By Shahul Hameed
Islam is neither capitalism (Right) nor socialism (Left). It is the comprehensive way of life decreed for mankind by Allah Almighty. In Islam we find principles and formulations aimed at shaping the individual as well as the collective life of man within the parameters of divine guidance contained in the Quran and the Sunnah. As Islam encompasses all areas of human life, both politics and economics come under its purview.
The two socio-economic systems predominant in today’s world are democratic capitalism and democratic socialism. The hallmarks of the former are private ownership and free markets, while those of the latter are collective ownership and state control. The United States and France are two countries that have adopted the democratic capitalist system, while China and India, for instance, have adopted democratic socialism.
We find that both these systems suffer from inherent and systemic flaws that have made their practitioners leave their ideals and hastily adopt measures that undermine the very foundation of those systems. Thus, France often calls itself a socialist country, while China already shines with a capitalist hue.
There is also the Communist system, which is described as the culmination of the socialist evolution. But it has never materialised in history and exists only in the dissertations of staunch ideologues. Communism is impracticable, as it seeks to violate human nature and basic instincts.
In contrast with the above systems, the Islamic system approves of individual ownership in the case of certain things and collective ownership in certain other things. Islam also provides for the state ownership of some resources.
Although the true Islamic political system does not exist now, (of course, there are some countries that call themselves, “Islamic”) it once flourished, producing dramatic results. It was Islam in its pristine purity that succeeded in transforming a primitive desert people into the most civilised nation of the time. The boundaries of the Islamic Empire then stretched between China in the East and the Atlantic Ocean in the West. It was the deviation from Islam that caused the failure of the Islamic Empire.
Islam stands for the submission and subordination of all our interests and concerns to the One God; and the foundation of the Islamic state is the principle of the oneness of God. All humans, being the creations of the One God, are equal. Islam views man as a part of nature, which is destined to obey certain rules. The so-called natural laws are the laws of God; and as nature obeys God’s physical laws, nature is Muslim (that is, submitting peacefully to God’s laws). All the planets that float around the sun obey the unalterable laws of God, and so they are Muslim (submitting peacefully to God). Man is distinguished from other creatures of God by virtue of his reasoning power and free will. Man obeys two kinds of laws.
The first kind covers the physical, biological, and instinctive activities like breathing, digesting, or feeling curious. The second kind covers those activities that are based on man’s free choice and decision.
God commands us to live in harmony with the natural laws; when we obey God’s laws of nature, we are Muslim in the basic sense; but when we obey God in areas where we can make moral choices, we are Muslim by willful choice. Man is God’s vicegerent on earth, as Allah says in the Quran:
And when your Lord said to the angels, I am going to place in the earth a vicegerent, they said: What! will You place in it such as shall make mischief in it and shed blood, and we celebrate Your praise and extol Your holiness? He said: Surely I know what you do not know.
(Al Baqarah 2:30)
So, the Muslims (who know their God-given role on earth) must strive to fulfill their khilafah (vicegerency) on earth. A moment’s reflection will convince us that the role of khilafah involves both individual and collective efforts. The Islamic state is the chief medium of the collective efforts of Muslims in this regard. It is from this concept that the politics of Islam derives.
One major thrust of the Islamic system is its effort to attain social justice. This should be obvious to anyone who has a cursory knowledge of the Quran. For example, the Quran says:
O you who believe! be maintainers of justice, bearers of witness of Allah’s sake, though it may be against your own selves or your parents or near relatives; if he be rich or poor, Allah is nearer to them both in compassion; therefore do not follow your low desires, lest you deviate; and if you swerve or turn aside, then surely Allah is aware of what you do. (Annisaa 4:135)
It also says:
O you who believe! Be upright for Allah, bearers of witness with justice, and let not hatred of a people incite you not to act equitably; act equitably, that is nearer to piety, and be careful of your duty to Allah; surely Allah is Aware of what you do. (Al Maidah 5:8)
So the Islamic state would strive for social justice by all the means at its disposal; and naturally to lessen the material differences among the people has top priority for it. Capitalism, on the contrary, favors the rich and approves and contributes to widen the gap between the haves and the have-nots in the society; and this is one major difference between the two systems.
Islam recognises the differences among people owing to their natural inborn talent, education, capacity for work, and so on, and makes allowances for these. But socialism would ignore these differences among people and impose its “concept of equality” on the society. That is why the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia (the radical Communists who controlled Cambodia for four nightmarish years from 1975 to 1979), for instance, compelled engineers and doctors to work in the farms, with disastrous consequences. But the Islamic state recognises these differences and gives freedom to people by providing equal opportunities for all members of the society to develop and utilize their talents and tastes as best as they can.
The chief cause of economic problems, according to the capitalists, is the scarcity of natural resources; whereas according to the socialists, it is the exploitation of the workers by the capitalists. Islam differs from both as it realises that the reason for the economic problems is man himself. The Quran says:
And He has made subservient to you the sun and the moon pursuing their courses, and He has made subservient to you the night and the day. And He gives you of all that you ask Him; and if you count Allah’s favors, you will not be able to number them; most surely Man is very unjust, very ungrateful. (Ibrahim 14:33-34)
This means that unjust and ungrateful man disregards God’s laws that provide the principles of equality and social justice; thereby he creates discord between groups and wastes the resources and scatters destruction. Thus, from the Islamic point of view, it is man himself who is the root of all problems; so if man is taught to check his pride, his meanness and his greed, there will be peace on earth, as well as progress and prosperity.
For the above reason, the first endeavour of Islam is to develop in its adherents a commitment to honour God’s laws in nature, in individual life as well as in social life. In brief, the political or economic system of Islam is an inseparable part of a complete code for the whole of human life. Therefore, it is pointless to isolate one area of human endeavour from the total Islamic system to analyse it.
In other words, the economics or politics of Islam is of a piece with its morality and spirituality, which are reflected in Muslim life. The advantage Islam has over man-made systems is that Islam binds man to God. As someone has explained, Islam starts from the depths of the human conscience and proceeds in its endeavor to secure a happy life for all.
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