Foreign Aid to Pakistan – Halal or Haram?

Pakistan is a nation with an overwhelming population of around 98 percent Muslims. So, it is no surprise that money earned from businesses involving practices that are strictly prohibited in the light of Quran and Islamic Shariah are considered Haram. For example, income from gambling, prostitution, selling of alcoholic beverages, porn and interest are all Haram for a Muslim.

In Pakistan, selling of liquor by a Muslim is a prohibited and illegal act under the Islamic Shariah and law. Therefore, income earned by a Muslim from making or selling alcoholic drinks automatically becomes Haram. This leads us to believe that use of any material thing, service or utility bought through this money would be Haram for him as well. So the conclusion is: income from Haram means is also Haram.

It is a well-known fact that Pakistan has been receiving foreign aid for both civilian and military purposes for decades now. The financial aid that flows to Pakistan from Muslim nations, such as, middle-eastern states, normally has no problem as these countries have Islamic laws in place to ensure income is earned through Halal means.

Aid also gets channeled to Pakistan from secular states – countries in Europe and America, etc. It is these countries where a number of businesses like prostitution, gambling, selling of liquor and porn – considered totally unIslamic and Haram in Muslim states – have a full legal cover. These businesses, run under legal licenses, make up a good portion of governments’ direct and indirect sources of income in the form of various duties, levies and taxes.

Now consider this. If a drink contains alcohol, even in a smallest of percentage, let’s say a single drop, it is Haram for a Muslim. Similarly, pork also being Haram, is completely prohibited for consumption by a Muslim; even a single shred of it. It is just like an act of theft. Stealing smallest of coins like quarter, or one of the most expensive cars like Bugatti Veyron would not make the former different from the latter in nature. Yes, both are thefts.

Now, it can be easily understood that for US a sum of its revenues coming from different sources of income also contains a certain percentage that is earned through activities that have long been declared out-of-bound for Muslims.

For the sake of making my point clear, let’s suppose US earns 10 percent of its income through business activities which have been declared Haram in Islam. This should contaminate its total pool of revenue, making it Haram for us. Why? Because, we know that a single drop of alcohol makes the entire drink Haram for a Muslim.

If the above argument holds true, then this reduces the aid to Pakistan from the US into a veritable shot of booze. It is really mind-boggling if this aid can be acceptable to an Islamic country like Pakistan. If it is still acceptable in the light of Islamic Shariah, then there is no problem but in case it is not, then the problem gets extremely complicated. Now, you should ask how?

Just travel back in the history of Pakistan in your mind and recall the numerous occasions and instances where funds coming from the US were utilized in huge amounts. Massive financing was made by the US towards Soviet-Afghan war in late 70′s and throughout 80′s; war on terror, the earthquake in 2005 and floods in 2010 and 2011 are also good examples from the recent past.

The list is too long to be presented here and just by starting to go over it in my mind I am left with a harsh bitterness of liquor in my mouth. How do you feel?