Allah,
the Creator of all, knows that people love to gather material possessions, and that much of their
efforts are for the sake of gathering the various material means of the world. As such, Islam does
not oppose human nature, as it was fashioned by Allah, and allows for personal possessions though
they may be a great deal of all the wealth in the world.
Islam
is more concerned with ensuring the rights of others’ personal property, and preventing all forms
of stealing, usurpation, and extortion. In fact, the severity of the Islamic punishment for
stealing, when certain conditions are met and certain extenuating circumstances cannot be found, is
an example of Islam’s strong concern with eradicating such forms of oppression completely from
society.
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The
true Muslim realizes that the wealth in his or her possession is in actuality in the possession of
Allah. |
The
Islamic ideal is based upon absolute justice on the personal as well as the societal level. If a
person strives hard and earns wealth that is subsequently stolen by another or usurped by the state,
this is the ultimate in injustice. Furthermore, if such arbitrary seizures of private property are
pervasive in society, they will remove the incentive for people to work for personal financial
advancement, undermining the basis of material societal development itself. For these reasons, the
Islamic model is highly concerned with preventing injustice by protecting the rights of people to
their personal property.
The
true Muslim realizes that the wealth in his or her possession is in actuality in the possession of
Allah. The Muslim is merely a temporary agent who manages the property and who will be held
accountable for how he or she disposes of it. If one uses it for good ends, such as the
rectification of the self, of others, or of society, one will be rewarded in this world and in the
next. On the other hand, if one uses it for less noble ends, one will either be punished in the next
world or by being denied blessings in the fruits of one’s labors in this world.
|
Islam
frowns upon a situation in which a society’s wealth is concentrated in the hands of a select few
|
The
Islamic system has established fundamental rules governing work and inheritance, the two main means
of acquiring wealth. It stipulates that a worker’s wages should be paid before the sweat has dried
from his body – a law applied in a general sense to eradicate oppression against the lower
classes.
Islam
has also made unlawful the monopolization of things necessary for the functioning of society. Wells
and other sources of water, for instance, are unlawful to use and monopolize as personal property,
thereby eliminating another potential for oppression. It is also considered a great act of charity
to dig a well, or even plant a tree for public benefit.
Islam
does not look favorably upon a situation in which a society’s wealth is concentrated in the hands
of a select few. Thus, it seeks to facilitate the trickling down of money from the rich to those
below them. In addition to the yearly mandatory zakah,
there exist numerous Prophetic Hadiths that strongly encourage additional, voluntary charity by the
affluent.
When
the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) came to Medina, he encouraged the wealthier
supporters to financially aid the poor Emigrants. Then, when war booty fell to the lot of the
Muslims, he would divide the wealth according to economic condition – the poor segments of the
Muslims would receive larger portions. Through such measures, he sought to reduce the gap between
rich and poor.
Islamic
inheritance laws aim to distribute the deceased person’s money throughout a family, thereby
limiting the potential of powerful family dynasties to oppress those they disfavor by denying them a
portion of the estate. Children, spouses, grandchildren, siblings, and more distantly related men
and women alike are all potentially eligible to receive shares of the inheritance, though their
portions differ depending on their proximity to the deceased and the identity of the other heirs.
*
Taken with permission from Introduction to Islam
