ECONOMICS of ISLAM in Nutshell

[Amanullah Syed]

An Interesting Question

Dear Daee Ahmed Moait:  
I have an interesting question.
If rizq (sustenance) is promised to us, and if therefore we should not worry about it, how is it that people starve in the world?
Anonymous Brother
From Canada

Introduction
Assalaamu'alaikum Dear Brother,
To begin with, Ar-Razzaq is one of the names of Allah. If you study this name it means that He is the Only Owner of provision and He's the Only provider. If you look in the Qur'an you will discover the following verses:

Quran chapter 11 Surah Hud [Verse:6]
There Is No Moving Creature On Earth
But Its Sustenance Depends On Allah:
He Knows The Time And Place Of Its Definite Abode
And Its Temporary Deposit: All Is In A Clear Record.

Quran chapter 51 Surah Az-Zariyat [Verse:58]
For Allah Is He Who Gives (All) Sustenance,
Lord Of Power, - Steadfast (For Ever).

 

ECONOMICS of ISLAM in Nutshell:
Lot of unrest & suffering can be avoided,

if Humans just understand and follow

Economic Principle taught by Allah Subhanahu Ta-aala

in Quran chapter 65 Surah At-Talaq [Verse:7]  

Let The Man Of Means Spend According To His Means;
And The Man Whose Resources Are Restricted,
Let Him Spend According To What Allah Has Given Him.
Allah Puts No Burden On Any Person Beyond What He Has Given Him.
After A Difficulty, Allah Will Soon Grant Relief.

Quran chapter 42 Surah Ash-Shura [Verse:27]
If Allah Were To Enlarge The Provision
For His Servants, They Would Indeed
Transgress Beyond All Bounds Through The Earth;
But He Sends (It) Down In Due Measure As He Pleases.
For He Is With His Servants Well-acquainted, Watchful.

Quran chapter 20 Surah Ta Ha [Verse:131]
But The Provision Of Your Lord
Is Better And More Enduring.

Quran chapter 65 Surah At-Talaq [Verse: 2-3]
And For Those Who Fear Allah,
He (Ever) Prepares A Way Out, And He Provides
For Him From (Sources) He Never Could Imagine.
And If Any One Puts His Trust In Allah, Sufficient Is (Allah) For Him.
For Allah Will Surely Accomplish His Purpose:
Verily For All Things Has Allah Appointed A Due Proportion.

Quran chapter 2 Surah Al-Baqarah [Verse:126]
And Remember Abraham Said: My Lord,
Make This A City Of Peace, And Feed Its People
With Fruits, - Such Of Them As Believe In Allah And The Last Day.
He Said; (Yes), And Such As Reject Faith, - For A While
Will I Grant Them Their Pleasure, But Will Soon Drive Them
To The Torment Of Fire, - An Evil Destination (Indeed)!

Quran chapter 62 Surah Al-Jumu'ah [Verse:11]
But When They See Some Bargain Or Some Amusement,
They Disperse Headlong To It, And Leave You Standing.
Say: The (Blessing) From The Presence Of Allah Is Better
Than Any Amusement Or Bargain!
And Allah Is The Best To Provide (For All Needs).

All these verses mention Ar-Razzaq. In fact, there are too many instances to be mentioned. If one looks into a Qur'an dictionary and search under the word Rizq or the verb Razzaq you will encounter an enormous amount of verses coming to surface. There are many ahadeeth (sayings from the Prophet, peace be upon him) as well, that talks about Rizq.


Kinds Of Rizq
Material Rizq: This is also known as the lower Rizq, consisting of money, food, spouses, children, and so on.

Higher Rizq: This is also called elevated Rizq, consisting of guidance, eman (faith), taqwa, generosity, comprehension, wisdom, light, cleansing of the soul, elevation in Jannah (paradise), forgiveness, and the ability to do numerous good deeds.

At This Point You May Stop
And Ask Yourself Why I Havent Answered The Question.
The Reason Is Because I Am Still In The Process
Of Preparing You For It.

For instance, if you look for the word fitnah (trial or tribulation) in Qur'an, you will find out that Allah Swt promises and explains that we are created as a trial for each other...

Quran chapter 25 Surah Al-Furqan [Verse:20]
And The Messengers Whom We Sent Before You
Were All (Men) Who Ate Food
And Walked Through The Streets: We Have Made Some Of You
As A Trial For Others; Will You Have Patience?
For Allah Is One Who Sees (All Things).

All the topics mentioned so far are principles of Allah SWT. We will now see how they work.

Spending Is The Quality Of A Believer

If You Are Rich, You Are Obliged
For A Certain Percentage Of Your Money
To Be Paid As Zakat (Poor Tax).
More So, Allah Swt Opens The Doors Of Charity
Whose Limit Is Untouchable

It's almost like an open challenge. Do you want to come closer? Then spend! And again, if you look within the pages of the Qur'an you’ll find that spending is always joined to the quality of the believer. You believe and you spend, you believe and you spend...

That Kind Of Spending Is For The Rich,
But What About To The Poor?
If The Poor Are Patient With Their Trial,
They Will Be Allowed To
Enter Jannah (Paradise) Before The Rich

If The Rich Do Not
Take Care Of The Poor, The Rich
Must Go To Jahannam (Hell) And The Poor
Receive The Rewards Of The Rich

Consequently, today we always look at our problems and judge from a material perspective. Let me give you an example- a living and breathing example. Look to the map and find Saudi Arabia. Did you find it? Now, where is Somalia? They're very close

How hard would it be for Saudi Arabia if they were to fill two or three containers or big tankers full of rice, wheat, and powdered milk, and send them to Somalia? Even if the cost were to equal 50 to 100 million dollars, it would not even put a dent in their budget. Furthermore, in front of the Almighty they are accountable for their actions.

Somalia Is Just One Neighboring Land
Full Of Muslims Dying Of Hunger.
There Are Many Other Countries In Africa
Suffering From The Same, Not To Mention Bangladesh,
Indonesia, India, So On And So Forth

Are the rich Muslims paying their own zakat and charity? No. It's a trial, a humongous trial and they will be made accountable for their actions in this life and in the hereafter.


Consideration For Humanity
Alternatively, What About Neighboring
Non-muslim Countries? If A Non-muslim Is Rich,
He Is Obligated To Help His Fellow Human Beings Regardless
Of Their Faith And Religious Devotion

If the Muslim congregation were to follow suit with this sort of behavior, it would prove the Muslims as generous and well-mannered, thereby opening the doors of dawaah (invitation to Islam) throughout the world. But as Muslims, do we think this way?

Do We Muslims Have The Common Courtesy To
Worry About Our Fellow Human Beings?
Have We Really Lost The Heart And Soul
Of Consideration For Humanity?

Furthermore, if we were to study the topic of rights of neighbors through hadith (sayings of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) we would be overwhelmed by the wealth of sayings that exist. This raises another question, are we looking for jannah? And if so, which level of paradise are we searching for?

The Muslim Ummah (Congregation)
Has Sunk Into A Morbidly Deep Pit Of
Blindness And Stinginess That Has Caused
Us To Forget One Another

Moreover, the provision for all of earth exists within earth itself. If you were to study from an economical and agricultural perspective you would see that the earth contains enough food for all its inhabitants and more.

The dilemma of hunger
is caused by the greedy individuals
that manipulate food supplies. The only thing
for which this covetous crew cares about is to become
multi-billionaires while others lay starving

These individuals want to control the prices, dominate politics, stir prejudices, or perform ethnic cleansings. The range of their motives is innumerable...


Trial For The Poor
Another point pertaining to the poor position:
Do the poor really belong to Allah?
Do the poor exercise iman (faith) and taqwa?
Do the poor exercise patience
and thanks to Allah?

Do the poor people, in their hearts, rely on Allah alone? All you need to do is go to any of the poor areas and speak with the people. You will find that the majority of them are drowning in deep shirk (association with the Creator), have no gratitude, contentment, have little or no iman at all, and love dunya!
Accordingly, The Rich Are A Trial
For The Poor And The Poor Are A Trial
For The Rich And All This Is For The Wisdom
Of Allah To Continue...

Take the case of somebody who is beautiful, pretty, handsome and tall versus somebody who has none of these qualities. All the aforementioned odds, both positive and negative, have a purpose in this life. Their core purpose is for Allah to examine us and trial us, to see what were going to do.


Trial For The Rich
For The Rich: If You Fear Allah,
Love Allah, And If You Understand Your Duty,
You Will Try To Do The Utmost To Help Other Muslims
And Non-muslims For Sabilillah (The Sake Of Allah)...

If u fear allah you will try your utmost to do dawaah (inviting to islam), and to clean yourself before you die (cleansing from money, sin, and belonging). If one were to read about the lives of the companions, one would discover that the companions understood this topic beyond a shadow of a doubt.

What's more is that for the poor, Allah gives them this situation in order to examine their iman (faith), their tawakkul (their trust in Allah), and their patience.
If The Poor Truly Belong To Allah
And Are Looking For Jannah,
They Will Be Patient Because They Know That
They Will Enter Paradise First And
Get The Highest Reward...

However, If They Are To Fail,
They Will Be Punished In This Life
And The Hereafter, By Calamity And Hardship

At this instant, one might ask, what about the rich? As for the rich, they are punished in this life as well, but with a different kind of punishment. They are punished with the disease of stinginess and blindness, to the extent that they will not even spend upon themselves until the day they die.

They are trapped in a condition of misery, having no quality, peace, and tranquility (sakina). They will suffer punishment in this life, at the moment of death, in the grave, and on the Day of Judgment (in their postponement of being judged).

As A Consequence, The Whole Thing
Has Now Become A Trial.
Everything You See Is A Trial
And Everything Has Its Own Wisdom

For the rich who are quietly watching this mess, they are responsible. As for the poor who are waiting in agony, they are also responsible. And all this is under the wisdom and vision and knowledge of Allah Swt.


Conclusion
At This Moment In Time,
A Very Important Notice Must Be Made:
Don't Ever Forget That Provision Exists....
The Sea Is Full Of Fish, The Lakes Are
Full Of Fish, And The Rivers are Full Of Fish

For every place that has drought or no agricultural product, you find another area full of richness. The only impediment on its distribution is the matter of us as a human beings being oppressors among each other.

We Are The Ones Who Refuse
The Right Balance And Fair Share To Be Given
To The Poor. As A Result Of This, We Are The Ones
Responsible For Their Poverty And Will Be Questioned
About It On The Final Day

In addition, poverty can be a sign of torture in this life from Allah as a price of sins and neglect and negligence of the message of Allah. Once more for example, Somalia has a lot of bidah (innovation), a lot of tribalism, and a lot of zulm (oppression) among each other. This malicious behavior can amount to what you see today, like killing and mass poverty.

In Saudi Arabia And The Gulf
On The Other Hand, Theres A Lot Of Money
And A Lot Of Dunya (Material Life).
This Means There Is Also A Great Deal Of Loving Dunya
And A Lot Of Zulm (Oppression) Of Different Styles.

As a result, the ultimate poverty is among them, the poverty of iman (faith), stinginess, arrogance, and bad manners. This sort of poverty is a torture from Allah more so than the poverty of starvation. And this too is just a tiny example from the whole picture, may Allah save us.

I hope this will be enough because, in the end, understanding and comprehension is from Allah Subhanahu wa taala. I hope that we can now understand our duty and responsibility as a Muslim before it's too late.

Assalaamu'alaikum (Peace Be Upon You)

by-Daee Ahmed Moait

http://www.ummah.com/forum/showthread.php?325533-Rizq-(sustenance)