Interest-Free Credit Program

Introduction

Darul Khidmah aims to protect the poor, destitute, neglected, financially exploited, and deprived people of Bangladesh from the epidemic of poverty, encouraging them to obey the commands of Allah and His final Messenger (peace be upon him). When ‘Ma’ruf’ (good deeds) are established in society, ‘Insaf’ (justice) is also established. Since justice is not established in our society, people are exploited, neglected, and deprived of their rights. There is a vast difference between the affluent people and the poor and deprived people in our society. A small number of people own most of the society’s wealth, while the majority own very little. This disparity in wealth distribution has arisen due to the lack of Islamic justice. 90% of the world’s wealth is owned by 10% of the people.

Half of our society consists of women, and most of these women are unemployed for a significant period. Since the majority of society is exploited, deprived, and afflicted by the epidemic of poverty, most women are also poor, helpless, and neglected. Taking advantage of the sky-high economic inequality prevailing in society, hundreds of NGOs have been active in every corner of Bangladesh for a long time with interest-based programs called microcredit or microfinance projects, to keep society away from Islamic justice. By slightly numbing the conscious people of society, they are destroying the foundation of our social structure, families, and exploiting women very cleverly by feeding them the poison of interest in the guise of sweetness, and firmly establishing their organizations as capitalist institutions. These organizations have become deep and strong-rooted giants in society by establishing various types of business institutions, hospitals, clinics, educational institutions, banks, etc. And we, who are struggling to establish Islamic justice in society and ensure food, clothing, medical care, shelter, and education for every man and woman, are somewhat unaware, indifferent, and apathetic about the great sin of interest, which is throwing us into a great pit of injustice, oppression, and exploitation.

A beautiful and humanitarian society based on Islamic justice can be established only by eradicating interest, properly implementing the Zakat system and inheritance laws, prohibiting Haram (forbidden) income and expenditure, enhancing Halal (lawful) income and expenditure, and permanently closing all avenues, tunnels, and loopholes for becoming wealthy through exploitation by accumulating wealth. The eradication of interest and the introduction of Zakat are the best ways to eliminate inequality in society.

It is not possible to understand why an interest-free loan project is necessary without a good understanding of the horrors of interest and its economically devastating effects.

Darul Khidmah has been established in some specific, identified, and designated areas of Bangladesh to eradicate the epidemic of poverty and interest and the darkness of illiteracy and miseducation from society through some Allah-conscious, competent men and women who are determined to use their competence and labor efficiently.

Darul Khidmah has been established to encourage the effort to establish a just Islamic society by launching interest-free Qardan Hasanah projects as an integral part of poverty eradication programs, providing low-cost or free medical treatment to the poor, providing scholarships to meritorious poor students, arranging education for boys and girls deprived of school or madrasa education, teaching men and women to recite the Quran correctly, and distributing food and clothing during Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha.

‘Munkar’ (evil), injustice, falsehood, oppression, and exploitation are all the same thing. Well-thought-out programs are needed to collectively eliminate these evil wounds from society and to eradicate poverty, economic anarchy and exploitation, and the darkness of illiteracy and miseducation. Darul Khidmah has been created to eliminate poverty, illiteracy, miseducation, and economic exploitation from the body of society.

Objectives

Darul Khidmah has been established to encourage the path toward building an interest-free, Zakat-based society and to make efforts to eradicate poverty, illiteracy, miseducation, and the pain of disease. The interest-free loan project aims to please Almighty Allah by assisting in poverty alleviation through interest-free loan projects and helping poor, insolvent but not helpless men and women become self-reliant by providing them with interest-free loans repayable in installments.

Goals

1. To provide opportunities for earning Halal (lawful) income and to save from Haram (forbidden) by encouraging insolvent and economically distressed men/women to avoid interest-based transactions.
2. To make efforts to make insolvent men/women and their families self-reliant by providing them with interest-free loans for production-oriented and income-generating activities.
3. To try to gradually save society from the terrible consequences of interest by enabling insolvent and struggling men/women to use interest-free loans in productive activities.
4. To inform the public through mass awareness that the current interest-based microfinance activities are cleverly making poor people dependent instead of self-reliant.
5. To encourage wealthy Islamic individuals and Islamic organizations in society to launch interest-free Qardan Hasanah projects in place of interest-based microfinance projects.
6. To try to eradicate injustice and falsehood from society and establish justice and truth through long-term planning.
7. To strive to achieve the pleasure of Allah by implementing interest-free small loan projects or interest-free loan projects repayable in installments without interest and charges as an integral part of poverty alleviation programs from a specific area.