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ECONOMIC TEACHINGS

1. The first economic principle emphasized by the Qur'an with repeated stress is that all natural means of production, and resources which subscribe to man's living, have been created by God. It is He who made them as they are and set them to follow the laws of nature that make them useful for man. It is He who allowed man to exploit them and placed them at his disposal.

2. On the basis of the aforesaid truth the Qur'an lays down the principle that an individual has neither the right to be free in acquiring and exploiting these resources according to his own sweet will, nor is he entitled to draw a line independently to decide between the lawful and the unlawful. It is for God to draw this line; for none else. The Qur'an condemns the Midians, an Arabian tribe of old, because its people claimed to possess a right to acquire and expend wealth in any way they liked without restriction of any kind.

It calls it a "lie" if a man describes a certain thing as lawful and another unlawful on his own account. The right to pronounce this rests with God and (as God's deputy) His Prophet .

3. Under the, sovereign command of God and within the limits imposed by Him, the Qur'an recognizes the right of holding private property as implied in several verses.

The economic scheme presented in the Qur'an is based entirely on the idea of individual ownership in every field. There is nothing in it to suggest that a distinction is to be made between consumption goods and production goods (or means of production) and that only the former may be held in private ownership, while the latter must be nationalized. Nor is there anything in the Qur'an suggesting or implying that the above‑mentioned scheme is of a temporary nature to be replaced later by a permanent arrangement in which collectivization of all means of production may be desired to be made the rule. Had that been the ultimate object of the Qur'an, it would have certainly stated it unequivocally and given us instructions with regard to that future permanent order. The mere fact that it mentions in one place that "the earth belongs to God" [6] is not enough to conclude that it either denies or forbids private ownership of land and sanctions nationalization. Elsewhere it says, "Whatever is in the heavens and the earth belongs to God," [7] but nobody has ever concluded from this verse that none of the things in the heavens or the earth can be held in individual possession or that all these things should be State property. If, a thing which belongs to God ceases to belong to human beings, certainly it ceases to belong to individuals and States alike.

It is equally erroneous to draw from verse xli, 10 the inference that the Qur'an desires to distribute all the means of livelihood in the earth equally among all men, and conclude that since this can be achieved only under nationalization, the Qur'an advocates or favours the introduction of that system. For the purpose of this interpretation the verse is wrongly rendered to mean that "God has put in the earth its means of sustenance proportionately in four days, alike for those who seek." [8] But even this wrong translation does not serve the purpose. It would be incorrect to apply the words "alike for those who seek" to human beings alone. All kinds of animals, too, are among "those who seek," and there is little doubt that their means of sustenance have also been placed by God in the earth. If this verse, then, denotes an equal share to all who seek, there is no justification for restricting this equality of share to members of the human species alone.

Similarly, it would be wrong to stretch those verses of the Qur'an which emphasize providing for the weak or the have‑nots to extract from them the theory of nationalization. It should be seen that wherever it stresses this need of providing for the poor, it also prescribes the only way of meeting it, namely, that the rich and the well‑to‑do of a society should spend their wealth generously for the welfare of their poor kin, the orphans, and the needy for the pleasure of God; in addition to this, the State should collect a fixed portion of it and spend it for the same purpose. There is no hint in the Qur'an of any other scheme proposed to be put in practice to meet this end.

No doubt, there is nothing in the Qur'an to prevent a certain thing from being taken over from individual control and placed under collective control, if necessary; but to deny individual ownership altogether and adopt nationalization as an economic system does not go with the Qur'anic approach to man's economic problems.

4. The fact that, as in other things, all men do not enjoy equality in sustenance and means of earning, is described in the Qur'an as a feature of God's providence. Extravagant disparities devised by various social systems aside, natural inequality, as it goes, is described as the outcome of His wise apportionment, issuing from His own dispensation. The idea that this inequality is to be levelled up and substituted by dead equality is alien to the Book of God.

The Qur'an advises people not to covet that by which Allah has made some of you excel others; men shall have the benefit of what they earn and women shall have the benefit of what they earn, and ask Allah of His grace.

It is sometimes tried to conclude from verses xvi, 71 and xxx, 28 that the Qur'an desires equality of provision for everybody. But both the words and the context of these verses tell that they do not attempt to disparage inequality and urge equality to take its place, but press this fact (of inequality among men) as an argument against taking some of God's creatures as His partners. They argue that when men are not prepared to share their wealth (given by God) with their slaves as equal partners, what on earth leads them to think that God will share His powers with His servants and have partners with Him from amongst His creation?

5. The Qur'an also asserts with full and repeated emphasis that God has created His bounties for men so that they use them for their benefit. It is not His intent that men should have nothing to do with them and live a life of renunciation. However, He desires that they should distinguish between things pure and impure, lawful and unlawful. They should use and exploit only what is pure and lawful, and there too should observe moderation.

6. To achieve this end the Qur'an ordains that wealth should be acquired by lawful means only and that unlawful ways and means should be discarded altogether: "O you who believe, take not your wealth among yourselves in wrongful ways, but let there be trade among you by mutual agreement .. . ."

These "wrongful ways" have been detailed at length by the Holy Prophet and the great jurists of Islam have elucidated them in books of law. Some of them, however, have been described in the Qur'an as under:

(a) "And do not eat one another's property among yourselves in wrongful ways, nor seek by it to gain the nearness of the judges that you may sinfully consume a portion of other men's goods and that knowingly."

(b) "If one of you deposits a thing on trust with another, let him who is trusted (faithfully) deliver his trust, and let him fear God, his Lord."

(c) "He who misappropriates (the public money) will come on the Day of Judgment with what he has misappropriated; then shall everyone be given in full what he earned."

(d) "The thief, male or female, cut off his or her hands."

(e) "Those who devour the property of orphans unjustly, devour fire in their bellies, and will soon endure a blazing fire."

(f) "Woe to the defrauders who, when they take the measure from men, exact full measure, but when they measure or weigh for them, give less than is due."

(g) "Those who love that indecent things should spread among the believers, for them is a painful chastisement, in the life of this world and the hereafter.

(h) "Force not your slave‑girls to prostitution that you may enjoy (some) gain of the present life, if they desire to live in chastity."  "And approach not fornication, surely it is a shameful deed and an evil Way." "The adulterer and the adulteress, flog each of them with a hundred stripes."

(i) "O ye believers, wine and gambling and idols and divining arrows are an abomination of Satan's handiwork; so avoid them that you may prosper."

(j) "God has permitted trade and forbidden usury."  "O ye believers, fear God and give up what remains (due to you) of usury if you are believers (indeed). If you do not do so, take notice of war from God and His Messenger. But if you repent you shall have your principal. Neither you wrong, nor shall you be wronged. If the debtor is in straintened circumstances, give him time till it is easy (for him to pay), and that you remit (the debt), by way of charity, that is the best thing for you, if you only knew."

Thus we see that the Qur'an has prohibited the following ways of acquiring wealth:

(i) Taking another's property without, his consent or remuneration or with consent and with or without remuneration in such a way that the consent is forced or obtained by guile.

(ii) Bribes.

(iii) Forcible acquisitions.

(iv) Fraud, whether with private or public wealth.

(v) Theft.

(vi) Misappropriation of orphans' property.

(vii) Taking or giving wrong measure

(viii) Businesses which help to spread indecency.

(ix) Prostitution and its earnings.

(x) Manufacture, buying and selling, and carriage of wines.

(xi) Gambling, including all such ways in which the transfer of wealth from one person to another depends on mere chance.

(xii) Manufacture, buying, and selling of idols, and service of temples where idols are kept or worshipped.

(xiii) Earnings from businesses like astrology, foretelling of fate, divination, etc.

Source: A History of Muslim Philosophy