The Foundations of Economics from the Quran and Sunnah (1 - 2)

   Research Introduction

All praise be to God, {Who taught by the pen— Taught man that which he knew not}  (Surah Al-'Alaq: Verses 4-5). As for what follows, ten years have passed since this study reached a stage of maturity that allowed for its presentation in comprehensive curricula. That was at the Institute of Islamic Studies in Cairo starting in 1960, and subsequently at the Faculty of Sharia and Law at Al-Azhar University, and in the Institutes of Missions.

  The Western Disconnect Between Economy and Religion

As for the Arab universities, they have remained, to this day, hesitant or inactive in attempting to move away from Political Economy, which is a man-made system. Its proponents, who are opponents of Islam, boast that it is entirely disconnected from religion. Individuals like 'Eric Roll' state this openly, while others such as 'Joseph Schumpeter,' 'Gide,' and 'Rist' say it with a degree of caution and embellishment.

When these figures state that their economy is disconnected from religion, the meaning of religion present in their minds is the total of rituals and hymns that temporal authorities permit to remain after separating their worldly life from the afterlife. It is known that this temporal authority requires the clergy and the custodians of the temples to practice matters of the spirit, sermons, and hymns for two hours only on Sunday mornings each week. Before and after that, there is—in their estimation—no connection between religion and the world. How strange is it, in this state of affairs, that Western writers assert that their economy has no concern with religion and morals! Here we observe the insertion of a new word: "morals." In various places, a distinction is made between science and "emotion." The purpose of these verbal additions (like morals and emotion) is to maintain courtesy and act with deference towards the clergy, in their view. Thus, many Western scholars consider the affairs of the Church and its men as a matter of emotional weakness or an imaginary adherence to something called "high ideals," which, in the view of men of empirical science and contemporary thought of the Industrial Revolution, are merely slogans maintained by the clergy simply as a means of earning a living. Up to this point, economists and other social scientists have shown great courtesy towards their clergy to avoid problems. But what remains of religion for them after it has retreated to two hours on the morning of a worship day?

  Hostility to Islam and the Neglect of Islamic Economics

However, if a writer who is an opponent of Islam addresses this sturdy religion (in which he naturally does not believe), there is no need for courtesy or flattery. Rather, the statement is clear and bold: Islam, in their view, is quackery, possession, emotional outbursts, and hysteria. They also view it as an extravagance in sex and a casting of the burdens and affairs of the world onto luck, fate, and the unseen. When one of us delves deeply into what they say, he feels sorry for the researchers among them, as they seize upon a suspicion or a deviation in understanding belonging to an individual or a group, focus the spotlight on a fleeting ignorance or a defunct philosophy, and then pass judgment on Islam based on what they hunt for—save for the rare exception. The truth is that some of those well-grounded in knowledge are fair, but they are few.

Yet, "Economics" as presented by Islam is almost completely unknown in Western schools. I have not known a student of knowledge who left a Muslim country and appeared in a foreign environment and then decided to contemplate the issue of wealth and services, hoping to find a truth brought by Islam. If the students of economics who know the Quran and Sunnah understood what sin they have committed against humanity, they would be horrified by their state of inaction. Or do they ignore the "burden of those who know"?!

 The Communist East and the Confusion in Arab Universities

This is about the West, where there is a semblance of courtesy towards their religion, as evidenced by the two hours dedicated to hymns and rituals. As for the Communist East, upon which the hopes of a faction of our thinkers—especially in the field of economic studies—have been pinned, it cannot tolerate the mention of religion, explicitly or implicitly. That is the limit of their knowledge, from which students take and become cultured, and to whom positions are entrusted. One of them said, "Islam sanctifies the opinion of the masses! Do you not see the reliable jurists in every era who adhere to the opinion of the public?"

I said to my companion: "By God, this is a great tribulation! The phrase of the 'cultured' gentleman appeared in a certified dissertation from a socialist country to obtain a doctoral degree. If Professor Dr. So-and-so, who is a Muslim, says that Muslim jurists sanctify the opinion of the masses, what is the value of the heritage in comparison to this 'renewal'? What is the value of the opinions of Abu Ya'la, Al-Mawardi, Ibn Taymiyyah, and any Muslim jurists you wish to name, when a contemporary university adopts this grounding for majoritarianism? Then, in the estimation of the mujtahids (those who exercise independent legal reasoning) of this era, it becomes a fundamental principle of Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) upon which no two people disagree!"

Do you want, dear reader, for us to blame the West or the East (both of which are hostile to Islam out of ignorance) when we advocate for this clowning ourselves? And we do not claim it originates from us, but rather say that it is from the established, ancient principles of Fiqh? How many situations have I witnessed, through a forty-year experience in the teaching profession, where I saw young people asking: "If the Quran's ruling on a constitutional matter differs from the constitution's ruling, which of the two rulings should we follow?"

In another doctoral dissertation, the subject of which was "Nationalism," the esteemed researcher said: "Establishing nationalism is difficult as long as religion retains roots in our Arab land, until we get rid of the old generation, including its turbans and its stagnation upon the old ways. Only then will there be a launching away from these inherited values..."

Another person, who is still teaching and producing teachers for us, said that social systems are the total of conditions invented by man and imposed on the vast majority through suggestion or authority. Then people become content with them through long habituation and commitment. He then gave examples using marriage, divorce, and inheritance. And so they do!

A fourth, sixth, or seventh person said that both Law and Religion are inventions of reformist thinkers who were terrified by the state of primitive societies, which had fallen into sin and crime. The severity of the punishments then frightened people, so they resorted to hiding and covering up in order not to fall under the penalty's threat. The reprehensible act continued in secret without becoming public. At that point, the reformers resorted to the idea of God and invented religion!

The kind reader should not assume that I am straying from Economics, with its thought and its laws "as they say." Rather, these are examples of the humanities studies that integrate with economics into a single whole. They are supposed to aim for righteous behavior during the pursuit of earning a livelihood. Why should I not give you an example, even just one, from economics books? This example is from a book called 'Principles of Political Economy,' printed in Beirut in 1967, and it is read in Arab universities in most Muslim countries. Its two authors hold established positions for decades past (and we will not mention the names, as our aim is only to awaken from a long slumber). The two authors stated the following, verbatim, on pages 110 and 111 of the aforementioned reference, when discussing the history of economic systems and the circumstances surrounding the abolition of some and the emergence of others. So, read the text, then, from a contemporary book prescribed for the educated youth, the subject of which is the principles of Political Economy. The authors said:

 Textbook View: The Collapse of the Roman System

The Barbarian Invasion:

The barbarians invaded Europe in the fourth and fifth centuries, and Rome fell into their hands in 395. Then the Western Empire fell into their hands in 476. This invasion led to the Roman Empire being replaced by Roman properties governed by the barbarians.

Since the barbarian kings were unable to manage the system, they appointed a Duke, a Count, or a Governor over each region to run the affairs of governance for their benefit. When the disturbances ended, trade returned to its state of continuity, and these officials began to exercise a degree of independence in the face of the kings. They began to collect taxes for the kings, and mostly for themselves, and forced the weak to relinquish their lands and their persons to them. At that point, they took these poor people under their protection. Starting from the sixth century, the king began to grant many privileges to these lords. This historical development established a new reality: the tendency of society towards the system of feudal ownership.

And a reality that had existed was maintained, which was that the cities were centers of trade. With the collapse of the Roman Empire, the system of slavery disappeared and was replaced by the system of dependency. The maintenance of this situation for the cities led to the rise of a free bourgeois class within them.

 Textbook View: The Islamic Invasion and the Rise of Feudalism

The Islamic Invasion:

In the seventh century, Europe was exposed to a new invasion, which was the Islamic invasion. However, the invaders stopped at the gates of Constantinople in 717, and at Poitiers in 732. But their establishment around the Mediterranean Sea led to serious results that affected the existing economic system. Before the Islamic invasion, the peoples of Europe around the Mediterranean were involved in reciprocal relationships. But this invasion cut the connection between them, and closed the Mediterranean Sea to Europe. Western Europe became isolated from the world. These historical events in the second half of the seventh century led to the cessation of trade that was established on the western shores of the Mediterranean, and consequently, to the collapse of the commercial cities and the disappearance of the bourgeois class with them. The cities ceased to be economic centers, and the commercial cycle and industrial activity stopped. Thus, the Islamic invasion completed what the Germanic invasion had begun in eliminating the economic system known to the Roman Empire, and in preparing a new environment that knew two successive economic systems, namely feudalism, which is also known as the closed estate economy (i.e., the closed domain economy), and the craft economy. These two systems together constitute the economy of the Middle Ages in Western Europe."

 Critique of the Textbook's Narrative

The reader has the right to pause at the equalization between the emergence and spread of Islam and every destructive invasion, and to pause at the use of the term "invasion" in all cases. They also have the right to deduce from behind this—in addition to the notion of barbarism and destruction—a more serious claim: the assertion that Islam, like others, was an economic movement that had a destructive tide, and then that tide receded just as others receded!

The two Muslim authors did not intend to fall into any of this fallacy, nor did they say it originally. Rather, they are merely transmitting, and part of the honesty of transmission is not to alter the text. However, it would have been better if they had disavowed these statements or commented on them! But it is the passive loyalty to many foreign studies, especially in "Economics," for the present generation has been divided into two camps regarding this matter: this one is capitalist, and that one is socialist or communist. In this, there is a clear statement! Do you want there to be a third word in the land of God after what the poles (major powers) have said?

A humble loyalty, a blind, utter faith in sick thinking, and a turning away from the Book of God and the Noble Sunnah in the most miserable stages of history that the Muslim nation has gone through.

 Research Plan

In the face of this prevalent influence over the minds of the educated, the leaders of thought, and the bearers of films, it was necessary for us to gradually delve into conventional Political Economy for a long time before moving on to the Quranic verses and the Ahadith (sayings/actions of the Prophet). We had two goals, and praise be to God, they have been achieved.

The first is to proceed alongside the company of contemporary writers and to comprehend the new things they say. This was not limited to the last ten years but goes back to 1925, in continuous and diligent contact, when we first received the principles of economics. Thus, we have written and presented many foreign references through summaries and commentaries, so that no one might think that this pen is overstepping boundaries called "specialization." We have taken the fullest share from conventional economics, but with the intention of weighing this declining effort, not for support. Furthermore, ignoring what others possess is not permissible for one who wishes to express an opinion on the affairs of goods and services as seen by the writers of economics.

The second matter is to bring the conventional economic concepts closer to the believing group that does not accept the heritage as a substitute. This is because a large number of the righteous are distressed by discussions from books on the humanities, even if they are prescribed for the youth. We have seen (above) examples of the reasons for the distress they feel. For the sake of these people, it was necessary for me to expound the discourse using the styles of the Westernized and the mustaghribūn (those who ape the West), while drawing attention to the weak points and holding them in reserve to return to them on the day we write Economics from Islam.

These stages have been completed, praise be to God. This is a brief and highly concise prelude, which paves the way for what comes next. And God is the Helper.

 ------------- 

 Published in: The second issue of Al-Mujtama' magazine.Tuesday, March 24, 1970