Social Justice in Islam

By: Abdul Husain Muhammad
There are two means for achieving social justice in Islam:

(a) Islamic Social Insurance
This is partly the duty of all Muslims in the Islamic State. For they are responsible for their brothers and sisters in Islam. The Prophet (p.b.u. h.a.h.f.) said: "He who sleeps the night not caring about Muslims welfare is not one of us". He also said: "He is not one of us, who sleeps the night while his neighbour is hungry." It is clear then that if the State's possession is not enough to satisfy the necessary needs of the poor people, it has the right to pass laws on rich people in order to help the poor.
The State's duty is not providing the essential requirements of her citizens only. This is the minimum which should be given, but the State ought to endeavour for higher standard of living, whose degree is decided by the economic progress of the Muslim community.
Imam Musa ibn Ja'far (al-Kazim) said: "The Muslim governor should distribute the national wealth according to the directions made by God. It should be divided into eight shares, for the poor and the needy. He should distribute it among them so that they will be satisfied during the year without hardship or concealing their need.
If something is left it should be returned to the governor, but if it was not enough so that they are not yet content, the Governor ought to supply them from the reserves according to their need till they become satisfied."

(b) Islamic Social Balance
The Islamic State strives to limit and lessen material differences among Muslims. Although it recognises natural differences among people due to environment, education, and personal gifts, etc. On the other hand, Capitalism approves and contributes to widen the gap between two extreme classes in the society. One class have all the wealth, while the other is empty handed.
Socialism denies any natural difference among people and forces its "concept of equality" on the society.
"And it is He who made you (His) vicegerent in the earth and raised some of you above others in grades, that He may try you in what He gave you; Verily your Lord is quick in the requital (of evil) and He is most surely the Forgiving, the Merciful". ( Qur'an, 6:165)
The ways of conceiving social balance are two:
(1) The Islamic State provides equal opportunities for all members of the society to work, develop and utilise their powers.
(2) The Islamic State endeavours to lift up the standard of the poor, on one hand, while it closes the revenues and causes of capital inflation, on the other. This action would limit and gradually converge the gap between the poor and rich people, which prevent any class-consciousness. There are many examples by which the Islamic State secures social balance in the society. It has been already mentioned that a large sum of the national economy is taken under collective and State ownership.

Economic Problems
It is considered by Capitalism, that the cause of economic problems is the scarcity of natural resources. As time goes by, claims Capitalism, "man's needs will increase, and since the natural resources are limited; then it is clear that nature will be unable to supply mankind with his needs".
Socialism has a different view. It claims that the economic problems arise from the theft which the Capitalists make out of the workers' efforts. Work, Socialism claims, creates the value of goods, therefore, the goods must be possessed by the workers. Profits are taken by Capitalists, that is a contradiction which has lead to the economic problem. Islam differs from both by considering the reason of the economic problems to be man himself. This attitude is given by the Qur'anic verse.
"And He has made subject to you the sun and the moon, both diligently pursuing their courses, and the Night and the Day has He (also) made subject to you. And He gives you of all that you ask f or; and if you count the favours of God, you will not be able to number them; Verily man is very unjust, very ungrateful". (Qur'an, 14:33-34)
Hence we can conclude the following:
1. There exists, sometimes, unjust people who do not comply with the principles of social justice which creates differences between classes.
2. Man is liable to be (kafir) for it seems that man always tend to try the easy path. It is man who does not work to utilise the natural resources. Islam considers that the root of the problem are in man, if man is cured, then there is no more problems.
Now we should discuss the Capital interest, and its bearings on the society. Capitalism views profits of production as to be shared by all the contributing factors of production (that is natural resources, Capital, management, labour and machines), in the form of (rents, interests, wages, etc.). They are all governed by the laws of supply and demand.
Socialism forwards the following rule: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his effort."
Socialism believes that work creates the value of goods, and hence workers must possess their work.
In Islam, the following rule is applied: "Work is the excuse for possession, but it does not alone create the value of goods."

Means of Possession in Islam
1. The basic concept that possession cannot be achieved without work.
2. Work is not the only contributor to the value of goods, because goods have an intrinsic value. Hence the phenomena of persistence of possession appears. Workers are to own their work. For instance, mines should be owned by the workers, and not by the Capitalists. Natural resources are not possessed by any person.
But anyone who provides the raw materials is considered as the owner of it after production, according to the second half of the rule (that is the phenomena of persistence of possession). This point is very important in distinguishing the Islamic Economic system from Capitalism and Communism.

A Final Note
The Economic System in Islam is part of a complete set of codes for the whole life. With this view kept in mind always, we should examine and analyse. It is not possible to isolate the Economic system from other parts of Islam because they are interconnected. For example, (Zakat) is viewed as purifying act, beside its economic value and importance. It is the spiritual attitude which the Muslim reflects in life and the great care for morality.
Islam does not believe in radical changes of the relations of production as a result of changes in the nature of production, as Socialism claims. Islam starts from man and not from production. The needs of man are of two kinds, one is basic, while the other is changing with time.
There must be a permanent set of standards to ensure the satisfaction of the first kind of needs. Also there must be a changing set of standards which adapts the progress in the means of production.
Islam has a very important advantage which other principles do not have. Islam binds man to God. It makes him think of God's satisfaction, reward, and punishment too. Islam starts from the depths of the human conscience, and proceeds in its endeavours to secure a happy life for all.