ISLAMIC SOCIAL THOUGHT by Imad Aldean Ahmad 1982 ve oe LLY “Let there be no compulsion in religion..." Qur'an 2:256Il. Til. Iv. VI. CONTENTS BACKGROUND INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY AND LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE ISLAM AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS CONCLUSIONSI. BACKGROUND Islam is a religion which is little understood in the West. It would not be meaningful to plunge into a discussion of Islamic social thought without first ac- quainting the reader with the subject under discussion and some of the terms which will be used. In the pro- cess, it may be hoped that some of the misconceptions which biased and often hostile chroniclers of Islam have implanted may be rectified. Even the name by which older texts refer to this youngest of the world's major religions illustrates the depth of the misunderstanding. The term "Muhammadanism" is not merely incorrect, but is repugnant to Muslims, as it suggests some divinity in the religion's founder (as the names of Christianity and Buddhism indicate the di- vinity which followers of those religions attribute to their respective founders). The prime tenet of Islam is, on the contrary, the uniqueness of the divinity of God (1a illaha illa allah = There is no god but God). Muhammad is believed to be neither God nor the son of God, but a messenger (rasul) of God. The message Muhammad delivered is the Qur'an (qur'an = the reading, or recitation), the holy book of Islam, which the Muslims believe to be the actual word of God. The wording of the text is in the form of God addressing Muhammad and mankind. The Qur'an was actually written2 down in the time of Muhammad as dictated by the Prophet to his scribes and companions, and assembled into its Present form by the Prophet's companions and chief scribe within a few years of the Prophet's death. The New Testa- ment, by contrast, was written after Jesus in a language other than his own and assembled hundreds of years after his life. Further, the Qur'an is not considered authentic in translation (whereas the King James Bible is treated with the same respect as the texts on which it is based). Although there were Christians and Jews in Arabia during Muhammad's time, the dominant religion was idol- worship, While most of the lands around Arabia were dominated by one or another of the great empires of the day, the Arabs were organized into tribes and clans recognizing no central authority. Located as they were at the cross-roads of several major civilizations and unfettered by allegiance to any single empire, they were commercially active. Yet, save for their poetry (of which they were inordinately proud) they had no culture or science, and the pre-Islamic era came to be known as the Days of Ignorance (al-jahiliya). Until the age of 40 (c. 610 A.D.), Muhammad, a poor orphan descended from a once powerful branch of the Quraysh tribe, had been a rationalist in religious mat- ters.! Then he began to report that he was receiving a3 message from God which God bid him to take to the Arabs, and indeed to all mankind. This Qur'an is the foundation of Islam, Muhammad proclaimed that there is no god but God, and that he and all the prophets who preceded him were mere humans sent only to bring God's guidance to men, that there would be a Day of Justice (yawm-ad-din) when the good would be rewarded and the evil punished, and that all religion is one: submission to God's will (lit., islam). The first prominent member of the tribe to accept his teachings was one Abu Bakr who later became the first khalifah (= successor), or leader of the Muslim community after Muhammad. Most of the tribe's established and in- fluential members opposed him bitterly. Some like Umar ibn-al-Khattab (who went on to become the second khalifah) accepted Islam before long, but most engaged in a program of persecution against the Muslims. When the persecution failed to stop the growth of Islam, an assassination plot was conceived against the Prophet. Muhammad, learning of this plan, dispatched the Meccan Muslims to the nearby town of Yathrib, which had a Muslim as well as a Jewish community.2 He and Abu Bakr followed the others under cover of darkness on the night of the planned assasination. Their flight (hijra) marks the beginning of the Muslim calendar (622 A.D.).4 In Yathrib, which soon came to be called Medina (= the city, from medinat-an-nabi = the city of the Prophet), the emigrees and the local Muslims (ansar = helpers) began to form a new community. A compact for the government of the city was drafted and accepted by all the resident groups. This compact has been described by some historians as the founding of the first modern state. The nature of this "state," and how it differs from modern governments, is noteworthy. The Muslims were those who pledged themselves to Muhammad through the acceptance of the tawhid (the creed that there is no god but God and Muhammad is his messen- ger). Each tribe continued to govern its own affairs, independent of the "state," except that Muslim law supplanted contradictory tribal customs for Muslims. The Jews would continue to be governed by Jewish law. They would also govern themselves, but any disputant had the right of appeal to Muhammad. Muhammad had "legislative" authority only over Muslims. He could intervene in disputes between Jews and Muslims, but could not intervene into Jewish affairs except by invitation. If invited to rule on a Jewish matter by appeal, he would rule according to Jewish law. This is less a modern state than a Nozickian “supra- 3 state. This will become more clear when we see that5 the principal rule for the settlement of disputes with non- Muslims is the nonaggression principle (Section IV). Muhammad proceeded to establish a network of alli- ances with the neighboring towns and tribes (some, but not all, of which became Muslim). The Quraysh made three major attempts to wipe out the Muslims, every one of which failed to one degree or another, despite their vast numerical superiority over the Muslim forces. When in 7 AH (After Hijra) the Muslims sought a peaceful pilgrimage to Mecca, the Quraysh agreed to a compromise, allowing the Muslims to make the pilgrimage the following year. A treaty was signed in which both sides agreed to cease all hostilities. The two years of peace that followed resulted in an enormous swelling of the Muslim ranks. When, in 8 AH, the Quraysh aggressed against a pagan tribe which was in alliance with the Muslims, the Muslims marched on Mecca with a force of 10,000. This time it was the Quraysh who were hopelessly outnumbered. Lacking the fierce conviction which sustained the Muslims when they were the underdog, the Quraysh, under the leadership of Abu Sufyan, sued for peace even before the war broke out.“ Muhammad offered unprecedently magnanimous terms: a general amnesty (which did not, however, extend to6 certain anti-Muslim propagandists). On Muhammad's death Abu Bakr was chosen successor by election. He and the next three successors Umar, Uthman, and Ali are known as the four "rightly-guided" Khalifahs, who endeavored to preserve the Qur'an and the practice of Muhammad. When Ali was assassinated, the Khalifate fell into the hands of the house of Muhammad's once long-stanidng enemy, Abu Sufyan. They used the religion as a mere unifying glue for a political empire— the Umayyad Dynasty. The Umayyads held themselves to be kings rather than trustees, and made so bold as to call themselves kahalifat-allah (successors to God) rather than khalifat-an-nabi (successors to the Prophet). As the Umayyads produced sayings justifying their oppression of the people which they attributed to the Prophet, scholars began to develop an intellec- tual resistance in the form of schools which developed principles of historical analysis for assessing the authenticity of such traditions (hadith = lit., speech) attributed to Muhammad, Thus the traditional Islamic law was codified not by the state, but by a "completely free and unorganized republic of scholars."7 With the overthrow of the Umayyads by the more pietist Abbasids in 127 A.H. (749 A.D.), these schools came out into the open. With the government's eager—but not necessarily unbiased—assistance, four of these schools became entrenched as the orthodox schools of Islam: the Hanafi (rationalist), the Shafi'i (moderate), the Maliki (traditionalist), and the Hanbali (fundamentalist) schools. These schools all recognize the legitimacy of each other. Of the schools which these four considered heretical, only three have had a sufficiently significant impact on his- tory to deserve mention here: the Khawarij (or anarchists, who believed in no authority but God's),®© the Mu‘tazilite (or extreme rationalists, sometimes called the libertar- ians because of their emphasis on free will),’ and the shi‘an® (who believe that Muhammad's nephew Ali, not Abu Bakr, should have succeeded Muhammad)? The Qur'an is the chief basis of both Islamic canon law (shari'ah), and jurisprudence (figh). It is primarily on the Qurlanic conceptions that this essay will be based. There are other sources of Islamic law (and social thought). The Hadith (hadith = speech)are the traditions traced back through the companions of the Prophet detail- ing the sunnah practice) of the Prophet. Like the Bible, they were compiled scores of years after the Prophet's death. Unlike the compilers of the Bible, the scholars who compiled the Hadith took great care to cite8 references all the way back to primary sources. An un- broken isnad (= chain of transmitters) is considered by Muslims indispensable to the authenticity of a hadith. Additional sources of law are ijma (informed consensus of the community), giyas (analogy from established law), and ijtihad (formulation of law by the individual's struggle for proper understanding). The four schools give different emphasis on the rela- tive importance of the sources of law, but all schools (including the "heretical" ones) are unanimous requiring that Islamic law be God-given and not man-created. From this perspective the "sources" of law are actually sources of codification of God's natural law. As such, the Qur'an is the undisputed primary source, as it is believed to be the words of God Himself. The only generally accepted secondary source for the codification of law, the Hadith, will be here used for exegisis only.!? From the Islamic point of view the writings of the scholars are tertiary sources, and will be treated as such here. Further, most of the treatments by non-Muslim scholars suffer from errors in the statement of the Islamic position which are so grave that they render their analyses largely irrelevent. Rectifying their misconceptions and errors is a worthwhile task,?! but there is not space to pursue it in the course of this essay. I believe it is more productive to start with a clean slate.9 II. INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY AND LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE Say: 0 ye/That reject Faith! I worship not that/Which ye worship, Nor will ye worship/That which I worship. And I will not worship/That which ye have been Wont to worship, Nor will ye worship/That which I worship. To you be your Way/And to me MANE. (399.1-6)12 The defining principle of Islam is submission to God. This precludes both the possibility of separating politics from religion and of condoning the submission of one man's will to another's. The former would leave an area of human life outside submission, while the lat- ter would constitute association of partners to God (shirk, the most heinous sin according to Islam). The submission which Islam calls for is an act of the individual, and from the Qur'anic Perspective reli- gion is a personal question, although it carries social obligations. The relationship of man to God is that of individual men to God (God is "nearer to him [man] than (his) jugular vein" 50:16), and it is the person, not the society, which attains grace. In accord with this view, the Qur'an lays stress on individual responsibility. This conception of individual responsibility is that +no bearer/of burdens can bear The burdens of another. (5,39)10 On no soul doth God/Place a burden greater Than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns,/And it suffers every 411 that it earns. (,, 996) Whoever works any act/Of Rightousness and has Faith,— His endeavor will not/Be rejected: We shall Record it in his favor. (91.9, The Day of Judgement is a day of individual respon- sibility. Then, on that Day,/Not a soul will be Wronged in the least, And ye shall but/Be repaid the meeds Of your past Deeds. (6.54) Every soul will be (held)/In pledge for its deeds. (74.58) There is no concept of collective guilt. When a group is guilty of injustice, God promises punishment of each member according to his individual responsibility. to every man Among them (will come/The punishment) of the sin That he earned, and to him/Who took on himself the lead among them, will be/A Penalty grievous. (94.13) Nor is there collective virtue. No one stands above another on account of sex, race or tribe. © mankind! We created/You from a single (pair) Of a male and a female, /And made you into Nations and tribes, that/Ye may know each other (Not that ye may despise/Each other). Verily The most honoured of you/In the sight of God Is (he who is) the most / Righteous of, YOU++ (49.13) And among His Signs/Is the creation of the heavens And the earth, and the variations/In your languages And your colours: verily/In that are Signs For those who know. 3 21311 If any do deeds/Of righteousness,— Be they male or female— And have faith, /They will enter Heaven, And not the least injustice/Will be done to them. (4.15,) Since no one can be forced, tricked, or vicariously brought into salvation, !4 there is no priesthood or inter- cession, The Muslim may invite to salvation, but may not coerce—or even pressure: Say: Will ye dispute/With us about God, seeing That He is our Lord/And your Lord; that We are responsible for our doings/And ye for yours; and that 2 We are sincere (in our faith)/In him? (>. 139) Pressure should neither be offered nor accepted. 15 Only God may judge in matters of conscience ("What- ever it be wherein ye differ, the decision thereof is with Goa"!6), The prohibition against coercion applies as much to the Prophet as to any other man. It is not required/Of thee (0 Apostle), To set them on the right path, But God sets on the right path/Whom He pleaseth.... (2:272) Now then.../Call (them to the Faith) And...say..."For us/(Is the responsibility for) Our deeds, and for you/For your deeds. There is No contention between us/And you. God will Bring us together, /And to him is/(Our) final goal." (,0.15) The Apostle's duty is onl; reach the clear (M 7 postle's duty is only/To preac! clear (Message) ,,,.5,}7 ssshe that strays/Injures his own soul. Nor art thou set/Over them to dispose Of their affairs. (49. 41) The Qur'an is unequivocal that reason, not coercion, is the means for the propagation of Islam:12 Invite (all) to the Way/Of thy Lord with wisdom And beautiful preaching; And argue with them/In ways that are best And most gracious...18/, 1. Rejection of God's message is not punishable by man, but by God alone: Leave Me alone, (to deal)/With the (creature) whom Tereated (bare and) alone! (74.11) Reciprocity is demanded from the non-Muslim world. As no one may be forced to accept God's message, no one should be forced to reject it.1? Choice of religion is the responsibility of the individual Those who believe (in the Qur'an), Those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), And the Sabians, Christians, /Magians, and Polytheists,— God will judge between them/On the Day of Judgement For God is witness Of all things. (7,17) And dispute ye not/With the People of the Book Except with means better/(Than mere disputation), unless It be with those of them 20 Who inflict wrong (and injury)..." (59,46) A distinction is here made between those who wish to argue and those who wish to coerce. An example of how Muslims have responded to the injunction against use of compul- sion in these cases is the following excerpt from a let- ter of Al-Hashimi to the Christian Al-Kindi, inviting him to Islam: +++if you reject my words and refuse the sincere ad- vice I have offered you (without looking for any thanks or reward)—then write whatever you wish to say about your religion, all that you hold to be true13 and established by strong proof, without any fear or apprehension, without curtailment of your proofs or concealment of your beliefs; for I purpose only to listen patiently to your arguments and to yield to and acknowledge all that is convincing therein, submitting willingly without refusing or rejecting or fear, in order than I may compare your account and mine, You are free to set forth your case... Therefore bring forward all the arguments you wish and say whatever you please and speak your mind freely. Now that you are safe and free to say what- ever you please, appoint some arbitrator who will impartially judge between us and lean only towards the truth and be free from the empery of passion, and that arbitrator shall be Reason, whereby God makes us reasponsible for our own rewards and Punishments. Herein I have dealt justly with you and have given you full security and am ready to accept whatever decision Reason may give for me or against me. For "There is no compulsion in religion" (2:256) and I have only invited you to accept our faith willingly and of your own accord and have Pointed out the hideousness of your present belief. 9; Peace be with you and the mercy and blessings of God! That this attitude was the rule rather than the exception is attested to by the following incident from the Spanish Inquisition One of the charges of the Archbishop of Vanencia cited to Philip II against the "Apostasies and Treasons of the Morescoes" in 1602 was "That they com- mended nothing so much as that liberty of conscience in all matters of religion, which the Turks, and all other Mohammedans, suffer their subjects to enjoy."22 This liberty of conscience extends not only to non- Muslims, but to sectarians as well: As for those who divide/Their religion and break up Into sects, thou hast/No part in them in the least: Their affair is with God: He will in the end Tell them the truth/Of all that they 484. (6.159)4 In succeeding sections we shall examine how the Qur'anic prescriptions for behavior within the Muslim society manifest principles of benevolence and free trade, and how the prescriptions for interaction between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities are based on the nonaggression principle. Islamic demands on individual Muslims (such as ritual and hygiene) do not belong in a discussion of Islamic social thought, except to the ex- tent that such prescriptions may be forcibly imposed. Of that the Qur'an advises: Leave alone those/Who take their religion To be mere play/And amusement, And are deceived/By the life of this world. But proclaim (to them)/This (truth): that every soul Delivers itself to ruin/By its om acts.... (6.79) The Qur'an distinguishes between good and evil (enforced by God) and right and wrong (enforceable by man). 23 III. THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY Let there arise out of you/A band of people Inviting to all that it good,/Enjoining what is right, And forbidding what 18 wrong... (5,194) Respect for man's direct responsibility to God requires political freedom. But, as the American Muslim leader Wallace D. Muhammad has noted, "freedom without vision is destruction." In this section we shall look at the vision of the good to which the Muslim community subscribes. We shall concentrate on the economic ques- tions and only skim over questions of ritual and social15 mores, which are not directly pertinent to the theme of this book. What defines a Muslim is a commitment to Islam mani- fested in the observance of five religious duties: (1) free and public confession of the belief that there is no God but God and Muhammad is His messenger, (2) regular prayer, “4 (3) fasting during the month of Ramadan,2> (4) payment of obligatory charity (zakat, discussed later in this section), and (5) pilgrimage to Mecca.2© the practicality of Islam evidenced by the simplicity of these religious duties is also manifested in the attention which the Qur'an gives to practical matters of daily living: mar- 27 and divorce?® riage procedures, inheritance laws, con- tract law, rules of evidence, to name a few. The individual responsibility of man in the spiritual realm has its analog in the material realm in the sanctity accorded to private property: And in no wise covet/Those things in which God Hath bestowed His gifts/More freely on some of you Than on others: to men/Is allotted what they earn, And to women what they earn:/But ask God of His bounty. (,.. 59) There are two remarkable implications of this verse. First, that women, equally with men, have the same rights in property (just as sections quoted earlier give them equal rights in the hereafter). That the Qur'an gave women full property rights fourteen hundred years ago (rights still denied to women in many of the states of16 the United States) goes against the common Western per- ception of the role of women in Islam. Western ignor- ance has combined with an Arab sexual chauvanism which, though contrary to Islam, has never been eradicated, to make this a much misunderstood subject. The pre-Islamic Arab did not even believe that females has a right to life. Girl babies were murdered because of their sex. The Qur'an banned this practice? and warned against the day "When the female (infant) buried alive, is questioned for what crimes she was killed..." (81:8-9). ++-And women shall have rights/Similar to the rights Against them, according/To what is equitable; But men have a degree/(Of advantage) over them... (>. 928) The degree of advantage which men are given in the community structure is a greater weight to their testi- mony as witnesses (but not when testifying as interested parties, see footnote 28), a place at the head of the household, and a greater share of inheritance. The last is balanced against their greater financial responsi- bility for the household: Men are the protectors/And maintainers of women, Because God has given/The one more (strength) Than the other, and because/They support them From their means... (4. 5,) Feminists may take exception to the assertion that there are physiological grounds for discrimination in the family roles of men and women. Indeed, a Muslim feminist could even argue that the passage is descriptive17 rather than prescriptive. In any case the status of women in Islamic society is vastly different from the Western conception. In addition to the right to property in material goods and the right to life, women have in Islam the right to property in their own persons: 0 ye who believe! Ye are forbidden to inherit/Women against their will. Nor should ye treat them/With harshness...except Where they have been guilty/Of open lewdness... I believe it is fair to say that while women Ree given the same social position as men by the Qur'an, they are given equal human rights as individuals (see also footnotes 27-28). The other remarkable implication of verse 4:32 is that wealth is not seen as evil in itself. Rather, one is judged by the process by which he or she acquires goods: -There are men who say: "Our Lord! Give us/(Thy bounties) in this world!" But they will have/No portion in the Hereafter. And there are men who say:/"Our Lord! Give us Good in this world/And good in the hereafter...." To these will be allotted/What they have earned; And God is quick in account. (2:200-202) This absence of duality and conflict between spiritual good and material goods may seem strange to the neo- Platonist Westerner who has been taught that it is easier for camels to pass through needles’ eyes than for the rich to get into heaven. But the ethics of Islam is often phrased in terms of the market place. The Islamic standard of merit is not how much (or how little) wealth18 one has acquired, but rather, how was it acquired, and how is it used? The Muslim is urged to moderation. Neither self-destructive indulgence nor other-destructive inconsideration, but free trade is the standar 0 ye who believe! /Eat not up your property Among yourselves in vanities: /But let there be amongst you Traffic and trade/By mutual good-will: Nor kill (or destroy) / Yourselves: for verily God hath been to you/Most Merciful! (,. 9) ++enor use it your property As bait for the judges, /With the intent that ye may Eat up wrongfully and knowingly A Little of other peoples" property. (>. 195) As indicated in 4:32 quoted above, profit belongs to the Producer. The pursuit of profit is encouraged even on the day of community prayers (Friday, which is not, there- fore, a sabbath).*! rt is even permitted during the pilgrimage, when other mundane affairs are set aside. 32 The basis of sound commerce is the contract, and the Qur'an spells out sound procedures for writing contracts in detail to eliminate misunderstandings or deceit.23 Both theft?“ and fraud are condemned. Give just measure/And cause no loss (fo others by fraud). (6.191) So establish weight with justice and fall not short/ In the balance. (55. 9)35 In accord with the prohibition of fraud, contracts are inviolable:19 0 ye who believe! / Fulfill (all) obligations. (5. 1) Fulfill the Covenant of God/ When ye have entered into it, And break not your oaths/ After ye have confirmed them; Indeed ye have made/God your surety; for God Knoweth all that ye do. And be not like a woman/Who breaks into untisted strands The yarn which she has spun, /After it has become strong. Nor take your oaths to practice/Deception between yourselves (16:91-92) Yet the injunction to fulfill commitments may not be used as an excuse for violation of other absolute prin- ciples. If someone swears to do something wrong in pas- sion, he is not committed to do that thing, but rather to make expiation for a futile oath by feeding the hungry, clothing the poor or freeing a slave.’ A distinction is made between gain through enter- prise and gain through a condemned practice called riba. Riba is usually translated as usury, as in this translation by Yusuf Al Those who devour usury/Will not stand except As stands one whom/The Evil One by his touch Hath driven to madness, That is because they say:/"frade is like usury," But God hath permitted trade/And forbidden usury... (2:275) The actual meaning of riba has been debated since the earliest Muslim times. Umar, the second caliph, grieved that the Prophet had not given a more detailed account of what constituted riba Some scholars have argued that the concept subsumes20 not only usury, but all interest (zibh). This is reminis- cent of arguments by Western scholars from Aristotle to Marx that all interest is usurious. Riba comes from the root raba meaning to increase (or exceed), while ribh comes from the root rabiha meaning to gain (or profit). The above verse makes it clear that profit is not a form of rib’. In fact, it compares anyone who asserts that they are the same with a lunatic. In the Prophet's day few loans were for the purposes of providing venture capital. The usual purpose of a loan was to allow persons in deep financial need to make it to next week. As a result, the rate of interest on these loans tended to be exhorbitant ("Doubled and multiplied," 3:130), resulting in additional debt to the borrower as the interest charges made him worse off. The context of the quotes above, immediately followed by a fiery denunciation of riba and an entreament to charity makes this circumstance clear (2:275-281). It is thus unsurprising the scholars of early Islam perceived all interest as usury. In today's world of high finance when most borrowers are not charity cases (often the opposite), the debate has been renewed. Is the market clearing rate of business interest riba? Although the matter is complex, I believe it is worth covering here. The relevant question is, is the free market rate of interest an increase over the value of the capital sum?21 Many have argued that it is (and therefore all interest is usurious). This is an argument that has been used not only by modern Islamic writers, 38 but by the anarchist writer and editor Benjamin Tucker. Tucker, like the modern Islamic writers, had been deluded by the labor theory of value. Since no labor is extended in the earning of interest, they argue, no value is created by lending of money. This argument is not as simple-minded as it appears. It is the premise and not the logic that is flawed. There is a distinction between the function of the entrepreneur and the capitalist. The entrepreneur makes decisions, studies markets, etc. His profit is earned. The capitalist does nothing. He is the owner of the money which the entrepreneur uses (Note that the entrepreneur may also be a capitalist if he uses his own money). It is not risk that makes up "pure" interest, for to the extent that risk is involved that may also be considered entrepreneurial profit. The "capitalist" is then equally both part entrepreneur and part "pure" capitalist. But the risk in a government bond, for example, does not ex- plain the 15% interest rates current as this paper is written. Eugen Bohm-Bawerk has shown that the market rate of interest is not an additicnto the capital value.°? This is due to the fact that the source of value is not22 labor, but the subjective desires of the participants in the market, and it is a fact that, subjectively, people tend to prefer present goods to future goods.4? Thus if a lender is willing to lend $1,000 today for $1,005 next year, but is unwilling to lend the same $1,000 today for $1,004 a year from now, it is not because the loan some- how requires he expend $5 worth of labor, but simply because he subjectively prefers $1,000 today to $1,004 next year; that is, it has more value to him. Future goods tend to be discounted. Thus, if he makes a loan at 4% interest, he is not getting a $5 surplus, but is getting the value of his capital returned. Now, in a free market, the subjective desires of people differ from person to person, but there is some vate of interest at which they supply of persons willing to lend money will be balanced with the demand of per- sons wishing to borrow. The present market value of the principle today is equal to the present market value of the principal plus that interest one year from now. The lender is getting the market value of his capital returned to him. The return of one's capital is guaranteed by the Qur'an: ++-But 4f ye turn back, Ye shall have/Your capital sums: Deal not unjustly, And ye shall not/ Be dealt with unjustly. (9. 979) A proper discussion of this controversial and23 complex subject would require a paper of its own, if not a book; but there are certain points which I think must be stated here. The degree to which future goods are discounted is a function of many factors. The rate of interest today is dominated not by the normal consider- ations of future versus present value, but by the anti- cipated rate of inflation. The existence of a positive rate of interest does not necessarily argue against the mutualist banking proposals of Tucker or the Islamic Banking systems in use or under development around the world, 4 On the contrary, there is a desperate need to get away from the unbacked currencies in use by so many nations today. If hard currency were used, as was the sunnah of Muhammad, the tendency of hard currency to deflate in a free market (due to rising productivity) might well make the real rate of interest virtually zero. The ability of a potential borrower to monetize his future goods as envisioned by the theoreticians of Islamic banking might well free men from the tyranny of central bank monopolies and their usurious interest rates. 42 O£ these matters, "God knows best." Let us turn to the case of persons in distress, in desperate need of capital. Loan sharking is forbidden. To lend money is permitted, but charity is preferred: God will deprive/Usury of all blessing, But will give increase/For deeds of charity: For He loveth not /Creatures ungrateful and wicked. (9,76)24 This brings us to the general question of welfare. Every Muslim is required to pay Zakat as a basic prac- tice of the faith. This is a 24% assessment on assets held for a full year (after a small initial exclusion) to be distributed among specified needy recipients. 43 Only Muslims are required to pay Zakat. Muslims receive preference in receiving it, although non-Muslims in need are also eligible. The Qur'an provides for a state with jurisdiction for settlement of disputes: “4 If two parties among/The Believers fall into A quarrel, make ye peace/Between them: but if One of them transgresses/Beyond bounds against the other, Then fight ye (all) against/The one that transgresses Until it complies with/The command of God; But if it complies, then/Make peace between them With justice, and be fair:/For God loves those Who are fair (and Sust)-49 (49.9) This is, however, a derived authority, as Abu Bakr recog- nized in his inaugural address upon election to the khalifate: Youhave elected me at khalifa (successor to the Holy Prophet as temporal head of state), but I claim no superiority over you. The strongest among you shall be the weakest with me until I get the rights of others from him, and the weak- est among you shall be the strongest with me until I get all his rights....Help me if I act rightly and correct me if I take a wrong course... Obey me as long as I obey God and his Messenger. In case I disobey God and His messenger, I have no right to obedience from you. Muslims must be wary of the corrupting effect of power: Then, is it/To be expected to you, If ye were put in authority,/That ye will do mischief In the land, and break/Your ties of kith and kin? (47,22)25 Umar took this warning to heart: Umar asked: "What will you do if I go wrong? One of those present stood up and shouted: "By God, we will put you right with the edge of our swords." Umar repled, "If you do not do SO, you will lose God's blessing. And if I do not accept your correction, I shall lose God's blessing. "47 Once when a member of the crowd demanded to know where he had gotten the cloak he was wearing, Umar took no offense at the question. He answered it directly, and announced to the shocked members of the nobility among him that the people had a right to know that he was acquiring his possessions justly and not by graft. He was practicing full disclosure!4® In addition to condemning corruption in general, the Qur'an particularly warns against secret counsels: Secret counsels are only/(Inspired) by the Evil One... Summarizing, we may quote the observation of the Quranic scholar M. F. Ansari: "Islam is opposed to the mystico-ascetic approach to life and regards society as (58:10)49 the natural frame work of activity for human fulfillment."5° The vision it provides is of a family-based society of private property and free trade, in which men and women are entitled to what they earn and deserve: To all are degrees (or ranks)/According to their deeds... IV. PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE Nor take life—which God/Has made sacred—except For just cause. And if/Anyone 4s slain wrongfully, We have given his heir/Authority (to demand Qigag>1 Or to forgive): but let him/Not exceed bounds ‘in the matter Of taking life; for he/Is helped (by the law). (17553) (62132)26 One can only take life in the case of murder or far- 52 reaching criminality.°* Response to aggression against person or property is covered by the rule of reciprocity. Thus, the Qur'an commends +++those who, when/An oppressive wrong is inflicted On them, (are not cowed/But) help and defend themselves. The recompense for an injury/Is an injury equal thereto (In degree): but if a person/Forgives and makes reconciliation, His reward is due/From God: for (God) Loveth not those who/Do wrong. But indeed if any do help/And defend themselves After a wrong (done)/To them, against such There is no cause/Of blame. The blame is only/Against those who oppress Men with wrong-doing/And insolently transgress Beyond bounds through the land/Defying right and justice: For such there will be/A penalty grievious. But indeed if any/Show patience and forgive, That would truly be/An exercise of courageous will And resolution in the conduct /Of affairs. (49.35 49) In the event that the perpetrator of a crime is not under the jurisdiction of the Islamic government, and his own community protects him from receiving punishment for the crime, the law of reciprocity is to act against the community which harbors him, but only to the degree of the offense. > Rights are not to be denied because of religious 54 differences.°" The prohibition of fraud is general and applies to non-Muslims as well as Muslims.°> The require- ments of justice and due process are due to all, regard- less of religious differences or sympathies.27 © ye who believe! /Stand out firmly For God, as witnesses/To fair dealing, and let not The hatred of others/To make you swerve To wrong and depart from/Justice. Be just: that is Next to Piety: and fear God. 56 For God is well-acquainted/With all that ye do. (5:9) Relations with the non-believers are those of mutual laissez-fair +++bear them company/In this life with justice (and consideration), and follow/The way of those who Turn to me (in love):/In the End the return Of you all is to Me,/And I will tell you The truth (and meaning) /Of all that ye did. (31:15) Therefore shun those who/Turn away from Our Message And desire nothing but/The life of this world. (53.29) God forbids you not, /With regard to those who Fight you not for (your) Faith/Nor drive you out Of your homes, /From dealing kindly and justly With them: For God loveth/Those who are just. God only forbids you, /With regard to those who Fight you for (your) Faith, /And drive you out Of your homes, and support/(Others) in driving you out, From turning to them/(For friendship and Protection)... (69.7 9) The last case constitutes a state of war, and here force ig permitted. This is because self-defense and retailia- tion are allowed on the eye-for-an-eye principle. >” Even in war there is due process, and strict rules of war apply. To begin with, peaceful resistance is Preferred to war. Avoidable oppression is no excuse for sin.°® one needs just cause to resort to war. Thus, the Qur'an commends those who "defend themselves only after they are unjustly attacked." (2 27) To those against whom/War is made, permission Is given (to fight), because/They are wronged;—and verily, God 4s Most Powerful/For their aid;— (>>, 49)28 Will ye not fight people/Who violated their oaths, Plotted to expel the Apostle,/And took the aggressive By being the first (to assault) you?/Do ye fear them? Nay, It is God Whom ye should/More justly fear, if ye believe! Fight them, and God will/Punish them by your hands, Cover them with shame,/Help you (to victory) over then.... (9212-13) Fight in the cause of God/Those who fight you, But do not transgress limits;/For God loveth not transgressors. And slay them/Wherever ye catch them, And turn them out/From where they have Turned you out;/For tumult and oppression 66059 Are worse than slaughter. ..59(5 190 191) The law of equality that applies to aggression applies also to cease fires and peace: But if the enemy/Incline towards peace, Do thou (also) incline/Towards peace, and trust In God: for He is the One/That heareth and Knoweth (All things). Should they intend {To deceive thee,—verily God Sufficeth thee... 6.61 60 Fear of treachery should not provoke treachery. Instead, If thou fearest treachery/From any group, throw back (Their Covenent) to them, (so as/To be) on equal terms: For God loveth not the treacherous.61 (,. <4) Even in a state of war, terrorism is forbidden: And fear tumult or oppression, /which affecteth not in particular (Only) those of you who do wrong..+ ¢g. 95) The innocent must be spared even accidental suffering. On this account the Muslims were forbidden to force their way into Mecca. © Abu Bakr understood the implications of these verses and accordingly instructed his troops when they set off to battle the soldiers of the Byzantine Empir29 Do not commit misappropriation or fraud, not be guilty of disobedience (to the commander) and multilation (of the limbs of any person). Do not kill old men, women or children. Injure not the date~palm, nor burn it with fire; and cut not down the fruit-bearing trees. Slaughter not the sheep or cows or camels except for purposes of food. You will pass by persons who spend their lives in retirement in the monastaries. Leave them in their statement of retirement ,63 Hadith from Tabari, III, p. 213 In modern terminology: No scorched earth policy! If the aggressors do not sue for peace, but fight until they are defeated militarily, they have lost their Property rights. This Provides the spoils of war with which the troops are paid. But the residents of the 65 conquered lands are entitled to equal status with the victors if they adopt Islam. If not, they may still re- main under Muslim protection if they pay the jizyah or defense tax. (See 9:29) ‘The jizyah is a head tax (on the order of about thirty 1980 dollars) applicable to able- bodied males of military age (non-Muslims did not normally serve in the armed forces), That it is a user fee levied for security rather than ordinary tribute is attested to not only by its small size, but the fact that it was refunded when protection could not be provided. The people of Hirah, for example, agreed to pay the jizyah on the condi- tion that "the Muslims and their leader Protect us from those who would oppress us, whether they be Muslims or 66 others," In the treaty between the Muslim general Khalid ibn Walid and the towns near Hirah, Khalid writes “If we protect you, then iigyah is due to us; but if we do not, then it is not due. Abu 'Ubaydah once ordered30 the governors of Syria to refund the jizyah with the following explanatory message: We give you back they money that we took from you, as we have received news that a strong force is advancing against us. ‘The agreement between us was that we should protect you, and as that is not now in our power, we return you all that we took. But if we are victorious we shall consider ourselves bound to you by the terms of our agreement.66 The Christians of Syria replied: May God give you rule over us again and may you be victorious over the Romans; had it been they, they would not have given back anything, but would have taken all that remained with us. 6 Occasionally Christians fought as allies of the Muslims, and then they were not charged jizyah, but were rather given a share of the booty. Military service was expected of all able-bodied male®7 Muslims, but exemptions were liberal. Muhammad never denied an exemption. The theory of the Qur'an is that the man seeking a justified exemption should be ex- empted while one seeking an unjustified exemption could not be trusted in battle. In any case, God knows which is which and will Himself punish the traitors and cowards. This theory is described in a lengthy and in- sightful exposition in Surah 9, Unfortunately space Prohibits including it all here, but I quote some highlights. If they had come out/With you, they would not Have added to your (strength)/But only (made for) disorder, Hurrying to and from in your midst/And sowing sedition among you. (9:47) And there were, among/The desert Arabs (also) Men who made excuses/And came to claim exemption;31 And those who were false/To God and His Apostle @terely) sat inactive. /Soon will a grievous penalty Seize the Unbelievers/Among them. There is no blame/On those who are infirm, Or ill, or who find/No resources to spend (On the Cause), if they/Are sincere (in duty) to God And His Apostle: No ground (of complaint)/Can there be against such As do right: and God/Is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. (7. 99,91) Returning to the question of the free-riders, the argument proceeds: They will swear to you by God, /When ye return to them, That ye may leave then alone:/So leave them alone: For they are an abomination,/And Hell is their dwelling-place— A fitting recompense/For the (evil) that they did. They will swear unto you,/That ye may be pleased with them But if ye are pleased with them,/God is not pleased With those who disobey. 68 (4 55 96) V. ISLAM AND ECONOMIC SYSTEMS The Qur'an does not specifically pre- scribe the forms of government and economic system under which the Muslim is expected to live. It, rather, pro- vides an ethical base with certain political and economic implications. The discovery of these implications is a matter of much discussion among Muslims today. Outside the United States the word "socialism" has lost its narrow meaning of state ownership of the means of production and is instead used to denote a positive attitude by the speaker toward that which he calls socialist (as within the United States the word “democracy” has lost its narrow meaning of rule by32 the majority and is used the same way). This phenomenon has combined in the Third World with an association of capitalism with Western imperialism to pressure the leaders of any progressive movement to call their move- ment " socialist" regardless of their views on the role of private property in the economy. Because the Islamic injunctions for the sanctity of Private property are so strong, leftist Muslims must seek justification for their concepticn of socialism in Islam's attitude toward brotherly benevolence and the hostility to interest perceived in the prohibition of riba’. For example, Shaikh Ameer Ali writes in The Muslim World Journal, that the benevolent characteristic of Islam conflicts with "the spirit of individualism and competi- tion—the twin pillars of present day market economic 69 structures." He explains: True, Islam encourages hard work, attributes direct responsibility to God, upholds honesty in dealing and thrift in spending, emphasizes methodical ordering of time and rational calculation and welcomes lawful earnings and material accumulation; but it also prescribes obligations and responsibilities towards the parents, the relatives, the orphans, the poor and the co-religionists. The Islamic Law of Inheritance, the institution of Zakat and in a sense even the ban on usury are built-in distributive devices to pre- vent wealth from circulating within a narrow circle, Hence, the true Islamic ethic is anti-capitalistic./0 The origin of antimarket feelings in Islam seems to come less from a misunderstanding of Islam (although after centuries of colonialism, Islam is misunderstood even in the Islamic world), than from a misunderstanding of the market.33 Despite this misunderstanding, the Muslim scholars have been remarkably astute in rejecting socialism, in the narrow sense. They aim rather at a synthesis which incorporates the freedom of enterprise of classical liberal- ism and the alleged benevolence of socialism, while re- jecting what they see as the insensitivity of capitalism and the authoritarianism of socialism. Here is what one of Islam's more important modern interpreters, Muhammad Ali, wrote in his book The New World order: ”* To destroy capitalism, in other words to take away forcibly the wealth of the rich and to make it the property of the State, nominally that of the community, would have been an act of the greatest injustice, and it was quite foreign to the spirit of Islam. It introduced a compul- sory system of charity, compulsory not in the sense that any force was employed in its collection. The compulsion was moral./2 [s] tate owmership of industry and absence of all private enterprise precludes all competition and all incentive to hard and intelligent labor; and in the end, it will, by promoting habits of indolence and apathy, lower the standard of productiveness and impoverish the nation which adopts it. National con- sciousness, the desire to live as a separate, power— ful, and independent nation, may for some time act as an incentive, but this too because of the pre- sence of competition on a national scale, In times of war, this incentive may even be very great when there is fear of being destroyed by a more powerful nation, as it has been in Russia. But that the absence of private enterprise and private ownership in peaceful times will promote habits of indolence and sloth is too patent a fact to be denied, and even the Soviet has been compelled to modify its first views and to introduce competition in some form, After noting that state ownership of the means of produc- tion would be capitalism with only one capitalist owning everything, Ali adds:34 Nay, a single capitalist in a nation would be more bearable in comparison with the state as the owner of all property and industry. An individual could be easily criticised, and he may have to mend his ways in his own interests. Not so the State which can, and often does, stifle all criticism which it thinks to be averse to its interests. There is a remedy in the world for every tyranny, but there is no remedy for the tyranny of the State, more particularly of a State which is also the sole capitalist in a country. The State was originally intended to ensure liberty and justice for man and protect him from the oppres- sion of his more powerful neighbors, but with the advancement of the material civilization its tendency is more and more to deprive man of his freedom, to enslave him and to become an instrument of oppression instead of being a check on it. Ali notes that communism "carries to the extreme in practice the Fascist theory by depriving the individual of both his freedom and his property." But he criticises democracy because, despite its "high sounding theory" its advocates have enslaved "more than half the human 73 race He concludes The Nation and the State are the new idols before which the civilized man has fallen prostrate. And along with the old—perhaps the oldest living—god, Mammon, Materialism has its own Trinity in the place of the Trinity of the Church. After reading this breathtakingly perceptive analysis written almost 40 years ago, one must wonder why the so-called Islamic leaders of the world have failed to heed Muhammad Ali's warning against the nation- state. It is not that they dispute his arguments, but rather that they have been guided less by Muslim ideology than by a pressing desire for the most rapid industrial development posssible. To attain this, Islamic prin- ciples have been traded in for whatever capitalistic or35 socialistic methods brought about industrial development. Although the disregard of the desires of the people who owned and worked the land has been most dramatic in Iran, where the Shah paid for it with his precious Peacock Throne, all so-called Muslim governments have succumbed to some degree or other to the same temptation. This is not to say that pragmatism has been the only factor dictating the actions of "Muslim" political leaders. Mu‘ammar Qadafi, it is true, has embraced the banner of “socialism” to fly over his personal interpretation of Islam. Yet, even he has done so to use the word's emotional impact to advance his communitarian visions rather than to challenge the Qur'anic view of property: If to be"leftist" means to oppose reaction and imperialism, well then, I am on the extreme Left: no one can be further to the left than I. If “left” means "socialism," then in God's Name I declare that socialism is an emanation of our religion and of our Holy Book, '74 Socialism as we see it implies that we all parti- cipate equally in production, in work, and in the distribution of the products...so that this activity becomes a form of prayer, and so that the products of labor do not remain the monopoly of a single category of people... While the word "socialiam".,.has been used in the West to designate the appropriation by society of the means of production, this same word in Arabic means association and communal work.75 The confusion of a benevolent Islamic social justice with the Western idea of socialism is instructively illustrated in Mauloud Kassim Nait-Belkaiem's "The Concept of Social Justice in Islam" where he describes the36 difficulty Umar had in finding recipients poor enough for Zakat and then (as if it somehow follows logically) trium- Pphantly quotes Dr. Muhammad al-Mubarrak saying: To say that there is no socialism in Islam is to be ignorant of the nature of socialism, and to demon- strate in addition an inability to understand the teachings and objectives of Islam; to prove that one has no acquaintance with Islamic laws pertain- ing to the subject.76 Nait-Belkaiem can apply the label "socialism" to the Islamic vision of social justice only by leaving unmen- tioned the coercive basis of socialism. He openly states that his reason for doing so is to appeal to the Western-influenced young people: And then let this social justice be designated by what ever name one cares to choose, even that of "socialism", since it is the name that the young prefer in our days, provided that it has conferred upon it the original meaning..../7 The mainstream of modern Islamic thought is neither capitalist nor socialist, but seems to be an attempt to imitate the Welfarist systems of Europe by giving control of Zakat to the state. The advocates of this practice cite Abu Bakr's use of force to make the desert tribes recognize the obligation of Zakat as a precedent, But if that is the precedent, Islamic welfarism must be extremely limited compared to the European systems, since Zakat is 2%% of assets. But the precedent is a debatable one, since the Qur'an presents Zakat as a duty of the individual for the purpose of aiding one's fellow man and symbolizing 7 one's freedom from the worship of Mammon, The Qur'an gives a very limited authority to the State:37 defense and the resolution of disputes, and (over Muslims) the enforcement of certain religious laws. Modern leaders who have tried to justify an expansion of state authority have turned to the Hadith. For examples, Shaikh Zaki Yamani has defended his government's nationalization of certain industries on a hadith of the Prophet to the ef- fect that "people are partners" in water, grazing, and fire.” This is an example of supplementation of the Qur'an on which I do not wish to dwell. Stretching the concept of joint ownership of fire into the right of the state to nationalize the oil industry, however, is illustrative of the extremes to which intellectuals must go to bring statist economics under the umbrella of Islam. The ethical base of the Qur'an does not completely justify any extant economic system. It favors individual responsibility, free contract, private property, non- aggression, and opposes fraud. Force is permitted only in defense or to enforce contracted obligations, including the contract with God made by the voluntary adoption of Islam. By publicly becoming a Muslim one gains membership in a community of brotherly concern for each other's welfare. This does not require abandoning his liberty, but voluntarily accepting a vision of what to do with that liberty.38 VI. CONCLUSIONS The totalitarianism of God is the libertarianism of aa According to the Qur'an every individual is directly responsible to God alone. No one may violate God's sovereignty over another by placing himself above another. Mankind is warned that God will call us to ac- count for what we do with our lives and our property. That responsibility is ours, not our neighbors, not the State's, and not the Prophet's. Islam has never separated social and political questions from religion. Such separation would be un- Islamic. The tradition of social thought may be con- sidered favoring the right in that it is partial to entrepreneurial activity and private property, and favoring the left in that it imposes upon believers a social obligation to charity and opposes the central banking systems of state-capitalism. The pro-socialist rhetoric of certain Muslim leaders is due to a lack of understanding of the compatibility of free market economic theory and Islam, compounded by a fear that a Pro-market attitude will be mistaken by the young for a pro-Western bias insensitive to the crimes of imperialism. The greater exchange of ideas between Western scholars of the free-market and modern Islamic thinkers could be most profitable for both. The former could learn more of a vision for the use of the precious liber- ties of which they are so rightly proud, and the latter39 could learn how noncoercive methods can achieve the rapid development they so eagerly seek. The theory of markets provides an explanation of how the early Muslims were able to achieve their golden age of achievement and prosperity, while a mystico-ascetic and authoritarian Europe wallowed in its dark ages. Ye people: Harken to my words; for I know not whether, after this year, I shall ever be amongst you here again. Your lives and property are sacred and inviolable amongst one another until the end of time. Ye people! Hearken to my speech and comprehend the same. Know that every Muslim is the brother of every other Muslim. All of you are on the same equality. —From Muhammad's Farewell Pilgrimage!FOOTNOTES lone Arabic hanif, by which the Qur'an refers to those who without benefit of revelation came by reasoning alone to belief in God (6:75-79), appears to have something in common with the Deists of the Western en- lightenment. It is extremely interesting, though out of place here, to compare Thomas Paine's arguments for the existence of God in The Age of Reason with certain passages of the Qur'an (e.g. 6:99). Conversely, the Qur’ "s description of how the prophet Abraham disputed with his people about idolatry (21:51-68) is reminiscent of Paine's struggles against the superstition of his contemporaries. ?the Arabs of Yathrib had first encountered the Prophet when he preached at a seasonal fair. Intrigued because their Jewish neighbors had spoken of their belief that the Arabs would produce a prophet, they cultivated communication with the Meccan Muslims, and soon adopted Islam. 5R, Nozick, Anarchy, State and Utopia (New Yor ch, 10. Basic Books 1974), 4the traditions state that when Abu Sufyan came before Muhammad, Muhammad asked him if he acknowledged that there is no God but God. Abu Sufyan replied to the effect that if there were, he wouldn't be there suing for peace. 58. D. Goitein, Jews and Arabs: Their Contacts Through he Ages (New York: Shocken Brooks). 1964, the Khawarij never achieved large numbers, yet the back-to-the Qur'an attitude of their early members repeatedly resurfaces in Islamic reform movenents. 7the Mu*tazilites called themselves the ahl-al adl_wa'l-tawhid (= partisans of justice and unity). They saw man as the author of his own acts and held reason as the highest norm (See A. J. Wensinck, Muslim Creed (London: Frank Cass and Co., 1932)). They became at one point the dominant school of Islam, but lost their power when they sought to suppress those who disagreed with them, overthrown by a coalition of schools less libertarian in theory, but more tolerant in practice. ®the Shiah are today the largest minority sect of Islam (about 10% of the population). Muhammad never named a successor. Thus the dispute over the method of succession (democracy vs. bloodline). The possibility that Muhammad named no successor because he meant to have no successor would be rejected by both Sunni (the four orthodox schools) and Shi'ah, but might have found a receptive hearing among the early Khawarajites. 10The best translation of authoritative hadith in English is Sahih Muslim (Lahore: Muhammad Ashraf Kashmiri Bazar, 1976) vol. I-IV, transl. by A. H. Siddiqi. It is common in some schools to useHadith as a supplement to the Qur'an and as virtually equal source of authority. This use has been challenged by Muslim reformers. I have limited my use of Hadith to exegesis not to underplay its historical role, but to sidestep the debate of their validity and proper theolog- ical role. That subject cannot be properly treated ina paper of this length. Uyor an introduction to this problem see E. Said's Covering Islan (New York: Pantheon Books, 1981). Most of the non-Muslim commentators are unable to separate practices and attitudes originating in the religion from institutions and policies that arise from “geographical position, economic needs, and the interests of dynasties and rulers. A bibliography of some Muslim commentaries is appended to this essay. lReferences to the Qur'an will be cited by the sirah and ayat (= chapter and verse) from the translation by A. Yusuf Ali, The Holy jur'dn: Text, Translation and Commentary (Washington: The Islamic Cen- ter, 1978). Because the Qur'an is considered untranslatable, quota~ tions in an English language article is difficult. The Ali volume con- tains the original Arabic text, along with what I consider to be the best translation to date and numerous footnotes to explain subtleties of the translation problems and relevant background materials. It is available in a paperback edition called The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'an (Cairo: Dar-al-Kitab al-Masri). Another respected translation is that of Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Qur'an (New York: Muslim World League, 1977) which is available in a paperback edition without the Arabic text (New York: New American Library). Translations by non-Muslims are vastly inferior to either of these and unreliable. 13see also 21:92-93, 14see 4:123; conversely when one is forced to evil it is charged against the coercer and not the coerced (see 24:33). se0 28:55, see 42:10, 39:46, and 52:45-47, see also 26:216. 18see also 25:63. The use of persuasion in religious disputes (e.g., 11:13-14) is only part of the pro-reason attitude of the Qur'an. Muslims are encouraged to observe and reflect on and to contemplate God's signs in heaven and on earth (e.g., 10:5-6). The result was that the Muslim persued not only religious knowledge in the narrow sense, but what we would call "secular" knowledge in science, medicine and art, reaching intellectual heights while Europe was in the dark ages. The world's first universities grew out of the "chairs" of teaching in which Muslim scholars sat in and around the mosques. 20see also 39:3,2lquoted in J. Morgan, Mohametism Explained (London, 1723-1725). 22 tba. 23, detailed analysis of the semantic content of the Qur'an is given in T. Izutsu's Ethico-Religious Concepts in the Qur'an (Montreal: McGill Univ, Press, 1966). The distinction between political morality (right and wrong) and personal morality (good and evil) is not always clear to modern Muslims, however. Because all the sayings imputed to Muhammad have been lumped together in the Hadith, regardless of their function, his observations on the nature of fair trade appear side by side with his preferences for use of a toothpick in personal hygiene. This has had the unfortunate result of blurring this distinction in the minds of many Muslims and students of Islam. Of course this con- fusion is not peculiar to Muslims (Lenny Bruce commented pointedly on its prevalance in the United States.) Actually, the early Muslim scholars devoted much effort to distinguish punishable from non- punishable offenses and established gradations of approval and dis- approval. Acts are branded mandatory (fard), encouraged (mandub), optional (ja‘iz), discouraged (makruh), or forbidden (haram). 24The Qur'an does not give the number of daily prayers, but the Hadith are unambiguous about the mmber five, and further give details on the prayer ritual. The four orthodox schools differ on only extremely trivial points of the ritual, though some modern Islamic reconstruc- tionists have argued that the ritual prayer is only one possible form of prayer. 25the fast is a strict fast from dawn to sunset every day of the month, Because the Muslim calendar is based on the lunar cycle, Ramadan may fall at any time of the year. The principal purpose of the fast are to build self-discipline and to cultivate a sympathy for the poor (the annual payment of Zakat is due at the conclusion of Ramadan). 26this is required only for those financially and physically capable of making it. It has been in large measure responsible for the feeling of international and interracial brotherhood in Islam. The experience is beautifully described in Alex Haley's Autobiography of Malcolm X (New York: Ballantine Books, 1973), ch. 17. 271g1am has been called a sex positive religion (see V. L. Bullough, Sexual Variance in Society and History, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976)) because the Qur’an encourages it not only for Propagation of the species, but for its emotional value to the couple as well. "Your wives are as a tilth unto you" (2:223); "They are your garments and ye are their garments" (2:186). Marriage is a contract and not the purchase of property (see 4:24). It is a framework for the care of children. The Qur'an states a preference for monogamy, but allows up to four wives to provide an institution for the care of widows and orphans (4:3). This is a limitation over the pagan practice of unlimited polygamy, The Islamic prohibition of adultery (17:32) applies equally to both sexes (24:2-3).28pivorce is a matter of terminating a contract, If arbitration fails (4:128) a simple straightforward procedure is detailed (see the Teferences in Y. Ali's index to his translation of the Qur'an), The main matter of concern is the children. Since their is no community Property in Islam (each partner keeps his/her own property), division of property is not a problem. If charges of adultery are brought, four eye-witnesses are required for conviction (24:4-5). The exception is if one of the spouses is an eye-witness, but the defendant gets the benefit of any doubt. An oath from the husband that his wife is guilty, for example, is cancelled by her oath that she is innocent, if both Parties invoke God's curse on the one who is lying (24:6-10). 29sec 17:31. 30M. G. S. Hodgson notes in The Venture of Islam, vol. I: The Classical Age of Islam (Chicago: University of Chicago Press) that in the Qur'an "ethics tend to be thought of in terms of the market—thus the protection of orphans was, in the first instance, protection of their property; hence the Qur'an freely uses market terminology—partly by way of familiar analogy (the faithful strikes a good bargain with God), but partly by way of introducing the transcendent inextricably into daily life." 31see 6 0. 32See 2:198, 33See 2:282, 34The punishment for theft is well-known, but is not as harsh as it sounds, (See 5:41-42) There are numerous exemptions including first offenses, theft of necessities of life, ect. Under the “rightly guided" khalifs this punishment was almost never used, apparently because of its efficacy as a deterrent. 35See also 17:35 and 2:181. 36See also 16:94-95. 37or fasting if he is himself poor, See 5:92. 38E.g., Shaikh M. Ahmad, Economics of Islam (Lahore: Muhammad Ashraf Kashmiri Bazar) 1947. 392, V. BUhm-Bawerk, Capital and Interest, vol. II, trans. by W. Smart (New York: Kelley & Millman, Inc.) 1959, 40punm-Bawerk gives three reasons for this "time preference." The subject is a difficult one and the particular arguments are, in my opinion, debatable, but the fact of the existence of time preference in the case of money is an observable fact. Although people are often interested in spending their money tomorrow rather than today, and will actually pay for the privilege of having it stored; nonetheless, they want to be repaidon demand. A loan payable on demand thus is a service to the lender and will certainly not call for a positive interest. We are not here concerned with loans for the benefit of the lender, however, but with loans for the benefit of the borrower, payable at a fixed time in the future. 4lislamic banking is now progressing beyond the experimental stage, and gigantic ventures are being launched by the Saudis, and others. The system involves shared profit rather than fixed rate of interest. The aim is to reward the bank for its entrepreneurial function is sharing risk and finding worthwhile ventures rather than for its capitalistic function of lending money Perse. Of course, by BUhm-Bawerk's analysis the bank will still be receiving interest disguised as part of the average profit and masked by that part of the profit which is not interest. 42at least it could if the Muslims would, like Tucker, elimi- nate government monopoly from the equation. The principle would be that borrowers seeking no-risk (and therefore purely "capitalistic") loans could instead issue notes against the projected income of their enterprise. These notes, printed and endorsed by the Muslim (or mutualist) banks would be a free-market currency, not unlike that Proposed by the nobel-prize winning economist of the Austrian school, F. A. Hayak. 43the needy (masakin) are strictly defined as those who haven't the wherewithall to feed themselves for a year. Those who have placed themselves in this state by sloth rather than misfortune are not en- titled to receive benefits, and the overhead costs of distribution are Limited to 20%. 44See Muhammad Ali's description of the proper function of the State quoted in section V. 45see also 4:59. 46Qquoted by M. Ali in The New World Order (Lahore: Ahmadiyaa Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam, 1964). See also 4:58. 47 chris Waddy, The Muslim Mind (London: Longman Grove, Ltd., 1976). 48umar also anticipated the fourth and nineth amendments by 1200 years when he refused to prosecute people caught drinking illegally in their own homes because of the Qur'anic prohibition of entering houses without permission (24:28). Michael Hart, in his intriguing The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History (New York: Hart Publishing Co., 1978), ranks Umar as the fifty-first most influential person in history. Dr, Hart ranked Muhammad first. 49See also 58:9. 50M, F. Ansari, The Qur'anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society (Karachi: Indus Educational Foundation).51Qisas is essentially retaliation restricted by the limits of equity. Yusuf Ali discusses it in a series of notes to 2:178 in his translation of the Qur'an. 52see 5:35 and 2:205-206. 53sec 1178-179. P4See 3:75 and 73:10. 55See 83:1-3. see also 4:49, 49:6, 4:135, and 5:52-53. 57see 5:48. 58see 4:97-100. 59see also 22:40. 0see also 8:39-40, and 2:192-193. ®lsee also 9:1-4 and 4:89-91. ©2See 48:25. 3quoted in M. Ali, The New World Order (Lahore: Ahmadiyaa Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islam, 1944). O4See 33:25-27. 65the word "conquored" may be a misnomer. The Muslim called the territories "opened" from fataha = to open), i.e. to trade and to practice of the religion. Sovereignty was taken not from the indiginous people— who usually welcomed and aided the Muslims—but from the various empires of the day. S6quoted in T. W. Arnold, The Preaching of Islam. 67This is not to say females did not participate. In the early period women actually led Muslim armies into battle. 68ror the full argument see 9:43-54, 90-96; 33:13-20; and 48:11, 15-17. 10c. cit., IX (Jan. 1982) #3, p. 9. 70rpid., p. 14. Top. cit.72ali doesn't see the full consequences of his own statement, for he advocates that the State should distribute the Zakat. The phenomenon of scholars who see with perfect clarity the oppressiveness of the state in one area but not in another is common throughout the world. 731t is the Western democracies’ double standard on the matter of property rights and not the moronic propaganda of the Soviets that has turned the third world off democracy. The Western world has, throughout history, touted the ideals of liberty and property while denying both to the majority of the world's people. Case in point: How shall the Muslim world believe anything Americans may say about the inalienable rights of life, liberty and property as long as American support (material and rhetorical) continues to enable the Israeli government to take all three from the Palestinians? 74From M. Bianco, Gadafi: Voice from the Desert quoted in Waddy, op. cit. 75quoted in Waddy, op. cit. 76quoted in A. Gaufar, The Challange of Islam (London: Redwood Burn, Ltd.) 1978. 4, Gaufer, Ibid. 78the precedent is debatable for another reason. According to M. Shaban's "Conversion to Early Islam," in N. Levtzion, ed., Conversion to Islam (New York: Holmes and Meier Publ., Inc., 1977) the revolt was over whether Zakat was obligatory, not over who would distribute it. 794. 2. Yamani, “Islamic Law and Contemporary Issues," in C. Malik, ed. God and Man in Contemporary Islamic Thought (Beirut: American Univer- sity of Beirut, Centennial Publications, 1972). 80vuhanmad Abdul-Rauf, in "The Islamic Doctrine of Economics and Contemporary Economic Thought" (Washington: American Enterprise Inst. for Public Policy Research, 1979) lists the following Islamic human rights: hagq al-hayah (the right to live), haqg al-hurriyyah (the right to liberty), hagg al-tovalluk (right of property), haqq al-karadmah (right to dignity), and haqq al-“ilm (right of knowledge). Slquoted in H. G. Wells, Outline of History (Garden City, NY: County Life Press) 1931.BIBLIOGRAPHY (The fountainhead of Islamic thougit is the Qur'an. See footnote 12 for a list of reliable editions of Qur'an translations. The Muslim world is still in the process of awakening from its dormancy under the colonialera. The scholars of Islam are still in the process of develop- ing the implications of the Qur'anic ethical base to the question of social systems in the modern world. The following is a partial list of M. works of varying nascent Islamic perspectives.) Abdul-Rauf, "The Islamic Doctrine of Economics and Contemporary Economic Thought," (Washington: American Enterprise Inst. for Public Policy Research, 1979). [Good introduction.] M. Ahmad, Economics of Islam (Lahore: Muhammad Ashraf Kashmiri Bazar, 1947). “TA mainstream perspective; suffers from Keynesian economic errors.) Ali, The New World Order (Lahore: Ahmadiyaa Anjuman Ishaat-i-Islan, 1964). [Quintessential work of a major figure.] A. Ali, The Spirit of Islam (London: Christopher's, 1922). [Impor- tant but somewhat apologetic.] F. Ansari, The Qur'anic Foundations and Structure of Muslim Society (Karachi: Indus Educational Foundation). [Instructive example of Islamic approach to social questions.] Asad, Islam at the Crossroads (Lahore: Arafat Publications, 1963). [Identifies what many Muslims consider to be the pivotal points of modern social questions] Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam (Lahore: Javid Iqbal, 1962). [One of the most influential tracts by the principle figure of Islamic reform.] A. a'La Maudoodi, Towards Understanding Islam, (Lahore: Islamic Publ. Ltd., 1960). [Authoritative representative of the traditionalist view.] Shariati, Marxism and Other Western Fallacies, ed. by H. Algar (Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1980). [By the towering liberal Shi'ah thinker who inspired the Mujahadeen young Muslims who helped overthrow the Shah of Iran and may soon overthrow the regime which replaced him.) Waddy, The Muslim Mind (London: Longman Grove, Ltd., 1976). ‘Includes summaries of Islamic socialist movements.]