Regulations for an Economic Framework
Concentration of Wealth
The seventh regulation is that all forms of economic
ventures, and all types of projects of wealth allocation and distribution which
result in concentration of wealth in a particular sphere of the society should
be prohibited. In Sūrah Hashr where the directives relating to fai have been
stated, the Qur’ān explicitly says: `You have been given this directive so that
money does not keep circulating among your rich class', (59:7). Following are
the Qur’ānic directives which are based on this regulation.
1. Every person has been directed to spend as much as he
can on the needy among his relatives, and on social and public welfare from the
wealth the Almighty has endowed him with:
"And spend of that which We have bestowed on you before
death befalls anyone of you and he would say with sorrow: O Lord! Why did not ye
give me a little more respite so that I could give [largely] in charity. Had I
been able to do this, I would have been among the righteous." (63:10)
2. Everyone has been obligated to pay zakat to the Bait-ul-Māl:
If his wealth exceeds a certain quantity called nisāb at the annual rate of 2
1/2 %; if he is a businessman at the annual rate of 2 1/2 % on his trade
capital; if he is a land owner at the rate of 5 % on the time of harvest if his
lands are irrigated by canals and at the rate of 10 % if they are rainy lands;
if he is an industrialist at the rate of 5% of his industrial produce and at the
same rate if he owns mineral reserves; at the rate of 10 % if he has rented out
his property; if he is a herdsman a fixed share from his heard,
and if he owns a treasure at the rate of 20% so that the state is able to
distribute the wealth of the rich among those who need it:
"And establish regular prayers and pay zakat and
generously lend to Allah [for emergency needs]." (73:20)
3. It has been ordained for everyone that if he leaves
behind wealth, whether in a small or a large amount, instead of accumulating it
in a single place and handing it over to the eldest child or the to the family
jointly, it should be distributed and divided among near and far relatives
according to their respective nearness with the deceased. The manner in which
this distribution should take place has been described by the Qur’ān in verses
11-12 and the last verse of Sūrah Nisā:
If a deceased has outstanding debts to his name, then
first of all they should be discharged. After this, any legacies he may have
bequethed should be paid. The distribution of his inheritance should then
follow.
After giving the parents and the husband or wife their
shares, the children are the heirs of the remaining inheritance. If the deceased
does not have any male offspring and there are only two or more girls among the
children, then they shall receive two thirds of the inheritance left over, and
if there is only a single girl, her share is one half. If the deceased has only
male children all his wealth will be distributed among them. If he leaves behind
both boys and girls, then the share of each boy shall be equal to the share of
two girls and, in this case also, all his wealth shall be distributed among
them.
In the absence of children, a deceased's brothers and
sisters shall take their place. After giving the parents and the husband or wife
their shares, the brothers and sisters shall be his heirs. The proportion of
their shares and the mode of distribution will be the same as that of the
children stated above.
If a deceased has brothers and sisters, whether he has
children or not, the parents shall receive a sixth each. If he does not even
have brothers and sisters, then after giving the husband or wife his (or her)
share, one third of what remains shall be given to the mother and two thirds to
the father. If there is no one among the spouses, all of the inheritance shall
be distributed among the parents in the same proportion.
If the deceased is a man and he has children, his wife
shall receive one eight of what he leaves and if he does not have any children
his wife's share shall be one fourth. If the deceased is a woman and does not
have any children, then her husband shall receive one half of what she leaves
and if she has children, the husband's share is one fourth.
Together with these rightful heirs, after them or in their
absence a deceased can make a near or a distant relative except his parents and
children his heir. If the relative who is made an heir has one brother and one
sister, then they shall be given a sixth of his share and he himself shall
receive the remaining five sixth. However, if he has more than one brother and
sister then, they shall be given a third of his share and he himself shall
receive the remaining two thirds.
If a person dies without making anyone his heir, his
remaining legacy shall be distributed according to the principle li aulā
rajulin zakar, (for the closest male relative).
4. It has been divinely ordained that the spoils of war
shall be regarded as state-owned and a fifth of them
hall necessarily be spent on collective needs and on the needy:
"They ask you about the spoils of war. say: these spoils
belong to Allah and the Prophet." (8:1)
"[You should] know that a fifth of the spoils you get hold
of are for Allah and the Prophet and the near relatives and the orphans and the
needy and the wayfarers." (8:41)
5. Similarly, it has been ordained about fai
that it shall be spent on collective needs and on the needy:
"Whatever Allah takes away from these city-dwellers and
returns to His Prophet, it is for Allah and the Prophet and for the kindred and
for the orphans and for the needy and for the wayfarers." (59:7)
These are the directives based on the principle `kaee lā
yakoona doolatam bainal aghniyāi minkum' (so that money does not keep
circulating among your rich class). Today also, it is necessary that those
charged with authority should keep this principle in mind while deciding about
the prohibtion or legality of an economic venture.
Financial Responsibility of the Masses
The eighth regulation is that the government should
provide the basic necessities of life like food, clothing, shelter, health and
education to those who are unable to support themselves. According to the Qur’ān,
this is their right, and while highlighting the qualities of the believers it
says:
"In whose wealth the deprived and the needy who ask have a
fixed share." (70:24-25)
It is because of this right that the most important head
under which the taxes collected in the Bait-ul-māl are to be expended is the
poor and the needy. Therefore, this head is mentioned foremost in the verse
pertaining to the expenditure of the zakat fund:
"Zakat is only for the poor and the needy, and for those
who are `āmils over it, and for those whose hearts are to be reconciled [to the
truth], and for the emancipation of the slaves and for those who have been
inflicted with losses and for the way of Allah and for the wayfarers. An
obligaton decreed by Allah, the All-Knowing, the Wise." (9:60)
The Prophet (sws) has further said about these taxes:
"They shall be taken from their rich and returned to their
poor." (Bukhari, Kitab-uz-zakat)
The importance of this right can be further appreciated
from the Prophet's directive in which he has directed the administrators of an
Islamic State to always leave their doors open to the needy:
"A ruler who closes his doors on the poor and the needy,
[should know that] the Almighty shall close the doors of Heaven on his needs,
indigence and poverty." (Tirmazee, Kitāb-ul-Ahkām)
"If a person whom the Almighty entrusted with the state
affairs of the Muslims [became indifferent] to their needs, requirements and
poverty hiding [behind walls, then he should know that] the Almighty shall hide
from his eyes, remaining indifferent to his needs, requirements and poverty."
(Abu Daud, Kitab-ul-Imārah)
It is clear from this that it is the right of the needy to
be provided by the society and it is the responsibility of the Islamic state to
discharge this duty by taking the zakat money from the rich and distributing it
among the deprived. In fact, it must provide the deprived and the needy with
basic necessities of life with a sense of responsibility epitomized by one of
its most illustrious rulers who went so far as to say: `The responsibility of
even the dogs that die of hunger on the banks of Euphrates lies with me'.
Resources for the Economy
If the economy of an Islamic State is constituted on these
regulations and Muslims as a nation adopt a God-fearing attitude in other
collective spheres, by totally obeying and following the directives of the
Qur’ān, the Almighty has promised them that they shall never need to depend on
anyone as far as economic resources are concerned. The Almighty shall provide
them abundantly:
"Had the people of these cities accepted faith and kept
from evil, We would have showered the blessings of the heavens and the earth
upon them. But they rejected [the truth] and [so] We punished them for their
misdeeds." (7:96)
To quote the Old Testament:
"And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken
diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all his
commandments which I command this day, the Lord thy God will set thee on high
above all nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come on thee, if
thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God. Blessed shalt thou be in
the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of
thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase
of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy
store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when
thou goest out. The Lord shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to
be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee
before thee in seven ways. The Lord shall command the blessing upon thee in thy
storehouses, and in all that thou settest thy hand unto; and he shall bless thee
in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. The Lord shall establish thee
holy people unto himself, as He hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the
commandments of the Lord thy God, and walk in his ways. And all the people of
the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the Lord; and they shall
be afraid of thee. And the Lord shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit
of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in
the land which the Lord sware unto thy fathers to give thee. The Lord shall open
unto thee his gold treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his
season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many
nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And the Lord shall make thee the head, and
not the tail; and thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be beneath."
(Deuteronomy, 28:1-13)
Conclusion
This is the economic law mentioned in the Qur’ān and Sunnah.
Today, whatever system is evolved on its basis, it is clear that every scheme
which provides capital on loan shall be eradicated owing to the prohibition of
interest. Therefore, as a necessary consequence, it is essential that:
Firstly, all Banks should be converted into various
branches of the Public Treasury (the Bait-ul-Māl), where people can deposit
their savings. These branches shall provide protection, exchange and other
similar facilities. In return for this service, the deposited money shall only
be spent by the government to create a broad-based public sector keeping in view
the collective requirement and welfare of all the people with the precondition
that without being given any profit on the original amount, the depositers would
be returned their money whenever they demand it.
Secondly, the public sector so created shall not be run by
the government. Leaving it in state ownership, its running and management shall
be entrusted to the private sector by adopting either or both of the following
two modes, depending upon the circumstances: (i) selling a certain quantity of
shares to the private sector, (ii) imposing kharāj
(tribute) on the party of the private sector which is entrusted with the job of
management.
Thirdly, the only form of absentee partnership permitted
should be one in which people directly become shareholders in various projects
of the private and public sector.
As a result of these measures, without prohibiting the
right of private ownership and establishing an `iron curtain', a naturally
developed broad-based public sector shall come into being parallel to the
private sector. This would, perhaps, rightly depict the moderate set-up of an
Islamic Economic System in contrast with the two extremes of Capitalist and
Socialist Economies.
This is the economic law the Almighty gave us centuries
ago when we, Muslims, were blessed with the leadership of the world in place of
the Jews and the Christians. But Alas! After the industrial revolution when the
world most needed it we were not in a position to guide mankind to the right
path in this regard. Undoubtedly, the future of the world still depends on this
law but, unfortunately, there is not a single country in the Muslim Ummah,
extending from Morroco in the west to Indonesia in the east where the splendour
of this majestic sun can irradiate its beholders. (Concluded)
(Translated from Ghamidi's "Meezān")
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