Introduction to Economic System
Thoughts, in any nation, are the
greatest fortune the nation gains in its existence if the nation is newly born;
and they are the greatest gift that any generation can receive from the
preceding
generation, provided the nation
is deep-rooted in the enlightened thought.
With regard to material wealth,
scientific discoveries, industrial inventions and the like, all of these are of
much lower importance than thoughts. In fact, to gain such matters depends on
the thoughts, and preservation of these matters depends on the thoughts as
well.
If the material wealth of a
nation is destroyed, it is possible for it to be restored quickly as long as
the nation preserves its intellectual wealth. However, if the intellectual
wealth collapsed and the nation retained only its materialistic wealth, this
wealth will soon shrink and the nation will fall into poverty. Most of the scientific
achievements that the nation once made can be regained, provided it does not
lose its way of thinking. However, if it lost the productive way of thinking,
it would soon regress and lose its discoveries and inventions. Therefore, it is
necessary to ensure the thoughts first. Based upon these thoughts, and according
to the productive way of thinking, material wealth is gained, and the
achievement of scientific discoveries, industrial inventions and the like is
sought.
What is meant by thoughts is the
existence, within the nation, of the process of thinking in its life affairs,
such that the majority of its individuals use the information that they have when
facing events, so as to judge on them. This means that they have thoughts that
they contrive to use in life, and by using these thoughts frequently and
successfully, a productive way of thinking results.
The Islamic nation has passed
through a period during which the productive way of thinking it had was
weakened, to the point it was almost lost. However, all praises to Allah, it
has overcome much of that reality during the past years, as a result of the emergence
of the Islamic Da’wah amongst it
calling for the restarting of the Islamic way of life through the establishment
of the Islamic Khilafah. It has
become clear that the Muslims have turned towards their Islam, and have trust
in the ideas and rules of Islam. Despite the fact that it has become clear that
the socialist and capitalist ideas which have been propagated throughout the
Muslim lands are corrupt and their
shortcomings exposed, the Islamic
nation still suffers from the domination of the disbelievers and their agents
over it, who through the use of every kind of malicious and deceptive means
and styles to beautify and spread
their rotten thoughts in the Muslim lands, especially those that are connected
to economic treatment.
Consequently, it is necessary for
the carrier of the Islamic Da'wah to
expose the foundation upon which the Capitalist solutions are established,
illustrate their falsehood and destroy them intellectually. He has to address
the various new issues of life and show the Islamic solutions to these issues
as divine rules that must be followed, because they are rules derived from the Qur'an
and Sunnah, or from what these two evidences have directed to, and not from the
perspective of whether or not they are suitable for this time. That means they
have to be taken based on the Aqeedah and not based on their perceived benefit.
So each rule has to be given along with the divine evidence from which it was
derived, or by explaining the divine reason (‘ Illah) that the rule or the text brought.
The thoughts related to the
ruling system and economics are the thoughts which most fascinated the Muslims,
and made them suffer the severest tribulations in their lives. The Muslims generally
admired these thoughts, and the West tries to practically apply these thoughts,
and persists in its endeavours to implement them. Although the Ummah is
theoretically governed by democracy on purpose by the infidel colonialists, in
order to protect the Western system and colonisation, it is governed practically
by the Capitalist economic system in all theeconomic aspects of life.
Therefore, the Islamic economic thoughts are those which will have the greatest
influence in the
economic life of the Islamic
world, so much so that they will turn it upside down and they will be most
opposed by the agents of the infidel colonialist, and those who are fascinated
by the
West, namely those who are
pleased to live in the darkness, the defeatists and the rulers.
Therefore, it is necessary to
give a clear picture of the Capitalist economic system, which classifies the
basic thoughts upon which the political economy in the West is established, so that
those who have become fascinated with the Western economic system can come to
see the corruption of this system and its contradiction with Islam. They will
then examine the Islamic economic thoughts that address the problems of economic
life in the correct manner, and present them as a unique way of life which
contradicts the Capitalist life in both its general principles and in its
details.
If we examine the Capitalist economic
system we find that, in their view, it deals with man's needs and the means of satisfying
those needs. It only addresses the materialistic side of man's life and it is
established on three principles:
1. There is a relative scarcity
of commodities and services in relation to needs. This means the insufficiency
of commodities and services to meet the ever-increasing needs of
man. This is the society's
economic problem from their viewpoint.
2. The value of a product that is
the basis of most economic research and study.
3. The price, its role in
production, consumption, and distribution. The price is the cornerstone of the
Capitalist economic system.
With regard to the relative
scarcity of commodities and services, this situation exists because the
commodities and services are the means that are used to satisfy man's needs.
They say man has needs that require satisfaction, so the means must exist to
satisfy them. These needs are purely materialistic. They are either tangible,
such as the need for food or clothing, or they are needs which are sensed by
man but are intangible, such asthe need for the services of, for example,
doctors and teachers.
As for the moral needs such as
pride and honour, or spiritual needs such as the sanctification of the Creator,
they are not recognised economically, and are therefore disregarded and have no
place in economic studies. The means of satisfaction are called commodities and
services. Commodities are the means of satisfying the tangible needs, whereas
services are the means of satisfying the intangible needs. What makes
commodities and services satisfy the needs, in their viewpoint, is the benefit
in these commodities and services. This benefit is an attribute that renders
the thing desirable for satisfying a need. Since the need means the economic
desire, then the economically beneficial thing is everything desired, whether
it is essential or not, and even if
some consider it beneficial and
others consider it harmful. It is considered economically beneficial as long as
there is someone who finds it desirable. This makes them consider things as
beneficial from an economic
viewpoint even if the public opinion considers them of no benefit, or harmful.
Thus wine and hashish are beneficial things to the economists since there are people
who want them.
The economist looks upon the means
of satisfaction, that is, the commodities and services, from the viewpoint that
they satisfy a need, without taking any other factor into consideration. Thus,
he looks at the needs and the benefits as they are, not as they should be i.e.
he looks at benefit as
satisfying a need, without taking
anything else into consideration. So he would look at wine in its capacity of
having an economic value because it satisfies the needs of some people, and he
perceives the wine maker as a person who provides a service, considering this
service as having an economic value, because it satisfies the need of some
individuals.
This is the nature of needs in
Capitalism and the nature of the means of satisfying these needs. Hence, the
economist does not care about the nature of society, but cares about the economic
material resources (economic commodities), since they satisfy a need.
Therefore, the function of the economist is to supply commodities and services
i.e. to provide the means of satisfying man's needs, irrespective of any other
consideration. Accordingly, the economist strives to make available the means of
satisfaction. Since the commodities and services, which are the means of
satisfaction, are limited, they are not sufficient to meet all of man's needs,
because these needs in their view are unlimited and constantly growing. This is
because there are basic needs that man as a human must satisfy, and there are other
needs which increase in number as man proceeds to a higher level of
urbanisation. These needs multiply and increase and they all need complete
satisfaction, a situation that cannot be fulfilled no matter how much
commodities and services
increase. From here the basis of
the economic problem emerged, which is an overabundance of needs and the
shortage of the means of their satisfaction i.e. the lack of commodities and
services to completely satisfy
all of man's needs. From this
perspective, the society faces an economic problem, which is the relative
shortage of commodities and services. The inevitable result of this shortage is
that some needs are either partially satisfied or not satisfied at all. Since
this is the situation, it is necessary that the members of society agree on
rules that decide which needs have to be satisfied and which needs are to be
deprived. In other words, it is necessary to set a rule that decides the manner
of distributing the limited resources over the unlimited needs. So the problem
to address in their view is the needs and resources and not the man. Thus, the problem
is to make available the resources so as to satisfy the needs, but not
necessarily the needs of every individual.
Origin From : The Economic System of Islam (Taqiyudin An Nabhani)
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