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| The
boycott has spread across Muslim countries.
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Additional
Reporting By Waheed Taja, IOL Damascus Correspondent
DAMASCUS,
July 3 (IslamOnline) – A prominent Muslim Scholar in Syria said
Wednesday, July 3, that it is not permissible to purchase American
products manufactured in the Arab and Islamic world as long as part of
its profits goes to the mother American company.
Dr.
Mohammad Saeed Al-Bouti, head of the Beliefs and Religions Department
in Islamic Law (Shariaa) School, Damascus University, received a
question about “the Islamic ruling on purchasing American products
manufactured locally, even if most of the profit goes to the local
owners.”
In
his fatwa, Al-Bouti said: “The American products which must be
boycotted are those whose revenues go to the U.S. such as American
cigarettes and restaurants. There are too many of these companies in
our countries.”
He
added that these products, which are manufactured in Arab and Islamic
countries by franchise agreements given by American companies, must
not be purchased, because part of its profit goes automatically to
these companies. From these he excluded the products of originally
U.S.-owned companies that have been purchased by Muslims. These, he
said are no longer considered American but could be considered local.
“Boycotting
American and Israeli products are compulsory and it is the Jihad
[struggle] that every Muslim can carry out in face of the Israeli
aggression and those who support it,” said Al-Bouti.
Similar
fatwas (Islamic rulings) have been issued in the past by other Muslim
scholars. Dr. Yousef Al-Qaradawi of Egypt said that the means to
support Palestine Muslim brethren is a complete boycott of the
enemies’ goods.
“Each
riyal, dirham …etc. used to buy their [U.S., Israeli] goods
eventually becomes a bullet fired at the hearts of a brother or a
child in Palestine,” he said. “For this reason, it is an
obligation not to help them. To buy their goods is to support tyranny,
oppression and aggression. Buying goods from them will strengthen
them; our duty is to make them as weak as we can.”
“American
goods, exactly like ‘Israeli’ goods, are forbidden. It is also
forbidden to advertise these goods,” Al-Qaradawi added. “America
today is a second Israel. It totally supports the Zionist entity. The
usurper could not do this without the support of America.
“Israel’s” unjustifiable destruction and vandalism of everything
has been using American money, American weapons, and the American
veto. America has done this for decades without suffering the
consequences of any punishment or protests about their oppressive and
prejudiced position from the Islamic world.”
Al-Qaradawi
added that the time has come for the Islamic Ummah (people) to say
“No” to America, “NO” to its companies, and “NO” to its
goods, which swamp our markets.
If
the consumer buying Jewish or American goods is committing a major
sin, surely the merchant buying these goods and acting as an agent is
the greatest sinner, he added. Even if the company works under a
different name, they know they are deceiving people.
Regarding the impact of boycott on Arab economies, Dr. Hussein
Shihata, Professor of Islamic Economy at the School of Commerce,
Al-Azhar University, said that the negative effects may be minimized
with good planning.
“When
boycotting American and Zionist products, there arises the need to
make a well arranged plan for the boycott to make it effective, and to
minimize its negative effects on us. We should bear in mind that this
is a form of waging economic war on the enemies, and war always
necessitates sacrifice; as we know, there is no achievement without
pains.
“So
it is a fact that the boycott has some side effects, but the losses it
will inflict on the enemy will be much greater. Besides, we must not
neglect that, as part of the positive results of the boycott, people
will shift to purchasing local products and services, and this will
result in economic advancement and help in upgrading of quality.
“In
addition, the boycott, in the long run, will help Muslims depend on
their own potentials in manufacturing their needs, thus creating a
form of self-sufficiency.”
Another
scholar, Dr. Monzer Kahf, a prominent Muslim economist and counselor,
said that despite the fact that McDonald, KFC, Pepsi, Coca Cola and
other American brands operating in the Gulf and most Arab countries
are locally owned and their profits go to local owners, Muslim and non
Muslim alike, these companies are granted franchise by the American
mother companies; hence, they use their products and systems and pay
them either an annual lump sum amount or in accordance with their sale
or a combination of both.”
The
real problem with these products, he added, is that they are not only
using American products and paying franchise fees, but they also
represent the "American culture."
“I
think the businessmen who started them in our Muslim countries have
done a grave mistake by importing the 'American way of life' in place
of our traditional hommos [chick peas], fool [beans], shawerma,
falafel/ta'miyyah [mashed beans], kebab [fried meat], booza
[traditional ice cream] and other traditional fast food that you see
all over the Muslim land from Morocco to Malaysia and Indonesia,”
said Dr. Kahf.
Other
Muslim scholars who have also issued fatwas on the boycott include
names like Dr. Fu’ad Mukhaymar, the late Azharite scholar and the
head of the Sunni Egyptian Institutions in Egypt, and Dr. As-Sayed
Nuh, the prominent Azharite scholar, and professor of Hadith in Kuwait
University.
