The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) – Volume III — Page 57
II - Brief Note on Islāmic Equality 57 The following Qur’ānic verse also alludes to the same principle: ٰ تَضْحَى وَلَا تَظْمَاُ فِيهَا وَاَنَّكَ لَا ٰ تَعْرَى وَلَا تَجُوعَ فِيهَا اِنَّ لَكَ اَلَّا “Evidence of a heavenly life is that O Ye Mankind! You remain not hungry, nor are you deprived of basic clothing, nor do you chill in the cold, nor do you bear the suffering of thirst, nor do you burn in the heat of the sun. ” 1 As such, it is the responsibility of every Islāmic government that it ensures no citizen of the nation and country suffer on account of the basic necessities which are the fundamental requirements of mankind. In summary, as far as the distribution of the country’s wealth is concerned, firstly through the law of inheritance, the law of Zakāt , the law of commerce, and the prohibition of gambling, such a mechanism has been established that as a result of employing it, the wealth of the country can never escape the hands of the common people and accumulate into the hands of a few capitalists. Furthermore, if due to various exceptional circumstances, an individual or family is still deprived of basic necessities, Islām instructs that an additional tax is levied upon the wealth of the affluent and the needs of the poor are fulfilled therefrom. This is because every individual who does not exhibit a lapse in the striving and effort of life, still possesses the fundamental right not to remain hungry, naked, without lodging and unprotected from the heat and cold. A Noteworthy Point on Economic Equality Now the question arises: why did Islām not forcefully make the division of wealth equal as well? In other words, just as Islām has established absolute and complete equality in legal affairs; and has established absolute and complete equality in the division of national offices; and has established a kind of brotherly equality in social interaction; and has declared all of mankind the progeny of one father; and all Muslims as brothers, why did it not institute a scheme whereby wealth could also be equally divided amongst all of mankind? The brief answer to this question is that Islām has not done so because this is injustice, and Islām came to eradicate injustice, not to institute it. The blind equal division of wealth means that firstly, all the acquired wealth of 1 Ṭā Hā (20:119-120)