Zakaat: A Model of Economic Order

Some 200 years back phrases like individual freedom and freedom of thought were raised, which resulted in a capitalist ideology. It was supported by the philosophy that every man was the owner of his wealth, he can utilize it in any manner without any concern for the society, whether his character is ruined or his greed of wealth is destroying the peace and prosperity of the society. In this cruel and selfish system wealth, accumulated in the hands of a few capitalists and a large number of people were crushed under the burden of debts.  When this economic order was found inadequate, a new doctrine called ‘communism' was introduced under the guise of equality and justice. In this system, the government holds exclusive rights to own all the resources of the country, land property, factories and all the produce, while the individual is deprived of it all. Practically, the life of servitude is slapped on him, while everything is controlled by a handful of people who exercise absolute authority over both man and matters.  Both these systems carried oppression and exploitation to the extreme limit. People discarded these unjust systems in a very short time, even in Russia, where communism had a strong hold, dissidents raised the banner of revolt. Thus, experience shows that man-made laws have never been infallible and have always lead mankind to downfall and destruction.  Unlike capitalism and socialism, the economic order of Islam rests on the principle that the Universe and everything therein belongs to Allah, the All Mighty. He is the real Owner of all kinds of wealth and all its sources. Therefore, we read in the Qur'aan: "Give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given you." [Soorah an-Noor (24): 33] And: "Spend (in charity) out of the (substance) whereof He has made you heirs." [Soorah al-Hadid (57): 7] Thus, man is merely a trustee and it is binding on him to utilize and spend all the wealth given to him by Allah as He commands.  Allah has set limits in matter of earning and spending wealth. He has forbidden the income which arises from bribery and extortion [(2): 188], breach of trust [(3): 61], making and selling of idols, gambling, wine, divination of arrows [(5): 90], theft [(5): 38], fraudulent dealings on weights and measures [(83): 2-3], depriving the orphan of his property [(4): 2-3], spreading of obscene matters [(24): 19], prostitution [(24): 33] and dealings of interest (Usury) [(2): 278].