ANALYSIS OF THE INFLUENCE OF LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDE AMONG MUSLIM TEACHERS IN SUNGAI BULOH ON USURY-BASED LOANS

Abstract

Economic transactions based on usury are one of the activities that have been carried out before the advent of Islam and it is still practiced today. From the perspective of celestial religion, economic activities based on usury have adverse implications and injustice especially to the borrowers. Civil servants are a group that earns a steady income even though the country is facing an uncertain economic environment. In Malaysia, teachers are the largest group of civil servants, comprising one-third of the total. The objective of this study was to look at the knowledge among Muslim teachers about the basics of the concept of riba. Furthermore, look at the influence of knowledge in determining their attitude to make a loan or transaction of a product offered by the bank. This study was conducted through research sampling technique with questionnaire method used as research method. Thus, a total of 255 Muslim teachers in the Sungai Buloh district were selected as study participants. The findings show that the majority of Muslim teachers in the Sungai Buloh district have a high level of knowledge about the basics of usury, but in more specific matters it is found that their level of knowledge is moderate. Taking into account the knowledge of teachers on the religious prohibition of engaging in any form of activity that contains elements of usury, it was found that their attitude is quite cautious in choosing transactions in the bank.