one can dispense with the material help of others. It excludes a person from the category of beneficiaries of zakat and bars him from making any lawful claim to the zakat fund. From the traditions of the Prophet, the following stages of ghana may be deduced: (a) when a person is in possession of a nisab of productive (nami) wealth above what one requires to meet, for the whole year, his own needs and of his dependants; (b) when no zakat is imposed but, nevertheless, one is not lawfully allowed to accept it-this stage is reached when, in addition to the basic necessities of life, one owns an amount equal to, but not less than 200 dirhams of unproductive wealth, such as the possession of clothing, a number of dwelling houses and warehouses, and the possession of abandoned household items and cattle heads, etc.; (c) when it is not desirable for one to stretch forth one's hands in begging but one is lawfully allowed to accept zakat if provided. This state is reached when one is in possession of 50 dirhams or, one uqiyah of silver or is in possession of solvency and livelihood or has sufficient means for the morning and evening meals or when one is physically fit enough to earn one's livelihood.

 

Goats and sheep. Tech: It refers to a herd of goats and sheep on which zakat is payable.

 

Successful. Tech: A soldier of the Muslim army who receives a share from the ghanimah.

 

Whatever is obtained without difficulty. Tech: The booty captured in a war with non-Muslims. It includes only moveable property captured from the battle_ field left behind by the enemy troops. It does not include the land, immoveable property and even moveable property of the enemy not thus captured. Four fifths of the total ghanimah is distributed among those who participated in the war and one-fifth is the share of the bait at-mat. See also khumus.

 

Hazard, chance or risk (khatar). Tech: Sale of a thing which is not present at hand; or the sale of a thing whose aqibah (consequence, outcome) is not known; or a sale involving risk or hazard in which one does not know whether it will come to be or not, such as a fish in the water or a bird in the air.

 

A large bucket. Tech: A large bucket tied to the camel or bullock working on a well to irrigate land. Half ushr is levied on such lands. This bucket is also known as al-rasha.

 

Debtor. Tech: Relating to the law of zakat, a debtor who does not own a nisab over and above his debt. It is one of the eight heads of account on which zakat can be expended. It means that the zakat can be expended to payoff the debt of a person, who if he pays off his own debt from his assets, is left with less than the nisab. All such persons can claim help from the zakat. According to some jurists, it includes not only those who are unable to pay off the debts they incur for their personal purposes, but also includes those who incur debts in the interests of the society, such as in making reconciliation and peace between feuding persons or tribes or in standing security in the lawful interest of another person. According to some it also includes those on whom a calamity has befallen such as destruction of property by fire. In interest-free banking model, it has been suggested by some, that the zakat can be utilized to compensate such bad-debt losses to the bank which have been caused by the inability of the debtor to pay back the amount taken.

 

To usurp. Tech: Forcibly taking possession of the property of someone else. The jurists have dealt with the question of liability of the usurper in detail.

 

Relating to the musharakah financing by banks in Pakistan, it is a fee payable to the client where the projected profit percentage of the venture is more than the maximum of the return rate laid down by the State Bank of Pakistan. Where the actual profit is equal to the provisional rate of profit, the bank shall not allow any good management fee to the client.

 

Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE set up the GCC in 1981. In 1983, they abolished custom duties on intra-GCC trade in agricultural and animal products processed from locally obtained materials and on manufactured goods made from imported raw materials if domestic value added constituted at least 40 per cent of the cost of the finished product and the nationals owned 51 per cent of the equity of the firm producing it.

 

Damage, loss. Tech: Liability of a debtor for any loss or damage caused by any factor other than a crime or dishonesty on the part of the debtor. It also applies to the payment and performance bond provided by a contractor.