لطفا منتظر باشید ...
suffering brothers.
Numerous traditions and narrations emphasize this
principle and urge Muslims to share the burden uniformly.
The Noble Messenger (s.a.w.) is quoted to have said:
"Never does he believe in me who goes to bed full
while his neighbour is hungry. Never shall Allah on the Day of Judgement
look with favour at the people of a place who pass their night satisfied
but among them is a hungry one."[14]
He also said:
"Surely he is not a Muslim who does not take interest
in the affairs of Muslims. And surely he is not a Muslim who hears a
Muslim calling for help and does not respond to his call."[15]
He further said:
"All of you are leaders and all of you are responsible
for your subjects."
On this point Imam Ja'far al-Sadiq (a.s.) is quoted to
have said:
"The right of the Muslim on the Muslim is that he
should never eat his fill while his brother suffers, never should be
quench his thirst while his brother suffers thirst, never should he clothe
himself while his brother suffers inadequate clothing."[16]
Another tradition reads:
"Any believer who denies another faithful something he
can certainly offer him or can do for him, on his own or with others'
help, Allah shall certainly resurrect him on the Day of Judgement
black-faced, with withered eyes and hands tied up to his neck. Someone
shall cry out, 'This is the traitor who betrayed Allah and his Messenger.'
Then he shall be ordered to be thrown into hell-fire."
Deep in themselves, Muslims feel great human sentiments.
With such cooperative, kindly manners, Muslims treat one another. They
only act incompatible ways with Islam's excellent teachings, which leave
their mark far more than any material and corporal power could do. Muslims
move to act, urged by the reward stored for them and by their implanted
benevolence more than by the whip of the dictatorial authority.
7 Economic security:
In Islam, state is liable for the demands and needs of
every single subject, be he Muslim or non-Muslim, should he be unable to
provide for himself, through his own personal resources or his
sponsor.
This point is best explained again in the letter Imam Ali
(a.s.) wrote to his governor in Egypt, Malik al-Ashtar:
"Then I want to caution you about the poor. Fear Allah
about their condition and your attitude towards them. They have no
support, no resources and no opportunities. They are poor, they are
destitute and many of them are crippled and unfit for work Some of them,
come out begging and some (who maintain self-respect) do not beg, but
their condition screams about their distress, poverty, destitution and
wants. So, protect them and their rights. Allah has laid the
responsibility of this on your shoulders. You must fix a share for them
from the government treasury. Beside this reservation in cash, you must
also reserve a share in kind of crops...etc. from government grain stores
in cities, in which such grain are collected and cultivated on state-owned
lands. Because in this collection, the share of those living far away from
any particular city is equal to the share of those living nearby".
Islamic law, made by this quotation, allots sums of money
from the treasury to support the infirm and needy, who can no longer work
or that their incomes fall short of covering their expenses. It states
clearly the principle the state's responsibility for economic security
that applies to every citizen, irrespective of his/her religion.
It is narrated that one day Imam Ali (a.s.) saw a
Christian dimmi (non-Muslim citizen living in an Islamic state)
begging. Amir al-Mu'minin (a.s.) asked:
"Who is this?"
"Oh Amir al-Mu'minin!," said people, who were
present.
"He is a Christian."
"You employed him," Amir al-Mu'minin (a.s.)
retorted, "until he become old and infirm then you denied him help.
Spend on him from the treasury."[17]
8. Lawful sources of wealth.
Sources of ownership, or the means by which man can gain
wealth, property and amenities of life, are looked upon by Islam as
important matters, which define the identity of the economic system, its
method of distributing wealth among members of society, fighting poverty
and need, and rooting out greed, exploitation and unlawful ways of gaining
wealth.
Islam sets two key ways of gaining wealth which are work
and need. They are lawfully accepted ways of ownership.[18]
A- Employment and natural resources:
One may work in agriculture, mining, industry or any
field of production or one may give one' s services in the fields of
medicine, engineering, transportation, education, trade...etc. In Islam,
employment in any field of lawful activity, is the chief way of acquiring
wealth and money. Islam lays out great emphasis on the personal role in
securing wealth and obtaining money, as we have previously detailed.
B- Need:
In the same way Islam made work a legal way of getting
money and wealth, it made need a source of ownership for wealth to fight
destitution and poverty. But ownership here is different from the former
one.
For ownership, in the first case, is the fruit of the
direct interaction between man, nature or raw materials, or services
rendered to satisfy some needs. Man here becomes entitled to ownership in
return for the fruits of his labour.
As for ownership by need, it is the process of conveying
property or wealth from one owner to another one on account of the need
for it by the new owner. In order of precedence, the latter kind of
ownership comes second to the first one. Ownership by need is placed in
the category of owning something by inheritance and maintenance as in the
case given by the husband to his wife.
The needy, who cannot work, due to bodily infirmity or
can finds no work, has a share in the money set aside from the taxes of
zakat and khums, or from the money allotted by the state to
meet the needs of the impoverished.
The ultimate result of this economic system being put
into practice is that every single member of the Islamic community becomes
economically secure. He neither fears poverty nor does he worry about his
daily life. On the contrary he feels secure, and has confidence in the
community and state he lives under its shade.
Once this unmatched economic system is implemented, and
security in welfare prevails along side with stability. All man's efforts
then are channelled into one conduit, which is the competition to do good
and to work for building and constructing a society far removed from in
fighting and aggressive and destructive erosions.
Praise be to Allah, Lord of the world.
FOOTNOTES
1. Al-Kulaini, al-Kafi, vol. 5, p. 71,
2. Al-Kulaini,
op. cit.
3. Al-Kulaini, op. cit.
4. Al-Kulaini, op. cit.
5.
Al-Kulaini, op. cit.
6. Al-Kulaini, op. cit. p. 72.
7. Theory of
the social system is the first stage of the ideological ladder. It is the
bases from which laws and legislations are derived. Social and moral
theory is the foundation stone on which man depends to outline the
attitude towards different matters in these two fields. Laws then come to
incarnate the theory and give it a practical quality in the lives of the
individual and the community (like the areas of obligation, prohibition,
permission, unlawfulness and lawfulness).
8. Al-Naraqi, Jami' al- Sa'adat (Collector of
Felicities), vol. 2, p. 46.
9. Al-Harani, Tuhaf al-Uqul an Aal
al-Rasul, Mawa'id al-Nabi (Treasures of Minds about the Household of the
Messenger of Allah, Exhortations of the Prophet).
10. Al-Kulaini, al-Kafi, vol. 5, p.67.
11. Al-Tabari,
Mirza Hussein al-Nuri, Mustadrak al-Wasa'il, chapter on zakat.
12.
Al-Kulaini, al-Kafi, vol. 3, 3rd ed., p. 497
13. Sa'id Hawa, al-Rasul
(The Messenger), vol. 1, pp. 121123.
14. Al-Kulaini, al-Kafi, 3rd ed.,
p. 668.
15. Ibid, p. 164.
16. Al-Kulaini, al-Usul min al-Kafi, vol.
2, p. 170.
17. Al-Hur al-Amili, Wasa'il al-Shi'ah, vol. 6, 2nd ed., p.
49.
18. There are other ways of ownership in Islam allied to work
and need, including inheritance, maintenance, donation, gifts, profits of
endowments...etc, which our main focus has not separated out.
