Islam's response to contemporary world problems (46)

ECONOMIC PEACE. 

We continue to develop the theme of "Economic Peace", linking to the 45th installment. 

(The Holy Quran references can be found at https://www.ahmadiyya-islam.org/es/coran/) 

How can we know if an imbalance has occurred in society, with the rights due to the poor being diverted into the hands of a few wealthy people? The standard for this criterion is certain guaranteed rights. 

According to Islam, there are four basic needs in man that must be met. The Holy Quran states: 

"It has been provided for you, so that you will not hunger in it, nor be naked. In it you will not thirst, nor will you be exposed to the sun." (20:119-120) 

Thus, Islam establishes minimum entitlements in the form of four points that define the necessities that the state must provide: 

• Food 
• Clothing 
• Water 
• Shelter 

Even in Britain and the United States of America, there are hundreds of thousands of homeless people, and there are those who have to rummage through rubbish bins to find some leftover food to satisfy their hunger. 

These ugly scenes show the inherent weakness of capitalist society and bring to the surface the symptoms of a deep underlying malaise. Materialism, in its ultimate form, breeds selfishness and insensitivity and extinguishes human sensitivity to the suffering of others. 

Of course there are far more wretched scenes of misery originating in the extreme poverty experienced in most Third World countries, but in this case society as a whole is poor and these countries are governed by the same capitalist principles. It is therefore not a question of whether the majority of the population of these countries is Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim or pagan: the system is essentially capitalist in nature. 

Crime flourishes and vice thrives in the "ghettos", which are a stain on the very face of humanity, in the so-called "developed nations" of the world. 

There are regions in Africa and elsewhere where even clean drinking water is not available to large sections of society. Even if one could only get one hot meal a day, one would feel very lucky. Water becomes a daily problem. There are, on the other hand, countries that have all the potential and resources to change the fortunes of the former within a few years without having to struggle for it, and yet they do not feel obliged to commit themselves to alleviating the suffering of hundreds of millions of people in these poorer countries. 

From an Islamic point of view, this issue is of particular importance. According to Islam, the society of a country is not only responsible for the suffering of any individual in that society, but also for the suffering of any human being in any society, i.e. humanity, which has no geographical boundaries, no colour, no creed and no political demarcations. Humanity as a whole is responsible and all human beings as such are accountable to God. Whenever famine, malnutrition or suffering from some natural disaster strikes any community, it must be treated as a human problem. Every society and state in the world must participate in the relief effort to alleviate suffering. 

It is a shame that despite all the advances in science and technology, the problem of eliminating thirst and hunger has not been given the necessary attention. There must be a system whereby the sum total of human wealth can be quickly and efficiently channelled to those areas where hunger strikes, where famine ravages human beings or where people are stranded and left homeless. 

Governments have both national and international responsibilities. National responsibilities are to meet the basic needs of every member of society, ensuring that everyone is adequately fed, clothed and provided with water and shelter. The international duty, to which I will refer later, is to participate fully in pooling resources to meet the challenges of major natural disasters or man-made calamities and to assist countries that are unable to solve the crisis on their own. 

In this way, it is the duty of the state to put everything in its place, giving back to the needy and poor what is rightfully theirs. In this way, the four fundamental requirements of food, clothing, water and shelter will take precedence over all other considerations. 

In other words, in a true Islamic state there cannot be a beggar, nor a homeless person without food, clothing, water or shelter. 

Having guaranteed these global requirements, the state fulfils its minimum responsibilities. However, society as a whole is expected to do much more. 

"Man does not live by bread alone" is a profound maxim. Add to this maxim the requirement of healthy water, proper clothing and a roof over one's head. Even on these premises, life is not complete. Man is always looking for something more than mere basic necessities. Something more will have to be done for society to remove the darkness, to give some colour to the lives of the poor and to make them partakers of some of the pleasures of the well-to-do. 

Again, it is not enough for the more fortunate members of society to share their wealth with the less fortunate. It is equally necessary for them to share in the miseries that accompany the poverty that afflicts a great many human beings. There must be some system of mixing the rich with the poor, whereby, of their own free will, the upper strata of society mix with the people of lower levels to witness in reality what it means to live in poverty. Islam proposes some measures that make it impossible for the different classes to compartmentalise and isolate themselves in their own spheres. We have fleetingly mentioned these measures above. 

1) Beginning with the affirmation that there is no God but the One God, the Unity of God and that of His creation is established, thus uniting mankind under the Almighty Creator. 

2) The five daily prayers, performed in congregation, are possibly the most effective of all considered. Rich and poor, great and small, are required, without exception, to offer prayers in mosques, if they are accessible. If not all, most of Muslim society is responsible for fulfilling this commandment. The percentage of those who regularly pray the five prayers a day is lower in some countries and higher in others, but it is a common experience shared to a greater or lesser degree by most Muslims. 

The prayer system itself is a great message of human equality. Whoever arrives first at the mosque occupies the place he wants, and no one, no matter how high a position he occupies in society, can even think of displacing him. At prayer time, everyone stands together - shoulder to shoulder - with no gaps between them. The most impeccably dressed may have someone dressed in rags next to him. The weak, the sick, the healthy and the robust meet daily on the same ground where the invariably repeated message is: "God is the Greatest". 

To see with one's own eyes the misery in which some members of the locality live, and to meet them daily, has a very marked effect on the heart of the man who lives in relative comfort. The message is clear and precise, and that is that one must do something to lessen the suffering of his fellow man and raise his standard of living, or else lower himself in God's esteem as well as in his own self-esteem. 

The area of contact is increased at each Friday prayer, where Muslims gather in a central mosque and where people from wealthier neighbourhoods meet those from poorer areas. This contact is further increased on each of the two annual feasts that are preceded by the "fitrana", a fund set up by voluntary contributions for the relief of the poor. 

3) The Muslim month of fasting also puts the rich and the poor on the same footing. The rich man endures thirst and hunger to remind himself of the fate of the poor, for whom thirst and hunger is but the constant of his life. 

4) Zakat transfers the debt owed to the poor from the capital of the rich. 

5) Finally, the fifth pillar of Islam is the pilgrimage, which is often described as the greatest spectacle of human unity. Female pilgrims are allowed to wear simple stitched clothes. Male pilgrims tuck themselves in two unsewn sheets - the same uniform for the rich and the poor. 

But this is not all. In addition to the above acts of worship, there are many other measures introduced and developed in Muslim society, which continually bridge the gap between different sections of society and provide the ventilation and convection necessary for a healthy environment in which the rich are allowed to remain reasonably wealthy while being asked to care for the poor. 

A similar principle was expounded by Jesus Christ, peace be upon him, when he said "the meek shall inherit the earth". It is distressing to see how despite this moral injunction, capitalism has especially failed to care for the poor and meek members of society. 

(lpbD) - God's peace and blessings be upon him. 

(To be continued in installment 47, elaborating on "Economic Peace" according to the teachings of the Holy Quran).