Mufti Taqi Usmani proposed the Islamic banking system
The elite business class, bankers all the way down to bond traders have been hoarding foreign currency for quite some time now which causes heavy inflation. The lack of it makes it a commodity thereby exploiting and increasing its value by the hoarders. He simply released a fatwa in which he states that wealth hoarding is tantamount to treason. Mufti Taqi Usmani Sb said about hoarding food and brought an analogy towards hoarding money. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with what he said. There are a saying and authentic quote from Imam Abu Yousuf (R) about hoarding money too. Thus, this Hadith is not only restricted to hoarding food but anything that is in shortage and used against people/nations to earn profit which includes money too.
“…That is because they say, “Trade is [just] like interest.” But Allah has permitted trade and has forbidden interest…”
Quran 2:275
Also, you don’t need to be an expert in Islamic injunctions and economics to see what’s happening here. It’s a surface-level problem that the artificial demand for foreign exchange is a strong variable in rupee devaluation which is triggering inflation that would eventually impact the prices of imported goods. Hoarding to hedge risk in such a scenario is treasonous under any ethical framework. Let me break it down, dollar accumulation shall trigger further devaluation which shall result in some sort of import ban or default hence no basic food like oil, and no jobs. It’s DAMAGING YOUR COUNTRY! Simple! even if mufti sahib doesn’t say anything, use some sense and stop making money at the cost of the overall economy.
