Global capitalism has once again thrown the world economy in disarray and endangered the livelihood of not millions but billions of people all over the world. This is the result of crass consumerism, profit-mongering, boundless greed and continued injustice to the marginalised and deprived sections of society. No definite solution to stop this crisis appears to be in sight. This is the comprehensive failure of the unjust and exploitative economic system called capitalism.
The ascendancy of the West started when the Muslims neglected their duty of managing the affairs of world in the light of divine principles of Islam and relegated Islam to a back seat. The modern western thinking is based on materialism which rejects divine guidance in worldly affairs and builds human life on principles of profit and pleasure. This emanates from a lack of belief in God and sense of accountability to Him.
Colonisation by the western powers gave the west an uninterrupted and unchallenged hegemony in the field of economy and polities for the last 200 years. During this period it shamelessly trampled upon the rights of weak nations of Africa, Asia and Latin America, and exploited their natural resources without any moral compunction. The masses of these subjugated nations were kept half-fed, half-clothed, ignorant and deprived of basic human dignity.
Communism was a reaction to inhuman capitalism and appeared on the horizon of human history as a ray of hope. It was intrinsically God-less and bereft of sound moral principles. It promoted a ruthless system of governance and gradually adopted the principles of capitalism and broke down under its own weight of unnatural principles towards the end of the 20th century.
Meanwhile, by the middle of the 20th century freedom struggles in scores of countries succeeded in securing independence for their peoples. But capitalist policies of western countries continued. They gave to the poor countries less in the shape of interest-bearing lones (euphemistically called aid) but took more from them in the form of interest and profit. The grip of the west has been still strong on the economies of poor countries. The main tool of capitalism has been interest, which is giving the west a strong handle to control the weaker countries and facilitate flight of capital to the developed western world.
Islamic economic system is based on justice and equity and gives more importance to people than to profit. It completely bans interest and encourages economic cooperation and charity. Interest gives unchecked power to money and moneyed people to determine the course of economic activities. The Holy Qur’an declares that Allah destroys interest and promotes charity. Islam encourages investment of surplus wealth in beneficial economic activity on the basis of profit and loss sharing. It does not allow money to make money at the cost of non-moneyed people who are also engaged in meaningful economic activities. Likewise, it does not allow speculation, which harms the interest of common man and gives power to speculators, who buy and sell what they do not possess.
In the wake of the present economic crisis leading economists across the world are looking towards Islamic economic system which is based on equity and fairness and is free from exploitation and injustice. This issue of Radiance focuses on important aspects of Islamic economic system. We hope it would give a new impetus to economists and social scientists to explore ways and means to extract the world from the present crisis and make it move towards a just and humane economic system, which may ensure progress of the world with peace and justice.