On 11 June 2021, in their budget announcement, Pakistan’s rulers made great fanfare of reducing taxation on certain sectors and increasing the salaries of government employees. Then, within days, the mouthpieces of the rulers made an even greater fanfare, through every platform available to them. However, in the same budget, Pakistan’s rulers increased overall taxation to a historic high of nearly six trillion rupees, which means the budget is akin to putting in one pocket, only to take out even more from the other. Moreover, Pakistan’s rulers intend to take tax from everyone without regard for Islam, which does not take Zakah revenues from the poor and indebted, rather Zakah is their right. Worse still, these rulers will spend over three trillion rupees upon making payments of interest, even though interest is a major sin in Islam and an invitation of war from Allah (swt) and His Messenger (saw). So why the great fanfare?! Rather than refusing to pay the 3 trillion rupees in interest as Islam mandates, Pakistan’s rulers will be taking even more…
