In corruption, there’s a giver and a taker

 

From Hafiz Hassan

An introductory remark on corruption in a working paper of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) more than 20 years ago in 1998 states as follows: “Corruption is not a new phenomenon. Two thousand years ago, Kautilya, the prime minister of an Indian King, had already written a book, Arthasashtra, discussing it.

“Seven centuries ago, Dante placed bribers in the deepest part of Hell, reflecting the medieval distaste for corrupt behavior. Shakespeare gave corruption a prominent role in some of his plays, and the American Constitution made bribery one of two explicitly-mentioned crimes which could lead to an impeachment of a US president.”

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One may add a narration by Abdullah bin Amr that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: “May the Curse of Allah be upon the briber and the bribe recipient”. (Sunan Ibn Majah 2313, Book 13, Hadith 6) That’s more than 1,400 years ago.

Corruption has been defined in many different ways.

The World Bank’s description of corruption, “the abuse of public office for private gain”, has often been referred to. But it is one that has been much criticised as well as its reference to “public office” fails to recognise corruption in the private sector.

It is indeed an arduous task to come up with an exhaustive definition of corruption since its meaning can vary at different times in different societies.

One may, therefore, agree that describing corruption is like describing an elephant – different descriptions, each lacking in some aspect, but hitherto recognisable.

Call me biased, but Prophet Muhammad’s admonition of “risywah” – the Arabic word for bribery – puts in context what corruption entails: a giver (“al-rasyi”) and a taker or recipient (“al-murtasyi”).

We are taught that both the giver and taker invoke the curse of God and will be sin-binned in hell for such a heinous act.

Therefore, a Muslim should not be the giver nor the taker, under any circumstances. If a Muslim is not the giver, then he should not be the taker. He is forbidden from taking it.

The admonition against corruption is strengthened by another Hadith where it was reported that Prophet Muhammad had sent a person by the name of Ibn Allatbiah to collect zakat (alms).

The person came back with the zakat and some gifts and he said to the Prophet: “This is the zakat and these gifts were given to me and, thus, they are mine.”

The Prophet replied: “Why does an employee who we send to collect zakat come back to say this is zakat and these are gifts given to me? Would anybody have given him these gifts had he stayed in his mother’s home?

“By God, anyone who takes these gifts when he is on a public mission will carry its burden on the Day of Judgment.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

So, why the claim against non-Muslims and non-Bumiputeras as being the root cause of corruption? - FMT

Hafiz Hassan is an FMT reader.

The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.