8 Islam’s Measures for Realizing Economic Justice / part 6

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#6
Reciprocal social responsibility

Reciprocal social responsibility among Muslims is a further important safeguard towards a just distribution of wealth and combating destitution and poverty in the Muslim community.

From an Islamic education, Islamic sentiments are developed for a Muslim to feel responsible for his brother. On no account should be bask in life pleasures and luxuries whereas his brothers suffer from the severe pains bitter hunger, and unsatisfied needs.

Islamic law lays down the principle of reciprocal social responsibility on spiritual and moral grounds to implement such concerned behavior. By so doing, Islam build up a strong, tenacious society, in which the individual shoulders his duties by identifying with his suffering brothers.

Numerous traditions and narrations emphasize this principle and urge Muslims to share the burden uniformly.

The Noble Messenger (s.a.w.w.) is quoted to have said:

“Never does he believe in me who goes to bed full, while his neighbor is hungry. Never shall Allah on the Day of Judgment look with favour at the people of a place who pass their night satisfied but among them is a hungry one.” 4

He also said:

“Surely he is not a Muslim who does not take interest in the affairs of Muslims. And surely he is not a Muslim who hears a Muslim calling for help and does not respond to his call.” 5

He further said:

“All of you are leaders and all of you are responsible for your subjects.”

On this point Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq (a.s.) is quoted to have said:

“The right of the Muslim on the Muslim is that he should never eat his fill while his brother suffers, never should be quench his thirst while his brother suffers thirst, never should he clothe himself while his brother suffers inadequate clothing.” 6

Another tradition reads:

“Any believer who denies another faithful something he can certainly offer him or can do for him, on his own or with others’ help, Allah shall certainly resurrect him on the Day of Judgment black-faced, with withered eyes and hands tied up to his neck. Someone shall cry out, ‘This is the traitor who betrayed Allah and his Messenger.’ Then he shall be ordered to be thrown into hell-fire.”

Deep in themselves, Muslims feel great human sentiments. With such cooperative, kindly manners, Muslims treat one another. They only act incompatible ways with Islam’s excellent teachings, which leave their mark far more than any material and corporal power could do. Muslims move to act, urged by the reward stored for them and by their implanted benevolence more than by the whip of the dictatorial authority.

8 Islam’s Measures for Realizing Economic Justice / part 5

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#5
Economic balances by means of Islamic taxes

Islam has laid down certain taxes like Zakat (poor-rate) and Khums (one-fifth of a Muslim’s income paid to the treasury every year). They are taken from the well-off according to certain provisions, and delivered up to the destitute to satisfy their needs, solve the problem of poverty, and in doing so, achieve economic justice. The ultimate goal of Islam here is to meet the economic needs of all Muslim individuals, so that no one is left deprived in the whole Muslim World.

Imam Ja’far bin Muhammad al-Sadiq (a.s.) is reported to have said:

“Surely, Allah the Almighty and Exalted ordained a portion from the wealth of the rich to be handed out to the poor which satisfies them. Otherwise, He would certainly have increased their share. If they, however, remain unsatisfied, that is because some people deny them their undisputed right.” 2

In a dialogue between the Prophet (s.a.w.w.) and a man who came asking him about faith, the Prophet (s.a.w.w.) described Zakat as a redress for the poor and a means to ensure a balance between the needy and the rich.

The man narrated that he had asked the Messenger of Allah (s.a.w.w.) what he called for and describes the following dialogue.

“I call the servants of Allah to serve Allah,” the Prophet (s.a.w.w.) replied.

“What do you say?,” I enquired.

“Bear witness,” the Prophet (s.a.w.w.) said, “that there is no god but Allah and that I, Muhammad, am the Messenger of Allah. You must believe in what He revealed to me, deny the deity of al- at and al-Uzzah, keep up prayer and pay Zakat.”

“And what is Zakat?,” I asked him.

“The well-off among us,” he told me, “hand back the money set aside to the poor among us.” 3

8 Islam’s Measures for Realizing Economic Justice / part 4

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#4
The method of gaining money, property and economic resources are restricted to certain laws as Islam puts restraints on any tendency of greediness or other unscrupulous motives including exploitation.

Islam adopts two important methods to tackle this critical point to frustrate the urges of greediness and exploitation. They are:

A/ Rearing and cultivating Muslim individuals and society, both morally and spiritually, in a way that promotes virtuous aspirations to steer clear of greediness and selfishness and present the reality of wealth being only transitory aspects of a temporary life on earth. It is a life that belittles so much attention being paid to competition and making material gains merely for their own sake as man’s existence has much greater goals to be achieved for his salvation.

Allah, the Almighty, says in the Qur’an:

“And those who made their abode in the city and in the faith before them love those who have fled to them, and do not find in their hearts a need of what they are given, and prefer (them) before themselves though poverty may afflict them, and whoever is preserved from the niggardliness of his soul, these it is that are the successful ones.”
Holy Qur’an (59:9)

B/ Laws are the second method employed by Islam to limit ways of accumulating riches and prohibit amassing through unlawful means that do the utmost harm to the community and feeds off the blood of the impoverished social class.

The letter written by Imam Ali (a.s.) to Malik al-Ashtar, his governor in Egypt, clearly testifies to this required intervention, when saying:

“Keep an eye on the activities of traders and industrialists, whether they are nearby or live in far-flung areas in your country.”

“Let it be known to you, however, that they are usually stingy misers, intensely self-centered and selfish, suffering from the obsession of grasping and accumulating wealth. They often hoard their goods to make more profit out of them by creating scarcity and black markets. Such practice is extremely injurious to the public on one hand, and defames the ruler on the other.”

“So put an end to hoarding up wares because the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.w.) has prohibited it. Remember that trade should go on between purchasers and suppliers according to correct measures and weights, and on such responsible terms that neither the consumers nor the suppliers should have to face losses. But if traders and industrialists carry on hoarding and black marketeering, even though you have explicitly warned them earlier, then you must punish them according to the intensity of their crime.”

8 Islam’s Measures for Realizing Economic Justice / part 3

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#3
Ownership in various forms is lawful including individual, communal and state ownerships and which is an axiomatic fact in Fiqh and Islamic legislation.

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8 Islam’s Measures for Realizing Economic Justice / part 2

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#2
Man has natural, instinctive needs which must be met, and under no circumstances can he be deprived of this right

The aim of Islamic economic legislation is to provide needed commodities for man. Thus in unmistakably made clear in this Prophetic tradition.

“Allah, the Exalted and mighty, looked at the wealth of the well-off. And He looked at the destitute. He ordained a portion from the wealth of the rich to be delivered to the poor to satisfy them. If it had not satisfied them, He would certainly have increased their share.” 1

 

8 Islam’s Measures for Realizing Economic Justice / part 1

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#1
The distribution system of Islam is based on a general ideological fact that “Allah is the Only Real Owner.”

As for man, he is not more than a deputizing vicegerent. He can only manage what he owns within certain limits, specified by Allah.

Allah, the Most High, says:

“And certainly you have come to Us alone as We created you at first, and you have left behind your backs the things which We gave you, and We do not see with you your intercessors about whom you asserted that they were (Allah’s) associates in respect to you; certainly the ties between you are now cut off and what you asserted is gone from you.”
Holy Qur’an (6:95)

 

What is the philosophy behind the prohibition of telling “Lie”?

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Crossing out Lies and writing Truth on a blackboard.

Telling lie in Islam is forbidden and prohibited in almost everywhere.

Our 11th Imam, Imam Hasan As’kari peace be upon him said:

“All of the evil things are put in a house and the key of that house is telling lie.”

This likening shows the evilness of the lie.

Imam Sadiq peace be upon him said:

“Telling lie causes the faith to be damaged.”

Telling lie has different motives; like greed, enmity, envy, gaining material benefits etc. but the main factor of that is the weakness and infirmity of the liar.

It is obvious that when someone tells a lie, usually he/she has done something fault before that and now he/she wants to tell lie, in order, not to be blamed by others. And you know sometimes this person has to tell several lies, one after the other and a lot of times the second lie is bigger that the first one and so on and he/she has to be under the pressure or fear of his/her lies from being revealed.

If telling lie spreads in the society, no one trusts others easily, because the possibility of a word of being unreal is there in every saying.

Many times telling lie causes hypocrisy, disunity, ruining the face of others, conflict etc.

Of course there are some exceptions from the Hormah(prohibition) of telling lie, but they are not everywhere, and it is just in a few cases that telling lie has very important Maslihah or very great benefit like preventing someone from being killed. Some people say that every time that telling lie has benefit for us, we are allowed to tell it, but we say as the answer to this wrong thought: almost every time telling lie has some benefits for the liars and as we said the formula of the exception is whenever the benefit of telling lie is so much greater than the ugliness of lie.

It is interesting that even in the cases that are known as the exceptions from the prohibition of telling lie, we are advised not to tell lie, and that means to utter the lie words, but in our minds at the time of uttering those words, we mean something else from them which is true, and this shows the importance of telling the truth and avoiding from telling lie.

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Source:

Porseman.org

What is the philosophy behind “Riba” or Usury?

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UsuryIn Islam, receiving Riba or usury or interest is forbidden, of course because the word of “interest” in English may contain different kinds of interests that some of them are legal and Halal, we mention a brief meaning of it:

Riba or interest which is Haram and forbidden, has two kinds, the first is that happens in lending and the second is in the exchange.

Riba in lending can be described in this way: where we get money from a person as a loan and that person says to us: you should pay me back, more than what I give you now, for example I give you 100 dollars and after a month you should give me back 120 dollars.

And the second kind of Riba is that if in an exchange, two stuffs of the exchange are from the same material, like if a kind of rice is bought to another kind of rice, and the amount of one side of that exchange, is more than the amount of the other side, of course the condition of this kind of Riba, is that if the stuffs of that exchange, are among those things that they are sold and bought by 1- weighting 2- or measuring (through measuring by specific container).

In this essay we just talk about the first kind of Riba which happens in lending, and we leave the second kind to an independent discussion.

The prohibition of that is mentioned in chapter Bagharah verse 275:

أَحَلَّ اللّهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا

“Allah has permitted trading and forbidden usury”

 

It must be said that there are some jurisprudential branches and detail or the ways that we can get escape from Riba, that it must be described in its appropriate place.

Now let’s talk about the philosophy of the prohibition of Riba.

We take benefit from what Martyr Motahhari has mentioned in this regard.

You know there are some kinds of exchanges that Islam has accepted them, like transaction, lending and Mozarebah (which means to give money to someone to work with that money and the interest and detriment of that work are for both sides, of course by some conditions that is mentioned in Islamic resources). There is a difference between lending money and the second mentioned exchange i.e. Mozarebah. In the lending, the giver, gives money to the second person and makes him/her the owner of that money (of course it is not as a gift but from Islamic perspective, the taker of the loan, after receiving it, is considered as the owner of that specific money but he/she must return the money) despite of what happens in Mozarebah, because in Mozarebah, the giver of the money is still the owner of that, and for this reason, he/she is in common with the taker of the money, in interest and detriment. So in the lending, the giver of the loan because of not being the owner of the loan (after lending), is not in common in interest and detriment of the loan, so if he/she wants to receive interest from the taker of the loan, he/she has taken something that is not his/her right and has no legal and religious justification, so it is Haram and forbidden.

But if we want to say the philosophy of this rule in general we say:

In Islam, “Justice” is so important and the spirit of Islamic rulings is base on it, and Riba is against justice, how? Let’s mention it:

It is a kind of cruelty that those who have money commit toward the poor people and those that they are in need of money, and Riba is a kind of destruction and usurping the right of needy people.

Riba is mentioned in the Quran as a war against Allah the all mighty.

Allah said in chapter Bagharah verses 278, 279:

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ اتَّقُواْ اللّهَ وَذَرُواْ مَا بَقِيَ مِنَ الرِّبَا إِن كُنتُم مُّؤْمِنِينَ

فَإِن لَّمْ تَفْعَلُواْ فَأْذَنُواْ بِحَرْبٍ مِّنَ اللّهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَإِن تُبْتُمْ فَلَكُمْ رُؤُوسُ أَمْوَالِكُمْ لاَ تَظْلِمُونَ وَلاَ تُظْلَمُونَ

“Believers, fear Allah and give up what is still due to you from usury, if you are believers.

But if you do not, then take notice of war from Allah and his messenger. Yet, if you repent, you shall have the principal of your wealth. Neither will you harm nor will you be harmed”.

And the reason of this rule can be understood from the end of the verse above when this verse says:

If you get the principal of your wealth without interest, you do not commit cruelty and no cruelty is committed to you.

So it means by receiving Riba you have committed cruelty toward others.

And this matter of cruelty can be the reason of the prohibition of Riba in the exchange.

By Riba the social gap gets more and more and it enhances the inequality.

In Islam, helping others and giving loan to the needy are so much praised and Riba as it is mentioned in some Narrations, is a way that reduces borrowing and lending in the Islamic society.

Getting the Riba from the needy is against humanistic emotions, and against the brotherhood that is an important base in the Islamic society.

And getting Riba because of being an act through which without any effort, someone obtains money, it is a way which leads to laziness and economic slump and on the other side, it plants the seed of hatred and animosity between Muslims, so it can be another philosophy of its prohibition.

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Sources:

ahkam.tebyan.net

hawzah.net

 

 

 

 

What is the philosophy behind “Ghusl”?

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shower-headOne of the obligations of Islam is Ghusl or major ablution. There are some obligatory Ghusl and some recommended ones; the obligatory Ghusl is like the Ghusl of Jinabah, the Ghusl of touching the corpse, etc.

And the recommended Ghusls are such as the Ghusl of the day of Friday, the Gusl of repentance, etc.

Now let’s talk about the philosophy behind Ghusl:

First we talk about the Ghusl of Jinabah:

It is obligatory after intercourse or ejaculation. There is a Narration from Imam Reza peace be upon him that we mention some parts of that.

The Imam said as the answer to a question regarding the philosophy of the Ghusl of Jinabah:

The reason of that is for the purification of the soul and cleanliness from its impurity and cleaning the body from the filth. Because Jinabah comes out from the whole body for this very reason it is obligatory to purify the whole body, and the reason of reduction in urine and stool is that these two cases happen so much more than Jinabah, so Islam for the multiplicity of these two cases and hardship (of Ghusl in every time) has decreed just Wudu for them.

But about the reason of Ghusls such as the Ghusl of Friday and the Ghusl of the feast of Ghorban or the feast of Fitr,  the first reason is  to glorify Allah and ask Him the repentance from the sins, and the second reason is that these days are known as  feast for the servants (of Allah) and they remember Allah in these days, so it is for the glorification of these days, and the third reason(which is related to the Ghusl of Friday) is that when a servant performs the Ghusl of Friday, he/she is pure spiritually from this day to the next Friday…

 

The meaning of this sentence that Jinabah comes out from the whole body is that when this state happens to a person, the effect of that appears in the whole body and makes all of the cells of the body in a numbness and this is a witness of the effect of that on the whole body, but the urine or stool is not like that and they are local.

It has been proved by the scientific researchers that the body of human has two kinds of nervous system, sympathetic and parasympathetic, the duty of the first system is to activate the activities of different systems of the body and the duty of the parasympathetic which is a system with smooth activity, is that mostly wants to save the energy. Sometimes the balance between these two systems is broken, one of these cases is at the time of orgasm, at that time the parasympathetic system surpasses the sympathetic system and this balance goes on a negative state, and it has been proved that one of the things that make the sympathetic system active, is touching with the water, and because this is affected on the whole body, we are ordered to wash the whole body, and through Ghusl, the complete balance between this two systems will be formed.

But another philosophy can be that this Ghusl is a kind of obedience of Allah and because in the orgasm, both body and soul are affected, so with Ghusl, that must be done only for the sake of Allah as the obedience to His order, both physical and spiritual sides of human get pure.

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Source:

Islamquest.net

What is the philosophy behind “Helping the Oppressed”?

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Help2-700x394Nowadays in some places on the earth there are cruelties done to the oppressed people, for example the people of Palestine or Lebanon or Bahrain or Libya or Yemen etc. some of these nations are not Shia, the question is why we should help them? Does Islam have any order in this regard?

When we refer to the holy Quran we see that in some verses Allah talked about the cruelty and oppression.

In chapter Nisa verse 75 we read:

وَمَا لَكُمْ لاَ تُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ وَالْمُسْتَضْعَفِينَ مِنَ الرِّجَالِ وَالنِّسَاء وَالْوِلْدَانِ الَّذِينَ يَقُولُونَ رَبَّنَا أَخْرِجْنَا مِنْ هَذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ الظَّالِمِ أَهْلُهَا وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ وَلِيًّا وَاجْعَل لَّنَا مِن لَّدُنكَ نَصِيرًا

“So why is it, that you do not fight in the way of Allah, and for the abased among men, women, and children who say: ‘our lord, bring us out from this village whose people are oppressors, and give to us a guardian from you, and give to us a helper from you.”

When we refer to the words of the commander of the faithful Imam Ali peace be upon him in different places, we see the emphasis of the Imam on helping the oppressed against the oppressor.

In the last moments of his life, he had some advices to his children, and among them he said:

کُونا لِلظّالِمِ خَصماً وَ لِلْمَظْلُومِ عَوناً

“Be the enemy for the oppressor and be the supporter for the oppressed.”

Another place is which the Imam is describing the reason of accepting to be the governor, he said:

“I was not the seeker of the government on you, and the thing that forces me to accept it is the covenant that Allah has taken from the Olama(scholars) of every nation, not to be silent before the gluttony of the oppressors and the hunger of the oppressed ones.”

You know that Imam Ali really was a person of justice and this is something that is accepted even by his enemies.

You know those who are oppressors and consider themselves upper than others, always are against the justice, so you see that the ones who were against the prophets of Allah and divine religions were the oppressors, because they were seeing their interests exposed to danger.

So as one of the Shia scholars by the name of Ali the son of Jad, said:

The most important thing that caused the Arab to refuse from accepting the government and caliphate of Imam Ali was the financial matters, because the Imam never preferred an Arab on non-Arab and a weighty Sharif (prominent figure) on a simple individual. And did not pay attention to the chief of the tribes more than others and did not made anyone attracted by the means of wealth, and this was exactly opposite of what Moaviyah(the name of one of the tyrant rulers) was doing.

It is narrated from the holy Prophet of Islam that he said:

“The one who hears the sound of an oppressed who calls out for asking help from Muslims, and he/she does not help that oppressed, he/she is not Muslim.”

Imam Ali peace be upon him narrated from the Prophet of Islam that the Prophet said many times:

“The nation that does not take the right of the weak from the strong clearly, it never gets pure and reaches to welfare.”

In is interesting that the holy Prophet of Islam when he was young, he was a member of groups that they made a covenant to help the oppressed, like what happened in a covenant known as “Half-Alfozul”.

And the holy Prophet said after being chosen as a prophet: I do not break my covenant even though the most precious bounties are given to me as the exchange.

The importance of helping the oppressed can be understood even through the intellect, you know that oppression is something that the human hates it by his/her innate nature and helping the oppressed is like that, and for this very reason you see that when the oppressor governments want to attack oppressed countries, they bring some excuses, for example they say that we want to help the weak people, or we do it as the support for human rights, etc.

Helping the oppressed and supporting them is something that is emphasized by the great Islamic scholars too. For example the stresses that Imam Khomeini had on helping the oppressed nations like Palestine are obvious for everyone.

Helping the poor apart from being an act which is compatible with the emotional characteristics of humankind, is a cause which enhances the brotherhood and is a way for the cooperation among people and social commitment among humankind, so any oppression to anyone, resembles oppression to others.

And as the last point, we all know that the worldly government of the twelfth Imam; Imam Mahdi peace be upon him, as it has been stated in the Narrations, is a means in which the world will be full of justice after it is filled full of cruelty.

So we ask Allah to hasten the reappearance of the twelfth Imam and help us to help the oppressed and struggle with the oppressors as a way in which we make the world prepared for that holistic just government.

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Sources:

Hawzah.net

Makarem.ir