Islam and Human Rights — Page 72
Isl am and Hum an R ights 72 condemned. Even when giving to, or sharing with, others a person should not go so far as to render himself in tum an object of charity (17:30). Hoarding is absolutely prohibited because it puts wealth out of circulation and deprives the owner as well as the rest of the community of its beneficent use (9:34). The truth is that God alone is All-Sufficient, and all pro sperity proceeds from Him. It is men who are in need, and prosperity is achieved not through miserliness or hold ing back, but through beneficent spending, which is spending “in the cause of Allah,” namely, in the service of His creatures (47:39). As already stated, a legal owner of property is not the only person entitled to its use. Those in need who ask, and even those who do not ask or are unable to express their need, have a right in the property of those who are better off, inasmuch as all wealth is a bounty of God and is acquired through the use of resources which God has provided for the benefit of the whole of mankind (51:20). That is why the Quran directs that kindred, the needy, the wayfarer, must be paid their due (30:39). To this end there is emphatic and repeated exhortation in the Quran. Such giving should be in proportion to the need of the person to be helped and in accord with the means of the giver, and should not proceed from any expectation of receiving a return (17:27; 74:7).