The Economic System of Islam — Page 68
68 facilitate the task of providing food and clothing to everyone. Even European writers acknowledge that it was Hadrat Umar ra who first held census and initiated the system of registration. In order to carry out the responsibility of providing food and clothing to eve- ryone, the government needed to know the number people living in the country. It is generally believed today that the Soviet State was the first to recognise its responsibilities towards its people in meet- ing their primary needs, but the fact is that Islam had done this more than thirteen hundred years ago. Registers maintained by Hadrat Umar’s ra administration were thorough and complete. They listed the members in each family, their ages, needs, and the quan- tity and kind of food sanctioned. It is recorded in history that Hadrat Umar ra in his earlier deci- sions had not provided for the needs of suckling babies because an infant’s due ration was granted only after it had been weaned. One night, while out on a round of quiet inspection, Hadrat Umar ra heard the wailing sound of an infant, which made him pause. But the cries continued, even though the mother tried to put the child to sleep by patting him. At last Hadrat Umar ra entered the tent and enquired of the mother: ‘Why do you not suckle the child?’ The woman did not recognise the Khalifah and answered, ‘ Hadrat Umar ra has decreed that no ration be granted in the case of infants until they were weaned. We are poor people with hardly enough to make both ends meet. I have weaned the child early so that we should get a measure of ration that includes the child’. Hadrat Umar ra was shocked when he heard this, and he hastened at once to the Baitul-M a l (Public Treasury) muttering painfully to himself, ‘You have weakened the coming generation of the Arabs by causing infants to be prematurely weaned; the responsibility for this lies on