The second example concerns profit...

The second example concerns profit, interest, or other income realized through ownership and rental, or loaning, of real assets and means of production, as in capitalism. Earnings of this kind involve no actual work on the part of the earner and, as such, are prohibited in communism.

Thus, what is admissible in capitalism is inadmissible in socialism or Marxism, so that usury and rental are basic to capitalism and antagonistic to Marxism, Islam chooses a third alternative, in the sense that it considers income derived from ownership and rental of some real assets and means of production as legitimate, and some others as illegitimate. For instance, it prohibits usury and earnings derived from it, while it treats some other income derived from rents as legitimate.

Thus, capitalism and Marxist Socialism (communism) are at loggerheads with regard to endorsement of usury and rental (earnings without work). Capitalism bases its approach on the principle of man's economic freedom. Marxist Socialism, on the other hand, considers work to be the determinant of the legitimacy of one's earnings, in as much as a property-owner who does no work is not entitled to any wages or rental.

The Islamic approach, too, is based on its own ideology concerning wealth production and distribution. While Islam prohibits a capitalist from seeking an increase in his wealth through usury, it permits a landowner rental from his tenants.

The Capitalist, Marxist (socialist, communist) and Islamic approaches, explained above, involve different points of view, all concerning the question of wealth distribution, Then, how come the capitalist and the Marxist positions, and not that of Islam, are regarded as "systems"! Notwithstanding what the sceptics say or do not say, the fact remains that Islam does represent a socio-economic school of thought of its own distinct from that of the others.…