Ideas Inspired by the Qur'an

Islamic Capitalism or Socialism … or Something Else?

Moreover, the capitalist gets rich, not like the miser, in proportion to his personal labour and restricted consumption, but at the same rate as he squeezes out the labour power of others and enforces on the labourer abstinence from all life’s enjoyments. [Marx, Capital: Part 7, Chapter 24.3]

The debate between the proponents of capitalism and socialism continues unabated 142 years after the death of Karl Marx. It has taken on new forms and heightened significance with the decline of Western industrial power and the rise of a state-directed, ‘socialist’ industrial society in China.

The Qur’an has a vital and pertinent contribution to make to these discussions for a number of reasons.

1. Muslims constitute a gigantic market of consumers and a potential force in industrial output that is yet largely unrealized.
2. Muslims are drawn into these debates more as onlookers than as participants with their own unique perspective. On the one hand, their universities have been intellectually colonized through Western paradigms and dependence on the supposed superiority of academic standards in the West. On the other hand, their resentment is growing along with every more blatant displays of Western dishonesty and hypocrisy, and they see the Chinese model as a great alternative.
3. The Qur’an’s economic principles may have already been systematically and comprehensively developed by some contemporary thinker, but I am unaware of who that person is. In the meantime, it seems that Muslims lack an outstanding and viable alternative to the dichotomy of capitalism versus socialism.
4. The Qur’an does advance some key ideas that are largely missing from contemporary debates: a) the prohibition of riba (far more radical than what ‘Islamic banking’ is offering in supposedly interest-free investment schemes); b) the compulsory alms-tax (zakat); c) the rights of the poor over the rich; and d) the insistence on morality as an integral part of economics.

Here are some questions I would like to ponder over and hopefully address in future posts:

1. Given that Islam should be free of ‘Islamic state’ idolatry (for which see my Qur’anic Essay 15: State), how intrusive or proactive should an Islamic government be in directing the economic lives of Muslims?
2. What preconceptions and misunderstandings need to be cleared away from an interest-free economy to work?
3. How much and what kind of prosperity could we expect in a truly Islamic economy? Is it possible at the international level, given today’s geopolitical realities?
4. What are the rights of dividual citizens vis-a-vis an Islamic government? And what rights do Islamic rulers have vis-a-vis citizens? How do those rights differ between Muslims and non-Muslims residing in an Islamic polity?
5. What is the status of property in Islam, given that AL-LAH repeatedly declares that the heavens and the earth are His?
6. How are Islamic leaders chosen? Does early Islamic history offer any definite guidance?
7. How voluntary is the pledge of loyalty (bai’ah) in Islam? Is it assumed for all, mandatory for all, or can it be challenged or declined?
8. How centralized or decentralized should an Islamic government be, or does that depend on local or regional variables?
9. How relevant is Islamic governance at the local level, e.g., the mosque or community centre?
10. What can the Muslim dividual do if he/she sees no prospect of an Islamic economy in his/her locality or lifetime?

I think that should be enough to keep me occupied and perplexed for several weeks or months to come. May GOD inspire and guide me to some enlightened answers.

Download the PDF version for free at Ideas Inspired by the Qur’ān – Mont Redmond complete version, or purchase a hard copy at Ideas Inspired by the Qur’an: Redmond, Mont: 9781738842506: Books – Amazon.ca.

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