Ahmadiyyat or The True Islam — Page 288
288 sums of money in his or their hands, without labour of any kind, and by the mere exploitation of the needs and misfortunes of others; and ( c ) excessive profits. These three factors have in many countries de- prived the common people of all means of progress. Property has accumulated in the hands of a few and the poorer class of people can acquire no portion of it. The institution of usury or interest enables those who have once established their control over the sources of credit to accumulate as much money in their hands as they may have desire for, and people with small assets have no chance against them. Through the excessive com- mercial profits wealth is pouring like a cataract into the vast coffers of a handful of capitalists. Islam has devised three remedies for these three causes which lead to a monopoly of property and wealth. ( a ) It enjoins the distribution of inheritance. No man has power to devise or bequeath the whole of his prop- erty to one man and thus promote its accumulation in a few hands. Under the Islamic law of inheritance and succession a man’s property must be distributed among his parents, children, widow, brothers, sisters, etc. , and nobody can interfere with, or divert, this mode of distri- bution. In a country, therefore, which follows the Is- lamic law of inheritance and succession, the children of a wealthy father can not afford to keep idle depending their support on the accumulated wealth of their father, for, the whole of his property, movable and immovable, must be distributed among several classes of heirs, and each of them starts afresh in life, with his share of the inheritance. Again, as immovable property continues to