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The fight against
corruption and fraud: An Islamic perspective
By SALISU SHEHU
Nigeria as a nation has been endowed and blessed with abundant resources
ranging from human to various forms of natural resources. The hugeness of
these resources is such that, if they were to be properly exploited,
harnessed, managed and utilized Nigeria could have reached greater heights
of development and progress. Unfortunately for the country such resources as
vast as they are, have either been left unexploited, underutilized or
wantonly defrauded and mischievously embezzled (Shehu, 1997).
Corruption and fraud as acts of criminal deception and betrayal of trust, in
all their forms and manifestations, have not only been perfected in Nigeria
but have become the order of the day — a means of earning a living. Though,
not legally institutionalized, fraud and corruption have certainly been
tacitly approved and conventionally legitimized. Fraudsters and corrupt
public figures have become celebrities just as they have been hailed as
heroes. Conversely however, trustworthy and credible persons have almost
been ostracized and condemned. The society is far from being upright, normal
and balanced, because all sectors of our national life have been penetrated
and influenced by fraud and corruption.
For a number of years, the country has come up with laudable and commendable
budgets. Even if these budgets were not perfect, they are certainly good and
sufficiently reliable. Unfortunately, corruption and fraud have always
impeded their successful implementation. Many successive governments have
made frantic attempts to fight fraud and corruption, just as numerous steps
and measures have been taken in the same direction. Sometimes with serious
commitment and in some cases, with fraudulent motives; such attempts have
hardly yielded fruitful results. Not long ago, serious allegations of
monumental bribery and corruption have been leveled against many top
government functionaries at federal, state and local government levels, but
these have been swept under the carpet. Still, the government wants to be
trusted by the people, in its fight against corruption. This attitude is in
fact a form of fraud and corruption in itself There is little wonder in this
because, such attempts are not based on any system of faith and morality. In
most cases, they are guided by wishful desires to show-off and perhaps,
please the citizens.
In our bid to fight, prevent and control fraud and corruption, it is
imperative to explore and try different and various perspectives and ways.
The Islamic perspective of fraud prevention and control is one of such
approaches that was never, and has not been tried. As an all-inclusive and
comprehensive system, the Islamic approach to fraud prevention and control
is certainly reliable, perfect and greatly relevant to our time and
circumstances. And attempt has been made here at presenting briefly, the
teachings of Islam against corruption and fraud.
Moral responsibility, trust and probity in Islam
The teachings of Islam against corruption and fraud begin from its
injunctions on morality and all sorts of virtuous conducts. The epitome of
morality in Islam is righteousness in conduct and uprightness in character.
These lie at the root and also at the centre of lslamic faith and message.
The Prophet of Islam (Muhammad, S.A.W.) demonstrated to us the fundamental
position of righteous conducts in Islam when he says that, “Lo! I have been
sent to fulfill and perfect (the teaching and practice) of virtuous conduct”
(Reported by Bukhari)
The foremost of the righteous conducts which Islam enjoins Muslims to
possess are trustworthiness, honesty, truthfulness and probity. These are so
much important in the teachings of Islam to the extent that in almost all
the descriptions of true and faithful believers in the Qur’an they feature
prominently. For example, while describing the real believers who are
successful, Allah says they are:
Those who are faithfully true to their Amanat (all the duties which Allah
has ordained, honesty, moral responsibility and trusts) and to their
covenants. (Qur’an, 23:8).
In the same way, Islam teaches us to be generally good and righteous in all
our dealings and affairs and to keep our promises and respect our contracts
and deals.
Allah speaks to us in the Qur’an thus:
Verily, Allah enjoins Al- ‘Adl justice) and Al-Ihsan (righteousness) and
giving (help) to kith and kin, and forbids all shameful and evil deeds and
(all kinds of oppression. He admonishes you, that you may take heed. Fulfil
the convenant of God when ye have entered into it, and break not your oaths
after ye have confirmed them; Indeed ye have made God your surety; for God
knoweth all that ye do... And take not your oaths to practice deception
between yourselves, with the result that someone’s foot may slip after it
was firmly planted, and ye may have to taste the evil (consequences) of
having hindered (men) from the path of God, and a mighty wrath descends on
you (Qur’an, 16:91, 92 and 94).
From the foregoing, it can be seen that Islam has really made conducts of
honesty, trustworthiness and probity part and parcel of faith. This means
that a Muslim is guided by his faith in discharging his obligations and in
keeping his trust. He believes that Allah shall call him to account for all
his deeds and deals and that nothing of this is hidden from God. A system of
accountability and public trust built upon this kind of faith is more
enduring, sincere and potent in guiding people’s actions in both public and
private services. No good and practicing Muslim therefore, will ever be
corrupt, dishonest, fraudulent and deceitful. He believes that keeping his
trust and being honest in all his affairs at home and in public life is an
important aspect of worship to Allah. It is therefore, important to instill
the fear of God in the minds of people if at all we really want to fight
fraud and corruption.
Islamic teachings against corruption and fraud
In the preceding section, the teachings of Islam on moral conduct relating
to trust, honesty and probity have been presented briefly. These conducts as
it can be seen are the direct opposite of corruption and fraud. It may be
sufficient even by that, to understand the position of Islam against fraud.
Islam does not approve of fraud in all its forms and dimensions. It is
totally condemned and has been categorized under grave sins in Islam. These
are sins that have been greatly abhorred and its perpetrators have been
condemned as wicked miscreants. Some of the various levels and forms of
fraud and corruption prohibited in Islam have been presented by Al-Jaza’iri
(1976) as follows:
i. To present a fake item to a person as an original one.
ii. To reveal some good part of a commodity and hide its bad or corrupt
side.
iii. To make false expressions to a person in any form of dealings in a bid
to make him regard you as true.
iv. To try to corrupt a person’s wealth, wife, son, servant, friend by
treacherous means.
v. To betray one’s trust and to be dishonest after being entrusted with a
wealth or any kind of trust. All these are aspect of fraud and corruption
condemned in Islam. There are other ways of presenting the teachings of
Islam against fraud.
Corruption and fraud at interpersonal, intergroup and partnership levels
Islam prohibits fraudulent behaviours against one another. It enjoins that
in our dealings with our friends, spouses and business partners, and or with
our leaders or followers as the case may be, we should guard against fraud.
Truthfulness, honesty and mutual trust should guide our relationships. The
Prophet (S.A.W.) says, it is only a hypocrite that lies, deceives, betrays
trust and fails his promises. (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim). In another
saying, the Prophet (S.A.W.) says, “Allah is the third party in any
partnership or association between two persons, as long as one does not
betray the other. If that happens Allah stays clear of it.”
Corruption and fraud in business transactions
All forms of business transactions that are prone to or characterized by
cheating, deceit and double-dealing are disapproved of in Islam. Any wealth
earned however, through any of the evil ways mentioned above is unlawful and
illegal (haraam). Muslims therefore have been enjoined to find lawful means
of earning a living. ln this regard, Abdalati (nd) says:
Business transactions enjoy a great deal of attention from Islam. Honest
trade is permitted and blessed by God. This may be carried out through
individuals, companies, agencies and the like. But all business deals should
be concluded with frankness and honesty. Cheating hiding defects of
merchandise from the dealers, exploiting the needs of customers, monopoly of
stocks to force one ‘s own prices on buyers are all sinful acts and
punishable by the Islamic law. If one is to make a decent living, it has to
be made through honest ways and hard endeavour (p.’2 7,).
All forms of business transactions in Islam must be free from fraud in order
to make what is earned out of it to be legitimate. Some examples of Islamic
condemnation of fraud in business transactions are:
Corruption and fraud in measuring a commodity or setting up a scale
A whole chapter of the Qur’an is dedicated to this. In very clear terms
Allah condemns those who defraud the measure or the scale. He says:
Woe to those that deal in fraud, those who when they have to receive by
measure from men, exact full measure, but when they have to give by measure
or weight to men give less than due, Do they not thirds. they will be called
to account? On a mighty Day (‘Qur’an 83:1-5).
In another verse Allah says:
So establish weight with justice and fall not short in the balance ( Qur
‘an55:9)
Corruption and fraud in the sale of essential
commodities and foodstuff
In all forms of trade and commerce, Islam enjoins truthfulness and honesty.
Whatever a Muslim sells, if it has any form of defect it must be revealed by
the seller. It was reported that one day, the Prophet (S.A.W.) entered the
market. He headed to a bowl of grains. On reaching there he dipped his hand
into it. He felt some wetness. He asked the seller, “what is this?” The
latter said,”it was made wet by rain”. The Prophet (S.A.W.) then said, “Why
did you not put it on top?” Then the Prophet (S.A.W.) said, “Whoever
defrauds us is not part of us” (Report by Ahmad). in another report by
Haakim and al-Baihaqi, the Prophet (S.A.W.) says: “It is not lawful for any
person selling a community to hide its defect, nor is it lawful even for a
person who is aware of it unless he reveals it”.
In another prophetic tradition fraud has been described as a cause of doom,
disaster and lack of prosperity in trading. The Prophet (S.A.W.) says “the
buyer and seller are at liberty (to have options) as they do not separate
(and discontinue their bargain). If they are truthful to each other their
trading will be blessed. But if they lie and defraud, the blessing of their
trade will be blotted” (reported by Bukhari)
Corruption and fraud in public responsibility and leadership
This is the aspect of fraud that has direct bearing to the subject matter of
this book. The preceeding ones were presented because in one way or the
other they are also relevant to us in this regard.
The most hateful form of fraud in Islam is that committed in public office
or responsibility or any level of leadership. In Islam, public
responsibility and leadership are a trust. Whatever position a person holds
in any public office he/she is definitely holding a trust as is clearly
stated in the Hadith of Abu Dharr al-Ghifari cited earlier, wherein the
Prophet (S.A.W.) tells him that, “it is a trust”. He will be called on the
Day of Judgement to account for his actions and stewardship while holding
that particular post. In unequivocal terms, Islam condemns all kinds of
fraudulent behaviours shown in any such capacity. Allah says in the Qur’an:
O you who believe! Betray not Allah and His Messenger, nor betray knowingly
your amaanaat (things entrusted to you, all the duties which Allah has
ordained for you), (Qur’an, 8:27).
Islam classifies fraud in public responsibility and leadership into several
categories and each is considered a serious betrayal of trust. Some of the
categories are:
1. Looting in public treasury or trust
Any form of accumulation from the public treasury of prioperty is condemned
in Islam, however little it may be. Even if it were from war booty before
the distribution, whatever is taken is a fraud. The Prophet 9S.A.W.) says in
this regard:
“Whatever we assign to a public worker and conceals (t akes away) a needle
or something above it is fraud (gindul) and shall definitely come with it on
the Day of Judgement”
In a more elaborate version, the Prophet (S.A.W) was reported to have said:
“Don ‘t commit (Ghulul (fraud) for I should not like to see anyone among you
on the Day of Resurrection carrying over his neck a sheep that will be
bleating, or carrying over his neck a horse that will be neighing... Nor
should I like to see a man carrying over his neck a camel that will be
grunting.., or a one carrying over his neck gold and silver and saying,
Allah ‘s Messenger! Intercede with Allah for me And I will say: ‘I can ‘t
help you for I conveyed Allah ‘s Message to you” (reported by Bukhar).
In the Qur’an, Allah Himself says about fraud in form of looting that:
It is not for any Prophet to take illegally a part of the booty (ghulul),
and whosoever deceives (defrauds) his companions as regards the booty, he
shall bring forth on the Day of Resurrection that which he took (illegally).
Then every person shall be paid in full what he has earned and they shall
not be dealt with unjustly (Qur ‘an, 3:161).
Explaining how this should be enforced by the Amir/Sultan
(president/governor, etc) in Dhiya al — Hukkaam, Sheikh Abdullahi Fodiyo
states it is an essential obligation upon him that he should be examining
his:
Employees (‘Subordinates,,), by seeking to know about them, by counting
their wealth before their appointment, and by looking from time to time into
their works. He shall rebuke anyone who fails in his duty, dismiss those who
transgress, and replace any person against who many complaints were made.
Whoever is found to have wealth above what he earns from his work, the ruler
shall confiscate and restore it to the treasury. If he is doubtful about the
origin of the wealth, he shall confiscate half of it from the employee.
The ruler should be to his employee like a shepherd among wild lions: they
look after his subjects for him and he looks after them. All corruptions
come from evil employees. The ruler should investigate the case of any
person who such as a person in whose house wine and immoral persons are
testified by competent witnesses, to have existed is strongly suspected of
top moral corruption. He shall investigate the allegation: If it is true, he
should punish the accused and stamp out the corruption, otherwise he shall
warn and chide him (p.7, from the translation of Shehu Yamusa).
In several places in his writings Sheikh Abdu llahi Fodiyo tells us that
this is what used to be the practice of the second Caliph — Umar ibn aI —
Khattaab (R.A), and indeed it is popular in the stories of Umar (R.A)
recorded in the books of Islamic history.
Looting in public treasury or trust
Any form of accumulation from the public treasury or property is condemned
in Islam however little it may be. Even if it were from war booty before its
distribution, whatever is taken is a fraud. The Prophet (S.A.W.) says in
this regard:
Whatever we assign to a public worker and conceals (takes away) a needle or
something above it is fraud (ghulul) and shall definitely come with it on
the Day of Judgement “(Reported by Muslim)
In a more elaborate version, the Prophet (S.A.W.) was reported to have said:
Taking of bribe or any form of gratification
While in office a Muslim should never take any form of gratification or
bribe. Doing this is condemned as fraud and corruption in Islam and it
attracts the curse of Allah upon the person who partakes in it. It was
reported that the Prophet (S.A.W.) assigned a person to gather the wealth of
Zakaat. He was given some gifts after he co!!ected what was due for the
Zakaat. On returning he presented the Zakaat wealth and withheld some saying
they were gifts given to him. On this the Prophet (S.A.W.) delivered a
special sermon saying, “How can a person be appointed on a public assignment
then he shall come and say this is for you, and this is a gift given to me?
What if he had stayed in his niother’s apartment and see would he have been
given any of such gifts?” (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)
This means that as long as a person is awarded some form of stipend/salary
for his responsibility whatever he receives from his subjects or clients is
a corruption and fraud. Sheikh Abdullahi Fodiyo (Rahimahullahu) gave a clear
and unambiguous ruling on this in his ‘Dhiya a! — Sultaan wa Ghirihi mm a! —
Ikhwaan’ He says:
Of the kinds of wealth that are made unlawful by Allah to the Umaraa wa
ghairihm (Rulers and others — their subordinates and employees) are all
those obtained through zulm (injustice and oppressive exploitation) And
(one) type of zulm is al — rishaa (bribes) given to the Sultan
(president/governor/chairman), or the Qadc judje and the aamil (public
wogker/civil servant. That is to collect something from one of two
disputants or from both of them before rendering judgement or even after it.
Similarly acceptance of (ordinary) gifts by the Sultan from the
subjects/citizens is the gate to all evils. Once gifts find inroads to a
ruler/leader justice and equity and righteousness instantly get stripped off
from him (p. 174 in Majmu ‘atu al — Dhiya ‘aat).
Undue favouritism and nfair treatment of subjects or clients
If a person is holding a public office or post of leadership and he treats
or deals with his subjects unfairly with undue discrimination against others
in favour of some, that is also condemned as corruption and fraud in Islam.
This means that appointments to positionsThe Prophet (S.A.W.) says:
“Whoever appoints a person as a leader (in any way) upon a group of people
while there is one more deserving and qualified among them in the sight of
Allah, he has certainly betrayed/defrauded Allah, His Messenger and the
believers” (Reported by Hakim).
In ‘Bayaan Wujub al — Hijrah’ Shehu Dan Fodiyo (Rahimahullah) described this
kind of action as one of the practices wherewith a nation cannot survive. He
says:
A man was once asked why the rule of Sasanid dynasty had degenerated to the
extent it had. He said that was because they had appointed low men to high
posts. Concerning this the sages said that the death of one thousand men of
high rank is less serious than one man of low rank being elevated (above the
station he is fitted for) ; and it is a proverbial saying that states
decline through giving preference to men of low rank
One of the swiftest ways of destroying a kingdom is to give preference to
one particular tribe over another, or to show favour to one group of people
rather than another, and draw near those who should be kept away and keep
away those who should be drawn near. A king was asked, after he had lost his
throne, “What brought your rule to an end?” He replied, “Being intransigent
in my views and neglecting to seek advice.” (p.7, from the translation of El
— Masri).
Blocking people’s rights and needs
A person holding a position of leadership or public office in Islam is
supposed to be servant to the people. It does not matter what position he
holds even if he were the overall leader. He is therefore expected to give
priority to serving his people than his selfish desires and needs. If he
does the reverse he is condemned as corrupt and fraudulent leader. The
Prophet (S.A.W.) says:
Whoever is appointed to run the affairs of Muslims (in any capacity) but
sets a barrier between himself and people’s needs and companionship, Allah
shall set a barrier between Him and his needs on the Day of Judgement
(Reported by Abu-Dawoud and Tirmidhi).
From the fore-going discussions and submissions, it becomes clear that Islam
totally condemns fraud and corruption in all forms of it. But what is
important in this regard is the fact that avoiding fraud in Islam is a
matter of faith. For this reason, one can assert that the Islamic approach
has the efficacy of redeeming our nations from the abyss of total
degeneration. To conclude this chapter the following verse which deplores
and prohibits all forms of illegal means of acquiring any wealth is a. very
concise summary of our major lessons in this presentation:
And eat not another man’s property unjustly (in any illegal way e.g stealing
robbing, deceiving, fraud, nor give bribery to the rulers (judge before
presenting your cases) that you may knowingly eat up a part of the property
of others sinfully (Qur’an, 2:188).
Conclusion
From the fore-going discussions and submissions, it becomes clear that Islam
totally condemns fraud and corruption in all forms of it. But what is
important in this regard is the fact that avoiding fraud in Islam is a
matter of faith. For this reason, one can assert that the Islamic approach
has the efficacy of redeeming our nations from the abyss of total
degeneration. But the most important thing is match words with action.
Paying lip service to matters of serious magnitude and importance that have
direct bearing to the destiny of a community or a nation would only attract
wrath of Allah. He says in the Q ur’an.
0 you who believe why do you say that which you do not do? It is most
hateful in the sight of Allah to say that which you do not do (Qur ‘an: 62:
2 —3).
To conclude this paper the following verse which deplores and prohibits all
fornis of illegal means of acquiring any wealth is a very concise summary of
our major lessons in this presentation:
And eat up not another’s property unjustly (in any illegal way eg stealing,
robbing, deceiving, fraud) nor give bribery to the rulers (judge before
presenting your cases) that you may knowingly eat up a part of the property
of others sinfully (Qur’an, 2:188).
SHEHU is of Department of Education, Bayero University, Kano.
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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24 2006