The Economic System of Islam — Page 69
69 your head. ’ He opened the door of the store and lifted a sack of flour on his own back. When an attendant offered to carry it for him, he replied, ‘No. I failed to discharge my responsibility. I must make amends for it myself. ’ He then carried the flour to the woman and ordered the next day that a ration be granted for a child from the day it was born, because the nursing mother, in any case, needed better nourishment. It is therefore beyond dispute that as soon as Islam was in a posi- tion to do so, it put into operation a fair and just economic system. In fact, it is evident from the Holy Quran that this system origi- nated at the dawn of history, in the time of Hadrat Adam as , not with Hadrat Umar ra. In the earliest revelation to Hadrat Adam as we find him directed by God to live in a garden wherein it was or- dained that: 23 Meaning that: ‘O Adam, We have ordained for you to live in the garden and it is provided for you that you will not hunger therein, nor will you be naked; and you will not thirst therein, nor will you be exposed to the sun. ’ It is a mistake to assume, as many people do, that this garden was not located on this earth and that only when he entered paradise in the Hereafter, would man be free from want as depicted in this passage. The Holy Quran is clear on the point that Hadrat Adam as was raised as a Prophet in this world, as is 23 S u rah Ta H a , 20:119 – 120, (publishers)