The New Nation - Internet Edition

Tamizul Haque

Barrister-at-Law

(From previous issue)

The idea behind the Muslim weekly "Day of Assembly" is different from that behind the Jewish Sabbath (Saturday) or the Christian Sunday. The Jewish Sabbath is primarily a commemoration of Allah's ending His work and resting on the seventh day: we are taught that Allah needs no rest, nor does He feel fatigue (2-255). The Jewish command forbids work on that day but says nothing about worship or prayer ; our ordinance lays chief stress on the remembrance of Allah. Jewish formalism went so far as to kill the spirit of the Sabbath, and call forth the protest of Jesus: "the sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. But the Christian Church, although it has changed the day from Saturday to Sunday, has inherited the Jewish spirit: witness the Scottish Sabbath; except in so far as it has been secularized. Our teaching says: 'When the time for Jumu'a Prayer comes, close your business and answer the summons loyally and earnestly, meet earnestly, pray, consult and learn by social contact: when the meeting is over, scatter and go about your business.

The immediate and temporal worldly gain may be the ultimate and spiritual loss, and vice versa.

In Ayat 10 of Sura Jumu'a Holy Quran clearly speaks that "when the Prayer Is finished then people may Disperse through the land And seek the Bounty of Allah and celebrate The Praise of Allah Often so that they may prosper".

Prosperity is not to be measured by wealth or worldly gains. There is a higher prosperity, -the health of the mind and the spirit.

Ayat 11 of the Sura Jumua-62 Allah cautions us not to be distructed by the craze for amusement or gain. If one leads a righteous and sober life, Allah will provide for him in all senses, better than any provision one can possibly think of.

Islam urges Muslims to enjoy the bounties provided by Allah Subhanahu Tahla and sets no quantitative limits to the extent of material growth of Islamic society. I have also sighted as above ayat 10 of Sura 62 where Allah has directed the Ummah that when the Jumu'a prayer is ended, then disperse in the land and seek of Allah's bounty. If Allah provides any one with an opportunity for earning his livelihood, let him not leave it unexploited until it is exhausted. From Bokhari, Muslim and Tirmidhi, one would find that when any Muslim who plants a tree or cultivates a field such that a bird, or a human being, or an animal eats from it, this act will be counted as an act of charity.

Islam also expects from the believers of the Faith to refrain from bagging. Islam goes even further than this. It urges Muslims to gain mastery over nature because, according to the Holy Quran, all resources in the heavens and the earth have been created for the service of mankind.

Now coming back to ayat 29 of Sura Nesa-IV the commitment of Islam to individual freedom distinguishes it sharply from socialism or any system, which abolishes individual freedom. Free mutual consent of the buyer and the seller is, according to all schools of Muslims jurisprudence, a necessary condition for any business transactions. This conditions springs from the verse of the Holy Quran which runs thus :-

O ye who believe!

Eat not up your property

Among yourselves in vanities:

But let there be amongst you

Traffic and trade

By mutual good-will:

The Holy Prophet is also reported to have said: Leave people alone for Allah gives them provision through each other. The only system that would conform to this spirit of freedom in the Islamic way of life is one where the conduct of a large part of the production and distribution of goods and services is left to individuals or voluntarily constituted groups, and where each individual is permitted to sell to or buy from whom he wants at a price agreeable to both the buyer and seller.

The market mechanism may also be considered to be an integral part of the Islamic economic system because, on the one hand, the institution of private property is not workable without it; and, on the other, it offers the consumers a chance to express their desires for the production of goods of their liking by their willingness to pay the price and also gives resources-owners an opportunity to sell their resources in accordance with their free will.

As a matter of policy I give a conclusion to my treatise for better understanding of my readers. There is no strictly worldly sector of life according to Islam. Action in every field of human activity including the economic, is spiritual provided it is in harmony with the goal and values of Islam. These goals and values are summarized by some authors as follows :-

1. Economic well-being within the framework of moral and norm of Islam;

2. Universal brotherhood and justice;

3. Equitable distribution of income; and

4. Freedom of individual within the context of social welfare.

Islam strikes a balance between the two extremes of capitalism and socialism. Being appreciative of their role Islam harmonizes the individual and the state in such a way that individuals have the freedom necessary to develop their potentialities and not to encroach upon the rights of their fellowmen. It also gives the community and the state adequate powers to regulate and control the socio-economic relationships so as to guard and maintain this harmony in human life. The basis of this whole structure as envisaged by Islam is the reciprocity of love between individuals and groups; it is not erected on the basis of hatred and class conflict as is the case with socialism.

(Concluded)