CONCEPT OF WEALTH IN ISLAM

 

CONCEPT OF WEALTH IN ISLAM

Justice Dr. Nasim Hassan Shah

CAN any individual, under the Islamic system, claim to be the absolute owner of the property or are his rights over it limited in any way? This question, especially for a Muslim coun­try striving to become an Islamic state, is important.

 

Most of us know something in re­gard to the capitalist system or the so­cialist system, but, unfortunately, do not know very much, of the Islamic view­point. It may, therefore, be of interest to examine the Islamic point of view in this regard.

 

The right of property over a thing which accrues to man is delegated to him by Allah. The Holy Quran explicitly says: "Give to them from the property of Allah which He has bestowed upon you," (24:32)

 

Why this should so have also been explained by the Holy Quran in an­other place. All that a man can do is to invest his labour into this endeavour to be fruitful and actually productive. Man can do no more than sow the seed in the soil, but to bring out a seedling from the seed and make the seedling grow into a tree is the work of someone other than a man. The Holy Quran says:

 

"Have you considered that you till? Is it you yourselves who make it grow, or is it We who make it grow?" (56:63)

 

Have they not seen that, among the thing made by Our own hands. We have created cattle for them, and thus they acquired the right of property over them." (36: 71)

 

All these verses throw ample light on the fundamental point that "wealth" no matter what its form, is in principle "the property" of Allah, and it is He who has bestowed upon man the right to exploit it. So, Allah has the right to demand that man should subordinate his exploitation of this wealth to the commandments of Allah.

 

Thus, man has the "right of prop­erty" over the things he exploits, but this right is not absolute or arbitrary or bound­less — it carries along with it certain limi­tations and restrictions which have been imposed by the real owner of the "wealth".

 

There can be no doubt that according to Islam, all wealth belongs to Allah. "Unto Allah belongeth whatso­ever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth. He forgiveth whom He will, and punished whom He will. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful." (3:129)

 

The other fundamental principle of Islam which must be borne in mind is that it seeks to usher in a society based on Al-Adl Wal Ehsan.

 

In the context of this discussion “Al-Adl” means social balance or equilib­rium, in social and economic relations.

 

Keeping the above two principles in view, it follows that while absolute own­ership of all wealth is that of Allah, man is only a trustee of whatever he has and is not its absolute owner and secondly that his rights over his property must be exercised in a way so as to bring about an equilibrium in social and economic relations. In other words, in Islam indi­vidual freedom is subordinated to the social responsibilities cast on man, by the ethical principles enunciated in the Holy Quran.

 

A logical consequence of the con­cept of trusteeship is that the right to own private property though recog­nised, gets severely limited because in the Islamic perspective man's freedom to own property is only relative to the needs of the society: "Believe in Allah and His messenger, and spend of that whereof He hath made you trustees, and such of you as believe and spend (aright), theirs will be a great reward. (57:7).

 

It must also not be forgotten that man by nature, as a general rule, is greedy and selfish. If left to himself he would not do much for others in society. The Holy Quran attests to this aspect of man's nature: "Say (unto them): If ye possessed the treasures of the mercy of my Lord, ye would surely hold them back for fear of spending, for man was ever grudging". (17:100)

 

However, Allah's “intention” is that everybody should be provided with a minimum of sustenance: "And there is not a creature in the earth but the sustenance thereof dependeth on Allah. He knoweth its habitation and its reposi­tory. All is in a clear record". (11:6).

 

The existence of hunger and abject poverty in society is entirely on account of the doings and actions of man. This is clearly recognised by the Holy Quran: "And if the people of the townships had believed and kept from evil, surely We should have opened for them blessings from the sky and from the earth. But (unto every messenger) they gave the lie, and so We seized them on account of what they used to earn." (7:96).

 

Hence the necessity for taking steps for rectifying this social imbalance brought about by the doings of some people.

The need for remedial action in cer­tain situations is also emphasised in Verse 5 of Surah 4 of the Holy Quran, which reads: "Give not unto the foolish (what is in) your (keeping of their) wealth, which Allah hath given you to maintain; but feed and clothe them from it and speak kindly unto them". (Surah 4 Verse 5).

The Holy Quran again declares: "And of them is he who made a covenant with Allah (saying): If he gives us of His bounty We will give alms and become of the righteous". (9:75).

 

The above verse shows that Islam emphasises the act of 'giving' as the essence of a just socio-economic system and is reflective of Allah's intention. Hence, any method devised as a means of checking individual greed and laying out a framework wherein all members of society get a minimum of sustenance is in accord with the injunctions of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah. Al­though it is true that Islam assigns the highest importance to man's altruistic behaviour, where the act of giving is guided solely by the desire to gain Al­lah's pleasure.

 

But at the same time, man's innate selfishness and greed are also recognised, though not justified. Thus, the need for taking remedial measures to correct the imbalance to which man's self­ish greedy behaviour gives birth. From the above discussion, it is manifest that in Islam the full exercise by the owner of his right to his property has been appropriately subordinated to his social responsibility. Furthermore, once the Islamic State enters upon the test of restoring the "rights" (haqq) of the "deprived" and the "oppressed" with a view to realising the ethical principles enunciated in the Holy Quran, the ‘distance’ between the rich and the poor will be reduced. The argument that this distance can be corrected through the strict enforcement of the system of Zakat, Ushr and proper adherence to the sys­tem of inheritance prescribed by Islam is true only to a point.

 

In a society like Pakistan, which has been raised on feudalists-capitalistic principles for centuries, to reduce the gulf between the rich and the poor and restore the social balance it would be essential for the state to intervene to discharge its responsibilities and amongst its responsibilities it has to ensure that the society's demand for such basic requirement as health, edu­cation, livelihood, and housing are sat­isfied. For enforcing the system of Al-Adal Wal Ehsan and to ensure a social equilibrium in the society the ideal so­cial behaviour is not egoistic self-glori­fication but a commitment to ameliorat­ing a lot of the least privileged in the society.

 

Accordingly, in the situation as it presents itself today in Pakistan even a large scale state intervention to restrain individual greed so that social welfare is maximised appears to be necessary in order to bring about Adl (social equilib­rium in the society). The Holy Quran is explicit on what the individual and the society should be doing: "Lo! Allah enjoineth justice and kindness, and giv­ing to kinsfolk, and forbiddeth lewdness and abomination and wickedness. He exhorteth you in order that ye may take heed". (16:90).

 

By the same taken, Islam rejects an economic order which is not based on these Divine principles because the Is­lamic economic system clearly aims at re-establishing a social balance, with a clear 'bias' in favour of the poor and the economically weak.

 

Thus in Surah 51 Verse 19, it is said: "And in their wealth, the beggar and the outcast had due share". (51:19)

And again Almighty Allah declares in Surah 70 Verses 24 & 25: "And in whose wealth there is a right acknowl­edged, for the beggar and the destitute". (70:24-25).

The above principle is indeed a revo­lutionary one. What the poor must get from the wealth of the rich is not charity but their haqq (right), of which some­one, including a particular social sys­tem, may have deprived them. This principle is stated even more pointedly in Surah XXVIII Verses 5&6: "And We desired to show favour unto those who were op­pressed in the earth, and to make them examples and to make them the inheri­tors; And to establish them in the earth, and to show Pharaoh and Haman and their hosts that which they feared from them". (28:5-6).

The implementation of this Divine commandment on the economic plane would require a heavy redistribution of income and wealth to redress the gross social and moral disequilibrium created by the present economic system. The rich must part with excess wealth because they are not its absolute owners but only trustees and its disposal is subject to the Divine Law: "And what aileth you that ye spend not in the way of Allah, when unto Allah belongeth the inherit­ance of the heavens and the earth? Those who spent and fought before the victory are not upon a level (with the rest of you). Such are greater in rank than those who spent and fought afterwards. Unto each hath, Allah promised good, and Allah is Informed of what ye do". (57:10).

Those who do not fulfil the obliga­tions of a trustee will be punished by Allah: "Leave Me to deal with the deniers, lords of ease and comfort (in this life); and do thou respite them awhile". (73:11).

Social justice follows from Al-Adl since there can be no justice without a delicate balance obtaining among the many social and economic forces that shape the basic structure of society. One of the most important elements of this structure is the ownership pattern of assets.

It is for this reason that man has been warned against the concentration of wealth: "That which Allah giveth as spoil unto His messenger from the people of the townships, it is for Allah and His mes­senger and for the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer, that it become not a commodity between the rich among you. And whatsoever the messenger giveth you, take it. And whatsoever he forbiddeth, abstain (from it). And keep your duty to Allah, Lo! Allah is stern in reprisal. (59:7).

Thus, Al-'Adl requires that social justice must obtain in every walk of life so that the Divine principle of equilib­rium is reflected on the plane of social existence. Man has been commanded again and again to realise and maintain the quality of justice under all circum­stances. The second part of Allah's com­mand i.e. Al-Ehsan requires that eco­nomic policies in an Islamic economy have a distinct tilt towards the poor. Not only that, the process of pushing up the poor along the scale of the social hierarchy must continue until the "deprived" in the society receive their "due share".

This is the Islamic viewpoint. It demands that while every effort should be made to encourage the altruistic in­stinct in man, the state should intervene where private initiative fails. And in view of man's instinctive greed, to which the Holy Quran testifies, the role of the state may have to be quite large to effectuate a substantial transfer of pri­vately-held property to "the needy and the deprived." All such steps will be in accord with the Divine principles Al-Adal Wal Ehsan. (Courtesy Dawn)