Islam and Communism — Page 32
32 or where there are no extraordinary circumstances facing the people of a country. . But if an emergency arises and an unusual situation is created by war or famine affecting food and other means of subsistence, then Islam proposes extraoridnary remedies for such situations. If, for instance, as a result of such extraordinary circumstances a part of the country or of people run the risk of death from starvation owing to shortage of food, Islam ordains that all resources must be pooled together and rationing resorted to, so that none should suffer needlessly. There is a wellknown hadith which reports a companion of the Holy Prophet saying:- "We started on an expedition with the Holy Prophet but it so happened that our food stocks ran short and the people were in great distress. We, therefore, made up our minds to slaughter a few of the riding camels to meet the situation. At this the Holy Prophet ordered us to pool together our meagre stocks of food; then out of this pooled stock he rationed us