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Introduction - 2
The Real Economic Problem - 6
The Causes of Evils in the Economic System - 9
The Solution Suggested by Communism - 15
The Fascist Solution - 17
The Islamic Solution - 18
(Being an Address delivered in the Muslim University, Aligarh on 20th October, 1941).
The economic problem which occupies in these days the center of our
intellectual life had never before come to so much prominence or assumed
the importance it does to-day. I use the word “prominence” because, as a
matter of fact, the importance which economics naturally has for the
life of mankind has always, in every age, impelled individuals,
communities, nations, countries and indeed all men to pay due attention
to it. But in our days this attention has turned into an obsession
leading to the creation of a new science of economics, embodied in
voluminous books, with high-sounding terminology and large organization
at its back. Along with this, new complications have been introduced in
the production, distribution and acquisition of the necessities of life.
As a result of this there is such a plethora of discussion and
scientific research about economic problems, that m face of it all the
other problems of mankind see in to have paled into insignificance.
Strange to say, however, that the object on which the attention of the
whole world has been riveted in this manner, instead of getting any
nearer solution, is becoming more and more complicated. In fact, it has
become a veritable enigma. The abstruse terminology of the science of
economics and the scholarly subtleties and hair splitting of economic
experts have so confounded and mystified the ordinary people that 3 the
poor fellows, on hearing these expert discussions, stand aghast before
the complexity of their economic problem and lose all hope of its
solution,
Apart from the magic of professional complications and the rigmarole of terminology woven round this problem, a further complication has arisen by reason of the fact that the economic problem of man which was, indeed, a part of the larger problem of human life, has been separated from the whole and looked at as if it were an independent problem by itself. And gradually this attitude has taken such a firm root that the economic problem has come to be regarded as the sole problem of life. This is even a greater mistake which has made its solution infinitely difficult. ‘This attitude is, however, utterly unscientific. It is as if an expert in liver diseases isolates the liver from the whole bodily system and, disregarding the position allotted to and occupied by the liver in the human 6 body and its relationship with other bodily organs, starts looking at the liver in isolation; and then becomes so much absorbed in its examination that ultimately the whole bodily frame and physical system appears to him as a vast liver and nothing else. You can very well understand that if the problems of bodily health were sought to be solved by this “liverish" attitude, how impossible of solution they would become and to what extreme dangers will human life be exposed. In the same way if economics is isolated and segregated from the whole of which it is a part and an attempt is made to solve all the problems of life by means of economic panaceas as if man were no more than an economic animal and his moral and spiritual aspirations have no reality apart from his economic endeavors, you should not be surprised if chaos and confusion are the final result.
Believe me, the existence of experts and specialists is one of the many calamities of modern age. A comprehensive and general outlook of hfe and its problems is becoming rare every day. Man has become a toy in the hands of one-eyed specialists of the different sciences and professions.
If there is a physicist, he starts solving the riddle of the universe
on the strength of physics alone. If one is observed by psychology, one
seeks to build up a whole
Man possesses a physical body which is subject to physical laws; from this view-point man is the subject of physics. But he is not a mere physical body so that all his problems could be solved by physics alone. He is a biological being as well, subject to biological law, and from this point of view he is the subject matter of the science of the biology also, but then again he is not merely a biological animal and a complete system of laws for the regulation of life cannot be deduced from the science of biology or zoology. In order to sustain his life, he needs food, clothes and shelter; and viewed from his stand-point economics covers an important aspect of life. But he is not merely an eating, clothing, and shelter-seeking animal so that the whole philosophy of his life could be founded on the basis of economic alone. For the preservation of species man has recourse to reproduction and there is therefore found in him a strong sexual tendency.
Considered from this stand-point the science of sexology is also important for his life. But here again he is not wholly an instrument of production to be examined merely with serological glasses. Man is possessed of a mind furnished with the means of knowledge and cognition and charged with passions and desires. From this point of view psychology covers a large part of his being. But then again he is not mere mind for a complete scheme of his life to be deduced from the principles of psychology. Man is also social being obliged by his very nature to mix with other human beings. From this point of view. many aspects of his life fall under sociology. But his sociability is merely one of the qualities of his existence and it would be foolish if the science of sociology is relied upon to furnish a complete blueprint of his life. Man is an intellectual being whose nature demands the satisfaction of his reason as well. From this point of view rational sciences also satisfy one of his special requirements and demands.
But, again, he is not solely an intellectual being and rational
sciences alone can hardly furnish the full material for a complete plan
of human life. Man is a moral and spiritual
It should be quite clear now that if you wish to understand any problem of your life, it is wrong to confine your attention, microscopically to that particular problem alone or to look upon life as a whole with a preconceived bias in favor of that particular branch of life to which the problem is more nearly related. Rather for a correct understanding and true comprehension you shall have to look at it in its relationship with other problems with a clear idea as to the correct position it occupies in the complete whole and then proceed to examine the matter with an unprejudiced and impartial mind. Similarly, if you find anything wrong with the equilibrium and balance of life and desire to put it right, it will be still more dangerous if you treat one of the problems of life as the whole problem and revolve the whole machinery of existence on that particular point. If you do this, you will merely upset the whole balance once again. The correct method of reform is to examine with an unbiased mind the whole scheme of life, from its basic philosophy right up to the details into which it branches off and then to locate the evil and discover its true nature.
So the main reason for the difficulty encountered in understanding
and correctly solving the economic problem of man is that some people
look at this problem from the point of
Likewise, if the economic stand-point predominates in the spheres of moral, spiritual, Rational, sociological, psychological and other sciences, it will lead to a very great disequilibrium, because in these spheres of life, economics has no application whatsoever. Applied to these spheres economics will convert morality and spirituality into selfishness and materialism, transform, the rational sciences into the culinary arts, infuse business motives and commercial ideas in social conduct and lead psychology to study man as merely an economic animal. Can there be a greater injustice to humanity?
If we look at the question in a plain, straight forward manner, avoiding terminological and professional complications we find the economic problem of man to be no more than this; with a view to sustain and advance human civilization how to arrange economic distribution so as to keep all men supplied of the necessities of existence and to see that every individual in society is provided with opportunities adequate to the development of his personality and the attachment of the highest possible perfection according to his capacity and aptitude.
In the earlier times the economic problem was almost as simple for
men as it is for animals. Infinite means of life were scattered on God’s
good earth. All that was needed to sustain the life of the human
species was available in abundance. Everyone went out to seek his
portion and obtained it from these treasures. No one had to pay the
price of his necessities nor was one man’s portion in the grip of
another. This holds good even today as far as animals are concerned. But
in ancient times almost similar conditions prevailed for mankind. One
could just go out and secure one’s natural food, either in the shape of
fruits or by hunting animals. One could manage to cover one’s body with
natural products and form a shelter and refuge whenever he found a
suitable place. But God did not mean to keep man in this condition for a
long time. He had endowed him with an innate urge to seek out and
substitute collective social life instead of the isolated
Hence if man became social and civilized he did not commit any crime; rather this was the inherent demand of his nature and the deliberate purpose of his Creator.
With the advent of civilization certain things were inevitable, e.g.
1. that the necessities of human life should multiply and no single individual be able to secure all his necessities, some of which must be secured for him by others, while he himself should secure a part of the necessities of others;
2. that the necessities of life should be exchanged and gradually some medium of exchange should be evolved and established;
3. that the means of production for the necessities of life and means of transportation and communication should multiply and
4. that man should take advantage of all the inventions which may come to his knowledge; and that man should Have the satisfaction and assurance that the objects which he has secured by his own industry, the implements with which he works, the ground on which he has built his house, and the place where he carries his professional business, all these will remain in his possession, and after his death be transferred to those who may be nearer and dearer to him than others.
So the appearance of various trades and professions, the system of
purchase and sales, the fixation of prices of commodities, the
introduction of coms as a standard of price and a medium of exchange,
international commerce and export and import business, the utilization
of all sorts of new means of production, and the evolution of the nights
of
(1) that owing to the disparity which nature itself has created in the potentialities and powers of different individuals, some individuals should be able to earn and produce more than they need and some should be able to secure only their bare necessities, while others even less than what they need;
(2) that some individuals should be able to secure a better start in life in consequence of inherited wealth, and some should start their life with fewer means, while others should start their struggle in life without any means whatsoever;
(3) that owing to the operation of natural causes there should be found in every social aggregate man who are unfit to participate in the business of life; for example, children, the aged, the sick and incapacitated persons; and (4) that there should be certain individuals who offer themselves for employment and certain others who secure their services and by this means_ besides. the development of free industry, trade, and agriculture, the relationship of employer and employee assume social Importance.
All these factors are also, in their own way, the natural consequences and phenomena of man’s social life, and their emergence too is by no means an evil which may call for suppression. Unable to trace the real source of the evils which flow from altogether different social causes, many people lose their level headiness and start denouncing individual ownership, money, or machines or the natural inequalities of humanity, and sometimes civilization itself. This is, however, in reality a case of wrong diagnosis and wrong remedy.
Any attempt to check the natural process of social evolution and to eliminate those essential aspects of social life which are the products of basic human nature is, certainly, devoid of all sense and involves a greater possibility of loss than that which is tried to be offset. The real economic problem of man does not consist in finding out how to prevent the development of civilized social life or to interfere with the natural cause of its advance and eliminate its essential aspects; the real problem is how. while keeping intact the natural evolution of social forces, to prevent social tyranny and injustice, to fulfil nature’s demand that every creature should receive Its portion, and to remove those obstacles which cause the faculties and powers of a large number of persons to be wasted away merely on account of lack of necessary means
We should now examine what are the real causes of the present economic evils and what’s the nature of this evil. Evil in the economic system begins when the natural selfishness of man exceeds the limits of moderation. It develops with the aid of certain other immoral habits and receives further support from an inherently defective political system, especially if the latter has no moral basis.
After throwing the whole economic system out of gear, it poisons the
entire social life in all its ramifications. 1 have explained that both
individual ownership of property and the fact of some individuals being
economically better placed than others were in accordance with the
natural scheme of things and are no evils by themselves. No evil effect
could arise from them if ail the mora! qualities of man had had the
opportunity to assert themselves in their proper balance and true
proportion and if externally a political system existed which would
maintain justice at all costs, even if it came to the application of
force. But what transformed these two things into positive evils is the
fact that people who were in a better condition economically owing to
the operation of natural causes fell a prey to selfishness, narrow
mindedness, jealousy, miserliness, greed, dishonesty and worship of the
self. The devil put into their heads that the means of living which they
had acquired in excess of their real needs and to which they had full
proprietary rights. could be spent rightly and rationally in two ways,
viz., (1) in their own comfort, pleasure, recreation, embellishment and
good living and (2) in acquiring further means of living and if possible
in getting hold of the means of other: people, thereby erecting
themselves into veritable demi-gods. The first satanic idea resulted in
the rich refusing to recognize the rights of those members of the
community who were deprived of a share in the distribution of wealth or
who obtained a share less than their real needs. The rich considered it
perfectly correct to leave these people in starvation and destitution.
Their narrowmindedness did not permit them to realize that such an
attitude would breed professional criminals in human society, produce
men steeped in ignorance and meanness, make them a prey to physical
weakness and disease, and that the physical and mental powers of these
persons would be arrested in their development and prevent them from
playing their part in the evolution of human culture and civilization
and this would injure and damage that society as a whole of which the
rich themselves were a part. Not content with this, the wealthy folk
multiplied their necessities of life very much over and above their real
needs, and for the purpose of
This was the result of one part of that satanic guidance. The result
of the second part proved to be worse. In the first place, it 1s
obviously wrong in principle that a person
There are two methods of utilizing the surplus to secure further means, i.e.
(1) that they should be lent on interest, and
(2) that they should be invested in-commercial or industrial undertakings.
Although both these methods differ to some extent in their nature,
the evitable result of their combined action is the division of society
into two classes: one, that small class which possesses means of living
over and above its requirements and employs those means to grab further
means of living; and the other, that large class which possesses means
just according to its needs, or in a measure less than its needs, or
does not possess them at all. The interests of these two classes not
only clash against each other
As this struggle develops the richer class Steadily decreases in
number while the poor class goes on increasing, for the very nature of
this mutual struggle is such that a wealthy individual attracts by force
of his wealth the means possessed by others less wealthy than himself,
thereby throwing the latter down into the lower stratum. in this manner
the means of life in the world are becoming gradually restricted and
confined day by day to a less and less portion of the population, and
the greater part of the population is slowly and steadily heading
towards sheer poverty or absolute dependence on the rich. In the
beginning the struggle starts on a small scale; then the infection
spreads by stages to all countries and nations so that even after
bringing the whole world within its tentacles it still cries for more
and more. Thus when it becomes a general practice in any country that |
those possessing wealth in excess of their needs © should invest the
surplus in profitable undertakings and in the production of the
necessities of life, the investment can yield full profits only if the
entire - product of industry is purchased by the people of - the country
in which the surplus wealth has been ‘invested. But, in practice, this
does not happen, and | in reality it cannot happen, because, those who
possess less wealth than their needs have consequently less purchasing
power, and cannot - purchase all the products in spite of their need for
them. On the other hand, those who possess wealth in excess to their
needs are anxious to set aside a portion of their incomes for further
investment in profitable undertakings and therefore they do not spend
all the money they can in purchasing consumer goods. This results
perforce in a portion of the manufactured products being left
unpurchased or, in other words, a portion of the investments of the rich
people does not come back to them and lies at the debit of the
country’s industry as a loan. This constitutes one cycle only. You can
imagine, however, that in every one of the numerous cycles of this
nature the wealthy classes will go on using a part of their returned
income in further investment and in every cycle that proportion of their
invested wealth which does not return into their hands goes | on
increasing, thereby multiplying the debts of the country’s industry
twofold and even thousands fold, and even to an extent which that
country can never be in a position to pay off. In this manner no
alternative is left to the country to escape the danger of bankruptcy
except exporting for sale to other countries goods which are left over
and cannot be sold in that country. This is really too tantamount to
seeking countries to which this misfortune of bankruptcy can be
transferred. In this way the
It will now be evident that there is not one country which is running its affairs on the basis of this satanic economic system; rather most of the countries of the world are in the same predicament; that is, they are compelled to save themselves from bankruptcy or, in other words, to transfer their bankruptcy to some other country. And this leads to international rivalry which takes the following forms.
1. Every country, in offering its goods in the international market, tries to produce the greatest quantity at the minimum cost of production, and this involves the scaling down of wages of labor to the lowest possible limit, so that the portion of national wealth which comes into the hands of the laboring classes is further reduced and its income falls to a level where even its bare needs are not satisfied.
2. Every country places embargo on imports within its boundaries and spheres of influences, and tries to monopolies for itself the raw materials which lie within its territory so that other countries may not secure and take advantage of them. This results in international struggle which leads to war.
3. These exploiting dacoits invade those _ countries which are unable
to keep off this bankruptcy from being imposed upon them and not only
do they try to sell in those countries the surplus products of their
own, but they try to invest their surplus capital for which they do not
find any avenues of profitable investment in their own country. In this
way, the same problem ultimately appears in those countries which had
originally arisen in the countries of the investors; that 1s. the full
amount of investment cannot be returned and a major portion of the
income from this investment is again invested in some profitable
business so that the burden of debts increases to such an extent that
even if all these countries were sold off, the investment would not be
recovered in full. It 1s evident that if this cycle is allowed to work
in this manner, the whole world will ultimately lose its solvency, and
no place will be left to which the blight of bankruptcy could be
transferred. And in the end mankind will feel the need of seeking
markets in Mars, Venus, and Jupiter for investing their wealth and
selling their surplus goods. Thus, through this international exchange, a
handful of bankers, brokers, and industrial and business magnates so
completely gather in their clutches all the economic resources of the
world that the whole of humanity is reduced to a state of dependence
upon them. It ‘has now become well-nigh impossible for any individual to
undertake any work or business independently, relying merely on his own
physical and mental powers in order
It is still more unfortunate for humanity that moral philosophies,
political systems, and legal principles of the world have also been
infected by this devilish economic system. From east to west,
everywhere, moral mentors are laying stress on economy. It is regarded
as foolish and morally reprehensible to spend all that one earns, and
everyone is told that he should save something out of his income and
have his saving deposited in the bank or purchase an insurance policy or
invest it in stocks ai and shares of joint-stock companies. This means
that what is ruinous for humanity has become the standard of perfection
and virtue in the eyes of the modern man, As for political power it has
fallen in the hands of a satanic system which instead of saving mankind
from this tyranny has itself become the instrument of that tyranny; and a
class of godless materialists are found sitting tight everywhere on the
seats of power. The laws which govern the society are also being framed
under the influence of this same system. These laws have given full
freedom in practice to the struggle for their individual economic
interests against the interests of the community in general. The
distinction between right and wrong, just and unjust, in the acquisition
of the means of living has nearly disappeared. Every method by which an
individual can enrich himself whether by robbing or ruining other
people, is permissible in the eyes of the law. Wine may be brewed and
sold; centers of immorality may be. Established: immoral films may be
produced; obscene writings may be published; pictures for exciting
passions may be advertised; speculation may become rife; institutions
for earning interest and usury may be established; new methods of
gambling may be invented: in short, anything one likes
These are the causes which have created the problem for humanity as to how means of living may be made accessible to every individual living on God’s earth, and how opportunities may be provided to everyone to advance in life according to his capacity and to develop his personality to the full.
One method of solving the problem has been suggested by Communism and it is this: that the means of production should be taken out of the hands of individuals and transferred to the community for collective possession and that the community should also collectively undertake the distribution of wealth to every individual each according to his needs. Prima facie this solution appears to be very sensible, but the more one considers its practical aspect the more will one realize its defects until he will have to concede that, in the ultimate analysis, its results are as bad as the disease for which this cure has been offered. It is as clear as daylight that although, theoretically speaking, the arrangements for the utilization of the means of production and distribution of products are proposed to be entrusted to the whole community, in practice the task will, of necessity, have to be handed over to a small executive body. Even though this small body may, to start with, be elected by the community, later on when all the means of livelihood come into its hold and individuals are not able to secure their share except through its hands, the whole community will be left helpless in its grip.
Nobody will be able to ignore it will and no organized power could
rise in opposition to it and be able to remove it from its place of
authority. If this body dislikes any one it will mean that the poor
fellow will be deprived of all the means of living in the land, since
all the means of livelihood will be in the hands of this small clique.
Labor will be left without power to strike work, if it has a grievance
against the management, for, under this system there will not be many
factory-owners and capitalists to enable the laborer
This state of affairs will therefore have the following results: that after abolishing all the capitalists and after doing away with all the industrialists and landholders, one big capitalist industrialist and landholder rolled into one giant, will be imposed on the people, and he will combine in himself the autocracy of a Czar with the absolution of a Caesar.
In the first place such an absolute and all-pervading authority is so
intoxicating in its nature that it is extremely difficult for any man
to restrain himself from becoming a tyrant and autocrat, particularly so
when he does not believe in God and in his accountability to Him.
Nevertheless, even if it is assumed that this small body, obtaining vast
autocratic powers, will not overstep proper bounds and will work with
justice and fairness, even then under such a system there can be no
opportunity for individuals to develop their personality. What human
personality needs above everything else for its evolution and
advancements that it should have freedom, it should have some means at
its disposal which it may use in accordance with its own discretion and
its own will and choice and in so doing develop its hidden
potentialities. But in the Communist system there is no such
possibility. Under this system all the means pass out of the hands of
the individuals into those of the executive body of the community. This
executive body utilizes them according to its own conception of the
interests of the community. The individuals have no alternative but to
work according to the plans made by the executive body if they desire to
take advantage of those means; indeed, they have to Surrender
themselves body and soul to their administrators to be molded for
purposes of communal welfare according to the plans of their masters.
Thus all the individuals in a society become practically slaves of a few
individuals, as if they were all soulless, raw materials to be shaped
and molded to their desires and plans exactly as shaped to suit the
needs of a craftsman. Quite obviously human civilization and culture
stands to lose a great deal under this arrangement. Even if it is
presumed for argument’s sake that the necessities of life will be
distributed with fairness and justice under such a system, its
advantages will be outweighed by the defects and deficiencies of the
system. The development of culture and civilization depends wholly on
the fact that different people who are endowed with diverse faculties
and attitudes should have the opportunity to develop themselves and play
their individual part in the combined communal life. But
They will err both in estimating individual capabilities and in forming opinions about what really constitutes the true interest of their society.
But, in spite of it, they will try to enforce their plans and mold according to their blue-prints the whole mass of people under their influence. This individual diversity and the variety so necessary for civilization will give place to a soulless uniformity.
The natural evolution of civilization will suffer a set32 back and an artificial and spurious growth will commence. Human faculties will begin to shrivel and ultimately a great mental and moral degeneration will ensue. After all men are not like grass and vegetation to be pruned by a gardener and made to grow after a set pattern. Every man has his own personality with a natural urge to develop according to its inclinations. If you deny him this freedom, he will not develop according to your desire but will either rebel against you or fade away in unnatural gloom.
The fundamental mistake of Communism lies in fact that it treats the economic problem as the central problem and then tries to revolve the whole of human life round this axis. It lacks the true scientific attitude towards human problems. On the other hand, it looks at ail problems with a deep economic bias. Metaphysics, ethics, history, sociology, in fine, everything within its sphere is influenced and overridden by the economic viewpoint and because of this one-sidedness the whole balance of life is upset. Thus it is clear that in reality the Communist theory presents no correct or natural solution of the economic problems of men. It offers a solution which is both unnatural and artificial.
As against this, another solution has been put
forward by Fascism and National-Socialism that keeping individual
ownership of the means of production intact, such ownership should, in
the interests of the community, be planned and controlled by the State.
In practice, however, the result is in no way different from that of the
Communist theory. Like Communism this theory also seeks to merge the
individual in the community and leaves no opportunity for the free
development of his personality. Besides this, the nature of the state
which exercises control over individual
Now I shall explain how Islam seeks to solve these problems. In dealing with all the problems of life, it is a fundamental point with Islam that natural laws and principles of life inherent in human nature should not be tampered with, and that whenever there is any refraction from the path of nature it should be redirected to the natural path.
The second important principle on which Islam has based all its social reforms is that the introduction of a few external regulations in the social system should not be considered sufficient; on the other hand, a far greater stress should be laid on moral reformation and the creation of the right moral attitude among men so that the evil in the mind of man should be suppressed at its root. The third basic principle which you can trace in the whole of the Islamic system is that the authority and pressure of law and the coercive power of government should not be used except when it becomes evitable to do so.
Keeping in view these three principles, Islam recognizes all those natural principles on the economic side of life which have always formed the foundation of human economy, and it abolishes only those wrong principles, not by reliance on the coercive power of the state but through the maximum of moral instructions and a_ small measure of external force, which mankind follows when it falls a victim to satanic desires. The principles that man should be free to strive for its livelihood, that he should retain the right of ownership over whatever he earns by his labor, and that disparity must exist between various men due to their varying abilities and circumstances has been conceded by Islam to the extent to which it is in accordance with nature. It then seeks to qualify this principle and introduce certain restrictions on its actual practice with the object that it may not be misused and made a means of exploiting and oppressing the weaker sections of the society.
Let us first of all take the acquisition of wealth.
Islam does not recognize adultery, music, dancing, and other similar things as lawful means of livelihood. It declares all such dealings as unlawful in which the gain of one individual is secured by the loss and injury of some other persons of society as a whole. Bribery, stealing, gambling, speculation, business based on fraud and deceit, hoarding and holding back the necessaries of life with the object of raising the prices, monopoly of the means of production by one or several persons which narrows the field for others; all these methods have been declared unlawful. It has picked out carefully and branded as illegal all such forms of business as are by their nature capable of causing mitigation, or in which the loss or gain depends on mere luck or accident, or wherein the mutual rights of the parties are not distinguishable. If you study in detail the Islamic laws of trade and industry you will see that the methods by which people become millionaires and multimillionaires in modern times are mostly methods on which Islam has placed stringent legal restrictions. If business is carried on within these Islamic limitations, there is little possibility of any one accumulating immense wealth.
While Islam recognizes the right of the individual to the ownership of all that he may acquire by lawful means, it does not leave him entirely free in using the wealth so acquired. On the other hand, it lays down restrictions on its use in different ways. [t is obvious that there can be only three passible- uses of the wealth which a man acquires. It can either be spent or invested to procure more wealth or may be hoarded. | shall explain here briefly the nature of restrictions which Islam has placed on each one of these uses.
All methods of spending which cause moral or social injury are forbidden. You cannot fritter away your wealth in gambling, you cannot drink wine, you cannot commit adultery, you cannot waste your money in music and dances or other means of self-indulgence.
However, in spite of all this moral education and the exercise of
moral pressure by a reformed society. it is not possible to get rid of
individual tendencies towards greed and avarice. A good many persons
will always remain who will like to invest their surplus wealth in
earning further wealth over and above their needs. For this purpose,
Islam has placed some legal limitations on the use to which this surplus
wealth can be put. It is strictly prohibited in Islamic law to lend
these accumulated savings on interest. If you lend your money to anyone
it does not matter whether he borrows for his private needs or for
business purposes, you can claim only the principal money and not a
single pie more. In this way Islam breaks the very back-bone of
aggressive capitalism and blunts the edge of the greatest instrument by
means of which the capitalist tries to concentrate in his hands the
economic resources of the community by relying on his money power. As
regards the method of using the surplus wealth as investment in one’s
own trade, industry, or business or providing capital to others and
participating in the gains and losses of the joint undertaking, Islam
considers it quite lawful and proper but seeks by other means to remedy
the evils which flow from the accumulation of wealth in the hands of a
few persons. First of all, Islam does not permit the hoarding of this
accumulated wealth. As I have just mentioned, it demands that whatever
wealth you have, it must either be utilized in the purchase of your own
necessities or handed over to others so that they may satisfy their
needs, and thus the whole of the common wealth
There is no risk of starvation, nakedness or lack of shelter for you in the presence of the public exchequer. Then again, 1t should be noted that this social agency enables all those sections of the population who cannot earn or who earn much less then they require to purchase commodities necessary for their life. Thus a proper balance as adopted for diffusing their ‘one place is its law of inherit between production --and consumption is permanently maintained and the necessity does not arise for a people. to. go on imposing their bankruptcy upon other People and after exhausting all victims in this world to Seek them in the other planets.
Besides the Zakat, another plan which Islam has adopted for diffusing the wealth concentrated in one place it is law of inheritance all other laws except that of Islam tend to perpetuate concentration of wealth even-after the person who had accumulated it during his lifetime.
Islam on the contrary, adopts the methods that the wealth which a person has been confining in his hands by gradual accumulation from all sides should be distributed immediately after his death. Under the Islamic law sons, daughters, farther, mother, wife, brothers, sisters, all succeed to a person’s inheritance which must be distributed among all of them according to a regular code. if neat relations do not exist, a search will have to-be made for distant ones and this wealth will be distributed among them. If no relative, ‘near or distant, is forthcoming even then a man is not entitled to resort to adoption of any heirs himself. In that case the whole community will succeed him and all his accumulated wealth will be deposited in the public exchequer. In this manner even if a man concentrates millions and billions of money it will all be dispersed after his death in small portions within two or three generations, and every such accumulation will be turned gradually into circulation according to a regular legal procedure.
Consider this economic system of which I have presented a brief plan
to you. Does it not remove all those evils of individual ownership which
result from the wrong guidance of the devil? There remains no necessity
at all for adopting the Communist or Fascist or National-Socialist
ideologies and using those artificial methods of economic
Studied with an unbiased mind, free from those prejudices against Islam which have been inherited as an evil legacy from past history and unawed by the blaze of modern social system, I hope and trust that this Islamic system will satisfy every reasonable and truth-seeking person as the most useful, correct and rational one for the economic welfare of humanity. But if anyone thinks it feasible that this economic system can be successfully implemented even if divorced from the complete whole of the ideological, moral and cultural system of Islam, I will humbly request him to get rid of this misunderstanding.
This economic system has a deep relationship with the political,
judicial, legal, cultural and social system of Islam. And all these
behests are fundamentally based on the moral system of Islam. Then again
this moral system does not stand by. itself but is wholly dependent on
your, belief in an. All-Powerful and All-Knowing God and your sense of
responsibility to Him, in the conception of an after-life when all your
actions will be judged by god, in the belief that man will be punished
or rewarded according to His Judgement; and in the acceptance of the
fact that code of law and morality which: Muhammad (peace be upon him),
the messenger of God, has placed before you as from God (of which this
economic system is only a part is really based on, Divine guidance in
all its details. If you do, not accept this creed, this moral system and
the whole of this code of life, completely as it is, the economic
system of Islam, divorced from its source, cannot be maintained or
administered in its purity even for a single day, nor will any