As
a complete way of life, Islam has provided guidelines and rules for ever sphere of society.
Naturally, a functioning economic system is vital of a healthy society, as the consumption of goods
and services and the facilitation of this by a common medium of exchange play a major role in
allowing people to realize their material and other goals in life.
Islam
has set some standards, based on justice and practicality, for such economic systems to be
established. These standards aim to prevent the enmity that often occurs between different
socioeconomic strata, and while they consider money to be among the most important elements in
society, the gathering of which concerns almost every human being who participates in transactions
with others, they do not lose sight of the fact that its position is secondary to the real purpose
of human existence, the worship of Allah.
There
are three foundational principles that comprise the economic system in Islam: personal property,
freedom of activity, and the right of money.
An
Islamic economic system is not necessarily concerned with the precise amount of fiscal income and
expenditure, imports and exports, and other economic statistics. While such matters are no doubt
important, Islam is concerned with the spirit of the economic system.
A
society that implements Islamic laws and promotes Islamic manners will find that it infuses all the
systems – social, economic, and so forth – that it deals with. Islam teaches that Allah has
created provision for every person who He has brought to life. Therefore, the competition for
natural resources that is presumed to exist among the nations of the world is an illusion. While the
earth has sufficient bounty to satisfy the needs of mankind, the challenge for humans lies in
discovering, extracting, processing, and distributing these resources to those who need them.
*
Taken with permission from Introduction to Islam
