With Ramadan already into its second week, the Indonesian Council of Ulema has come out to declare two activities popular at this time of year forbidden: Paying to have money changed and the sale of fireworks.
Abdusshomad Buchori, head of the East Java chapter of the council, also known as the MUI, said the sale of small denominations or crisp new bank notes for profit was haram. (source)
“This is not a law that is issued just by the East Java chapter of the MUI, this is part of the laws of Islam,” he said.
The demand for small denominations and crisp bills usually increases ahead of the Idul Fitri celebration, when friends and family traditionally give children a token amount of money.
MUI chairman Amidhan said Islam strictly forbade interest and mandated money be exchanged in equal amounts.
“Exchanging large bills for smaller bills is certainly allowed, but the value must be the same,” he explained. “If you give a million, you should receive no less than a million.”
Amidhan said the trade in foreign currencies was acceptable in Islam, but making money from selling change was not.
Abdusshomad said the government should change large bills as a not-for-profit service during Ramadan. “This way, it will prevent people from trading in money,” he said.
Separately, Bank Indonesia said that people in Jakarta who needed small denominations could go to the National Monument (Monas), where five mobile units from state-owned banks had been providing the service for free since the start of Ramadan.
“We hope that with these mobile units we can meet the people’s needs for Idul Fitri,” said Hikmah Rinaldi, a senior central bank official. “It is much better than exchanging money on the streets. We don’t charge anything for the service.”
He also said BI was setting up exchange counters at five of Jakarta’s biggest train stations to cater to those returning to their hometowns at the end of the fasting month.
Meanwhile, the local MUI chapter in Solo declared on Tuesday that fireworks were also haram.
“[Lighting fireworks] means burning money, and this shows disrespect for the fortunes that God has accorded,” said Zainal Arifin Adnan, the chapter’s coordinator. “That is why we condemn the lighting and selling of firecrackers.”
He said that besides being a waste of money, lighting fireworks was also dangerous and could disturb others.
The MUI in Solo, Zainal said, had already sent formal letters to the city’s police and mayor, urging them to take action against the sale of fireworks.
“In Islam, we call it mudharat , this refers to something that brings nothing good and only causes trouble,” he said. “We hope the Solo administration and police will follow our recommendations in a strict manner.”
“We will also ask preachers in Solo to spread the word about the MUI ruling,” he added.
But if sales numbers are anything to go by, the MUI might be facing an uphill battle.
Fireworks vendors have already started popping up across Solo and are reporting sales of up to Rp 75,000 ($8.75) a day .
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