Naturally...

Naturally, as soon as the masses were given political freedom, they rebelled against communism. The collapse of this system in Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is a living testamony to this fact. Although communism has failed, it had quite an impact on the economic policies of many countries. Quite a few Western capitalist countries, to prevent the spread of communism, modified their economic system and created what is now known as welfare states.

A welfare state allowes provisions to prevent exploitation of the workers and to provide for the basic needs of each citizen. Islam is “a straight path;” and naturally, its economic system is based on very balanced standards. Islam, in contrary to communism, recognises the concept of private ownership. But, in contrary to capitalism, Islam has limited the means of acquiring wealth to prevent the excessive accumulation of wealth in a minor quarter of the society.

The Islamic economic system is based upon the belief that only Allah is the real and actual owner of everything. But God has also implanted the concept of ownership in our nature; and thus, we are allowed to “own” the wealth of this world. The Qur'ān says, “Whatever is in the heavens and the earth belongs to Allah.” (2:284) Allah is the owner of the whole universe.

It is in this capacity that He has allowed us to own the blessings of this world by saying, “He has created for you whatever that is in the earth.” (2:29) However, Islam also wants to prevent the excessive accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few people so the society may not fall into two classes: one is overstuffing, while the other is starving. The chance of such a situation is very real.

A look at one of the richest nation in the world, the United States of America, and its problem of the poor, hungry and homeless people will bear us out. The Qur'ān justifies the concept of tax by saying, “...so that (the wealth) may not become a monopoly of the rich among you.” (59:7) In the early period of the Islamic history, such a situation actually occured.

When `Uthmān bin `Affān became caliph, he handled the public wealth in such a manner that within a short time, his tribe, the Umayyads, became the richest people in the Muslim empire. Imam ‘Ali bin Abi Tālib, in a famous sermon, explains the reasons why he was reluctant to accept the caliphate after `Uthmān's murder.