“Business is not a cancer, but rather an integrated part of society”, said the very first written version of the Salaam Matrix. That version was developed during 2005-06, at a time when the business world was opening up to the ideas of accountability, responsibility, and stewardship. Personally, I was dealing with fellow MBAs some of whom equated good business with cruelty and even being fraudulent and outwitting society. It was at that time that The Salaam Matrix, then called “PC-MoB: The People-Centered Model of Business” declared that business was both vital and sacred. This thematic has been part of my belief in as far as business and trade are concerned.
The Salaam Matrix is a tool explicitly based on Islamic teachings, which lay a great emphasis on the realm of TRANSACTIONS. In the Muslim tradition, Economy is a vital, sacred and integrated part of human social life. There doesn’t exist a concept of money being evil, problematic, or unnecessary–in and of itself. It is the human behaviors surrounding money, and the management of money systems and schemes that can be a source of harm or benefit, as the case may be. It is on this point that the Islamic tradition emphasizes, and demands clarity, honesty, transparency, removal of obstructions, flow of money, vitality and correct inner attitudes and behaviors. The very inner aspects are left to choice, whereas the outer aspects are monitored, controlled and fall under jurisprudential control and oversight. Money matters aren’t entirely left to individuals, since money is deemed a circulatory commodity, like blood in the human body. Society, community and government get to have a say; whereas the person is extensively exhorted to consider right behaviors, and is informed, in the scriptures, of the consequences of right and wrong choices. The consequences are deemed inevitable.
The Salaam Matrix Money Programs
In order to facilitate the understanding and practice of the values of an economy as defined by the Muslim parameters, which aim towards clarity, egalitarianism, welfare and justice, The Salaam Matrix offers a number of teachings and programs, short and long.
Please stay tuned for updates in that regards.
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