Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 261
261 16 Economic Values THE BASIC ECONOMIC CONCEPT IN ISLAM is that absolute ownership of everything belongs to God alone (3:190). Man is God’s vicegerent on earth. God has subjected to man’s service “whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth;… In this surely are Signs for a people who reflect” (45:14). This has reference to man as such, to the whole of mankind and not to a particular individual or group. “Allah is He Who has appointed you [mankind] His vicegerents on earth. Know then, that he who fails to recognise this dignity and to act in accordance therewith shall be answerable for his neglect and will himself suffer loss and also incur the displeasure of his Lord” (35:40). Legal ownership of the individual, that is to say, the right of possession, enjoyment, and transfer of property, is recognised and safeguarded in Islam, but all ownership is, as we have seen, subject to the moral obligation that in all wealth all sections of society, and even animals, have a right to share (51:20). Part of