Debt in Islam: Survey in Consumer Perception

Abstract

Consumption is closely related to planning household expenses to purchase goods and services to meet the demands of living needs. The economic climate has now shown the tendency of society to over spending which is difficult to control leading to high debt. The household debt issue is seen as a crisis with great impact in influencing the macroeconomic stability level of a country. The negative effects of consumption activities in this modern economy cannot be healed unless the Muslim community return to the true understanding of Islamic consumption concept. This study aimed to examine the concept of debt in Islamic consumerism as household debt also serves as an injection to consumption. This study used descriptive analysis on the consumerism concept according to Islam and its relation to debt by referring to the Quran, hadith and literature review. Secondary data were taken from websites and research papers. The findings of the study showed that the consumption theory in the Islamic economy is able to provide a good and practical way of spending without causing inflation and dissipate that will inevitably lead to debt problems.