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| Introduction to Economic System of Islam |
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In this article, we will focus on part of the problem, the economic one; and will outline the vision Islam provides for the resources with which Muslims have been entrusted by Allah (swt). The whole of the Muslim world today is in a dire situation. Despite tremendous stores of resources, in the form of fuels and minerals, a young and growing population and a glorious past; the Ummah of Mohammed (saws) is characterised today by incompetence, poverty and corruption, since having fallen prey to ravage and rape of non-Islamic rule. The Economic System of Islam is based on four principles: 1. All wealth belongs to Allah (swt) - 2. The community is the trustee of the wealth
- 3. Hoarding of wealth is prohibited - 4. Circulation of wealth is a duty - Based on these principles, one striking difference between the Islamic view and the man-made systems that presently plague the earth, i.e. communism/socialism and capitalism, is the way in which it views the economic problem. Islam uniquely considers the economic problem as being one of the means of distribution, and Muslims do not share the obsession of capitalists and communists with production. For Islam does not view that there is a relative scarcity of resources. That is because it differentiates between the basic needs and luxuries. There are enough resources on earth to secure the basic needs (food, clothing and shelter) of fifty billion human beings, not merely the present five billion. Starvation today in Africa and elsewhere is a monument to this gross misunderstanding. They suffer due to maldistribution. Nigeria alone, for example, could support the whole of Africa if it was left to develop under Islam. Such a statement has precedence. Under Islam it was Africa that sent food to relieve famine in Medina during the rule of Omar bin Al-Khattab. Currently, resources are being siphoned off by the so called developed countries, using institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and NGO's (Non Governmental Organisations) and tactics such as loans and structural deficit replanning. So it is nonsense to assess the wealth of the land by the GNP (Gross National Product) or the average income per capita. For it says nothing of the well being of each citizen. In America the champion of capitalism, poverty is so great that there is a new class of people, the 'Fourth' or under class. In Cairo, the average income does obscure the fact that while some reside in penthouse flats, others settle for the night in cemeteries. Nor does the GNP expose the fact that the Muslim land should be one, and hence it is a crime that the Gulf region paid the multi-billion bill of the Gulf War and funded London Zoo, but that wealthy region has not helped those who are afflicted by starvation in other parts of the Muslim world e.g. Ethiopia, Eritrea, Bosnia. Nor does it confront the worldwide conspiracy that the countries that are called the 'Third World' are in fact the 'First World' in terms of resources. For example, it is the phosphates of the Maghrib that enables plastic production, and the fuel of the developing world that powers the cars of the world. Islam alone will break this strangle hold by having such a view. At the same time it does not limit the amount of wealth that is acquired, for this will kill the human desire to work, as happened under socialism, leading to its demise. This shortsightedness will only appear in those who cannot possibly understand fully the nature of Creation, unlike Allah (swt). For Mohammed (saw) said, "The son of Adam, if he had two valleys of gold, would desire a third and would not be satisfied till he bites the dust" Rather Islam limits the way in which wealth is acquired. It denies the 'free' market of Capitalism which has led to the situation of 'survival of the fittest'. This has led directly to the situation where multinational companies have scavangened like parasites Muslim land, unrestricted in their 'freedom'. This would never occur under Khilafah. For example, under Islam, oil is under the public resources. This is in accordance with the Prophet (saws) hadith, "The humans have a right to three things - water, green pastures and fire-based fuels (An-Naar).' Thus, this revenue would be used to secure the needs of the whole Muslim Ummah, and not to line the pockets of casino owners. So the ownership of such multinational companies would be dissolved. Even outside Muslim land, people suffer. In Britain, the old suffer the winter months, as the government exercise their 'freedom' by taxing gas and electricity, which under Islam are public resources. Under the Khilafah such resources would be provided without charge, within a certain quota which would cover the needs of the particular family involved. Instead the Divine Law (Shar'ia) defines numerous transactions by which humans can acquire wealth which is allowed as private property, like the various types of Islamic company formations (e.g. Adnan, Abdan, Mudarabah, and Mufawadah companies). Such companies would have 'fair' access not 'free' access. So, for example, monopolies would be forbidden. One way to secure this is that under Islam there is no copyright or patency laws for products. The hoarding (Al-Ihtikar) of wealth would be outlawed under the Khilafah too. Unlike the ugly situation today where coffee is hoarded and burnt to surface roads, so as to artificially inflate prices by creating 'scarcity' or the famous EC butter mountains. Access to wealth is limited in other ways; in ways that corrupt man-made systems do not consider. Islam considers women as 'ird' (honour). The use of women for advertising, or in pornography is forbidden. Such a world is far removed from one where filth can be bought and sold and is beamed down via satellite to Muslim households, such as the recent worrying epidemics in Pakistan and the Gulf countries. Such a disgusting cultural stranglehold would also be broken by the Islamic system. In addition, the form of currency in Islam will break the economic hold of the kuffar over our countries. In the Khilafah, the currency must be linked to gold or silver. For in Islam, currency (dirhams and dinars) is a means of exchange, not a commodity. So the currency is not bought and sold as is the dollar or pound sterling. This would break the influence America has over the economies of Muslim land, by manipulating the money markets. Having glanced over the economic system in Islam, it can be seen why America and her institutions dread and work hard against the arrival of the Khilafah. Not only will it cut her hands from Muslim wealth, but will dethrone her from her position as the leading state. As it is the economic system that provides the fuel for the foreign policy of the Khilafah - which is Jihad. For example, the Department of Heavy Industry actually comes under the Amir of Jihad, as it is linked with the production of munitions. For such a system to come into being, requires the Ummah to mature in the culture of Islam as a way of life. That is the only way, for example, that the feudal landlords of Pakistan will consent to the redistribution of the land by the state, or the Gulf sheikhs to reassign the oil as public property. Presently, as many Muslims are unaware of Islam's view on economics, they do not work to change the present situation. Due to lack of knowledge, they are completely unaware of the crimes that so called Islamic regimes like Sudan, Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia commit against the Deen in the field of economics. ( These regimes are singled out from other regimes, as the others do not parade themselves as Islamic, and hence divert the Muslims from the obligation of establishing the Khilafah.) All this needs to change, and will only change as we grow in the understanding of Islam as a way of life, and that it will take us out of our present situation. |
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