The children of the Rhine lament their looted gold

Behind the naïve suggestion that the coveting of gold, and of the outward power wielded by gold, is the source of all evil, Wagner himself saw an implication of much deeper relevance: that material acquisitiveness (more truly, the neurotic insecurity of which acquisitiveness is one symptom) may drive out love, by which in this context he meant all the unifying force of sympathy and compassion as well as the mutual desire of men and women.

Robert Donington writes of the coveting of gold in Wagner's Ring and its Symbols. In today's news the Church of England announces it will work with credit unions to counter loan sharks. In the Muslim world the enduring appeal of trust-based hawala financial networks confounds and disturbs Western governments. In Das Rheingold Loge sings of how the children of the Rhine lament their looted gold. In his book The New Wagnerian Abdalqadir as-Sufi condemns Western usury and advocates a gold based Shari‘ah currency. Are we ready for an Islamic interpretation of Wagner?

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