Surah Baqarah, verse 283 tells us that when we take a loan, one from another, for a term we must write it down, except when it is a transaction on the spot, when goods and money are… Why don’t you read the verse? Yes, sir. Verse? The verse, which verse? I got the first one. Read the verse because this sort of loose translation is not the right way to go about it. You know, these are the words, but I don’t remember the whole verse. Can I read the English translation? Okay. Surah Baqarah, verse 283. O ye who believe, when you borrow one from another for a fixed period, then write it down, and let a scribe write it in your presence faithfully.
And no scribe should refuse to write, because Allah has taught him, so let him write, and let him who incurs the liability dictate. And he should fear Allah, his Lord, and not diminish… Yes, that would suffice, yes. Now, what is the question? Huzoor’s guidance is requested in the light of the above surah in respect of the following situations and other similar instances. This is a common practice that friends and colleagues borrow small sums from one another, payable later, and no written documents are exchanged. Number two, people traveling together, relatives and friends pay petty expenses to be shared later, contribute as and when required, and no writing is done at the time of payment.
The whole transactions are done verbally. Third, I have quoted three instances. This is common among the ladies, that they join together, each contributing a fixed sum for a period, and the total sum collected each period is received by each by their turn agreed in the beginning of the system. To my knowledge, no receipts are issued while receiving or giving. This is the common practice. So what, would you want to change it? I mean, when you go out for a picnic or something, and somebody buys you an ice cream, you know, or fish and chips, would you go immediately into writing, you know that? Yet the person who sells that to you does it.
So it is, this verse mainly applies to business affairs. And you shouldn’t extend it to these regions of ordinary social behavior, day-to-day life. This verse doesn’t apply to these day-to-day, ordinary, commonplace experiences. But it applies to business transactions, and there everybody must do it. If he does not, then the consequence would not be Allah’s wrath, because this verse does not belong to that category where Allah wants you to do something. If you do not do, then you will incur punishment of Allah.
This verse belongs to a category where it’s an advice for keeping our economic order healthy. And if we ignore this advice, then by the natural economic laws, or social moral laws, we will be automatically punished. So when these transactions have a serious nature, and you don’t commit them to writing, then generally it happens that the differences appear, and sometimes they take the shape of lawsuits and quarrels, and sometimes even end up into murders. So these are the punishments of natural laws of Allah.
So when you don’t do it in ordinary life, number one, don’t consider that you are violating the laws of God, and it’s a sin, because this verse should not be meant to be a religious obligation to the extent that Allah would not be pleased, or Allah would punish you if you don’t do it. It’s a strong economic advice, and a strong social advice as well. If you ignore this advice, you will be punished by the economic and social laws of God. This is why most of the quarrels which are reported to us, even between an Ahmadi and an Ahmadi, revolve around these neglects. Contracts are made verbally, and they are not put to writing, they are not signed.
And imagine the beauty of the Holy Qur’an, that fourteen hundred years ago, when writing was a rare art with the people, particularly with the people of Arabia. The common law was total ignorance of the art of writing, they were illiterate people. And to make it binding upon them, at that time, to commit these things to writing is a very rare thing. No religious book would ever have thought of it, but the Holy Qur’an has done it. So this is the beauty of the teaching, and it also emphasizes the fact that when the age arrives, when everybody would be able to write, read and write, if you still ignore this, then you will be punished, in the sense I have described. And because even in Ahmadiyya community, people are not paying proper attention to such orders, they suffer as a consequence.
They say, I said that, somebody says I said that, and the other one says no, you said that in that meaning and not in this meaning, and so on and so forth, unnecessary quarrel is prolonged and the whole atmosphere of the society is tarnished and destroyed. So this verse should be followed to the maximum in all serious transactions, not in ordinary transactions like we have quoted.
