Holistic approach to life

The Islamic Concept of Life
The chief characteristic of Islam is that it makes no distinction between the spiritual and the secular in life. Its aim is to shape both individual lives as well as society as a whole in ways that will ensure that the Kingdom of Allah may really be established on earth and that peace, contentment and well-being may fill the world. The Islamic way of life is thus based on a unique concept of man's place in the universe.

The Scheme of Life
In Islam, man's entire individual and social life is an exercise in developing and strengthening his relationship with Allah. Man, the starting point of our religion, consists in the acceptance of this relationship by man's intellect and will; Islam means submission to the will of Allah in all aspects of life. The Islamic code of conduct is known as the Shariah. Its sources are the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet, blessings and peace be on him. The final Book of Allah and His final Messenger stand today as the repositories of this truth. Everyone who agrees that the concept of Reality stated by the Prophet, and the Holy Book is true, should step forward and surrender himself to the will of Allah. It is this submission which is called Islam, the result of Man in actual life. And those who of their own freewill accept Allah as their Sovereign, surrender to His Divine will and undertake to regulate their lives in accordance with His commandments, are called Muslims.

ISLAMIC PERSPECTIVE OF THE ECONOMIC PROBLEM

Islamic Economic system is based on four principles:

• All the wealth belongs to Allah (swt): "And give them of the wealth of Allah which He has given you." [An-Nur: 33]
• The community is the trustee of the wealth: "Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and spend whereof He has made you heirs."[Al-Hadid: 7]
• Hoarding of wealth is prohibited: "And those who hoard up gold and silver and spend not in the way of Allah; announce to them a painful chastisement." [At-Tauba: 34]
• Circulation of wealth is a duty: "Whatsoever Allah may restore unto His Messenger - is due unto Allah and unto His Messenger - the orphans and the needy ...so that it may not be confined to the rich amongst you." [Al-Hashr:7]

Based on these principles, Islam differs fundamentally from man-made systems (such as communism/socialism and capitalism) in defining the economic problem. Islam uniquely considers distribution as the economic problem, and Muslims do not share the obsession of capitalists and communists with production. Because Islam differentiates between the basic needs and luxuries, there exists no concept of relative scarcity of resources in Islam. The resources available on earth are sufficient to secure the basic needs (food, clothing, and shelter) of fifty billion human beings.

Islamic Economic Thought

• Economic Well-Being and the Moral Norms of Islam
  Islam urges Muslims to enjoy the bounties provided by God and to set no quantitative limits to the extent of material growth of the Muslim society. It even equates the struggle for material well-being with acts of virtue. It also urges Muslims to gain mastery over nature because, according to the Quran, all resources in heavens and on earth have been created for the service of mankind.
• Universal Brotherhood
• Justice
  • Social Justice
  • Economic Justice
• Prohibition on Taking Interest (Riba)
• Zakat
• Ownership According to the Quranic verses, everything in this universe belongs to God, the Almighty. "Whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth belongs to Allah" [Al-Baqarah, 2:284]. He is the real owner of everything. "And Allah's is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth, and Allah has power over everything." [Al- Imran, 3:189]. Sadr (1994, 98-114) illustrated that individual ownership, state ownership and public ownership are three parallel forms of possession in Islamic law. Real ownership, however, belongs to Allah. Man holds property in trust and he is accountable to Him, in accordance with the rules which have been clearly laid down in the Shariah Islami'iah [Islamic Teaching].
• Economic Freedom within Reason
  Islamic economy allows individuals freedom within the boundary of spiritual and moral values. The execution of this 'freedom' is undertaken as follows:
  • There is textual stipulation that forbids activities such as usury, monopoly or hoarding which, in Islam, would hinder the realization of ideals and values considered favorable to Islam.
  • Islamic laws allow for the supervision of the ruler over general activities and the intervention of the state to protect and safeguard public interest through the limitation of freedom of individuals in the actions they perform.

OBJECTIVES AND CHARACTERISTICS

The main objectives of the Shari'ah are to ensure that human life is based on ma'rufat (good) and to cleanse it of munkarat (evils). The term ma'rufat denotes all the qualities that have always been accepted as 'good' by the human conscience. Conversely, the world munkarat denotes all those qualities that have always been condemned by human nature as 'evil'. In short, the ma'rufat are in harmony with human nature and the munkarat are against nature. The Shari'ah gives precise definitions of ma'rufat and munkarat, clearly indicating the standards of goodness for which individuals and society should aspire.

It does not, however, limit itself to an inventory of good and evil deeds; rather, it lays down an entire scheme of life whose aim is to make sure that good flourishes and evils do not destroy or harm human life.

To achieve this, the Shari'ah has embraced in its scheme everything that encourages the growth of good and has recommended ways to remove obstacles that might prevent this growth. This process gives rise to a subsidiary series of ma'rufat consisting of ways of initiating and nurturing the good, and yet another set of ma'rufat consisting of prohibitions in relation to those things which act as impediments to good. Similarly, there is a subsidiary list of munkarat which might initiate or allow the growth of evil.

The Shari'ah shapes Islamic society in a way conducive to the unfettered growth of good, righteousness and truth in every sphere of human activity. At the same time it removes all the impediments along the path of goodness. And it attempts to eradicate corruption from its social scheme by prohibiting evil, by removing the causes of its appearance and growth, by closing the inlets through which it creeps into a society and by adopting deterrent measures to check its occurrence.

Sources of Funds for the Poor

Zakah
Zakah is the fourth of five pillars of Islam and hence is obligatory on every Muslim, who fulfils the stipulated conditions, to pay. Being a pillar of Islam, it has to be paid and collected whether the destitute and the poor exist in society or not. As such it is indeed a permanent source of revenue for the alleviation of the destitute and the poor.

Charitable Trusts or Endowments (Al Awqaf)
Charitable trusts transfer wealth from private ownership to beneficial, social, collective ownership. Islam does not make this practice obligatory but has strongly encouraged it and left it to voluntary initiatives of individuals. In spite of this, the Muslims accepted it wholeheartedly (even in periods of economic decline) and created charitable trusts, since the period of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) for important social and economic functions. Such trusts that were created in different countries and ages have successfully brought about tremendous changes in the welfare of the needy.

Gifts (Al Maniha)
Al Minha and Al Maniha are special kinds of gifts. The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) in his various traditions used this method to provide some assistance to the early Muslim migrants from Mecca to Madinah who were in real need of some help. Al Maniha means the granting of the usufruct of a productive asset to a needy person for a specific period. These gifts as mentioned in the various Prophetic traditions, include money (cash), riding animals, dairy animals, agricultural land, fruit bearing trees, houses, kitchen utensils, tools, etc. However it should be general in application to include other productive assets such as cars, ships, industries, etc.

Al Fay'
Al Fay' is the wealth that Muslims acquire from the enemy without actual fighting. The recipients of fay' are the Prophet (s.a.w.), his family, the orphans, the needy and the wayfarer. (Quran 59: 7-10)

Spoils of War (Al Ghanimah)
Al Ghanimah is the wealth acquired from enemy by force during war. One-fifth of the al ghanimah is to be distributed to all the recipients of the fay' and the remaining four-fifths go to the soldiers who participated in the war.

Treasure (Rikaz)
Rikaz is buried wealth found in land which has no owner. The finder will have to pay 20% or one-fifth of the wealth. The opinions of the jurists on the recipients of this one-fifth of the wealth are divided. Some are of the opinion that it should be distributed to the recipients of the fay'. Some others opine that it should be distributed as zakah. Whichever way it is distributed, it is still an important source for the needy.

Obligatory Maintenance By Relatives
It is interesting to note that the Islamic system makes it obligatory on each wealthy person to provide sufficient (customarily) maintenance for his poor relative who is unable to earn a living. The juristic opinion that seems to be most appropriate is that it is based upon inheritance rights. The maintenance of the incapacitated poor man is obligatory on his rich relative(s) who will inherit from this poor man if this poor man leaves any inheritance. If there are a number of such rich relatives, the amount of maintenance is distributed amongst them according to the share of their inheritance from him.

Guarantee By The Public Treasury Of A Minimum Level Of Living For Each Citizen
Guarantee by the public treasury of a minimum level of living is not a recent innovation (ijtihad) as the following excerpt shows: " This is an epistle (of peace) from Khalid ibn al-Walid to the people of Hirah ... and I have promised them that: any old person who is unable to work or has been struck by a calamity, was rich and then became poor to the extent that the people of his faith started giving him charity, his jizya stands waived, and he and his dependents are to be provided from the treasury as long as he resides in Dar-al-Islam (Islamic State) ..." (al Kharaj by Abu Yusuf, quoted by M.A.Zarqa). The above excerpt is a good example of an objective determination of the circumstances entitling Non-Muslims to help. The general implementation of this policy of providing minimum level of living by the public treasury likewise needs the conditions to be clearly spelled out.

Rights to Acquire Necessities Of Life
The jurists have established that a man under duress has the right to free food and drink if he is poor, but will have to pay for the food and drink if he can afford it. This principle has also been extended to other necessities such as clothing, shelter and medicine.