ISLAM AND THE NEW WORLD ORDER
Khurshid Ahmad
Dr. Hegazy’s paper and that of Mr. Altaf Gauhar have set the pace for discussion on Islam’s role in the establishment of an equitable world order.
I would not like to tread the ground they have already covered, ably shall
I will try to bring into focus the ideological dimension involved in man’s search for a new international economic order and to throw some light on the unique approach that Islam wants man to adopt in his examination of the alternatives available to to establish a just and humane society.
A careful perusal of the current debate on the New International Economic Order leaves one with two rather conflicting feelings: hope and disappointment. fact that some of the major incongruities and injustices that characterise relationships between individuals, institutions and nations in our times are no longer being accepted passively as a fait accompli, and the need for changing the state of affairs is being voiced from all quarters and not merely by the aggrieved parties gives some cause for hope. Smug complacency over the status quo that has held the ground for so long has now be to dissipate. This in itself is a significant development, as it opens up new opportuni- ties for review and reappraisal, for fresh thinking and for an examination of alternatives available to mankind, in its search for creative possibilities to rebuild and restructure society and its institutions. This gives The rise to new hope, even thought be a tiny flicker. worry, however, is that this little new born flicker of light and hope is trembling in the face of confounding winds. The level at which the entire debate is taking place is, to put it frankly and bluntly, quite disappointing.
Thus
It would be fair to suggest that the discussion on the New International Economic Order in almost all international forums, academic as well as political, is being undertaken at three levels descriptive, analytical and prescriptive of natural resources, of apathy and misdevelopment. The developmental
failure of the developmental effort made over the last
three decades in the underdeveloped world, which contains
two thirds of human race, and the deterioration of
relations between the developed and the underdeveloped countries
worlds are being highlighted.
The leaders of the third
world are becoming more and more vocal and assertive.
The spokesmen of the industrialised world are increasingly acknowledging some of these realities, even though still haltingly and with reservations.
There is greater consciousness of the transfer of resources from the Third World to the developed world because of a number of built-in mechanisms in international trade which favour the industrialised world and limit the options open to the Third World. The prices of raw materials have been a very unstable factor, with the result that the relative value of the exports of the Third World has been going down, while that of their imports from the industrialised world has been increasing. Many an effort
to stabilise the prices of raw materials has been frustrated because it has been regarded against the
Themes and Issues in the ebate on NIEO
At the level of description, the plight of the third
world is being brought into focus.
There is an
increasing acknowledgement of the revolting facts of poverty, misery and deprivation, of disease and illiteracy, of death and starvation, of underdevelopment and retarda-
tion of growth, of widening gaps in economic wellbeing
and the mounting weight of international debts, of worsonning.
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interests of the industrialised world.
First
significant effort on the part of the Third World to gain
control over the prices of their products has been in
effort-
seek
the case of oil. This attempt to get an economic price of an essential source of energy has been treated as a declaration of war against the industrialised world, to the utter neglect of the fact that the West has deliberately kept the price of oil much lower than its real economic
price and has built its own economic prosperity by
·
this source of energy
i uneconomically rgy/cheap.
arbitrering keeping;
The technological dependence of the Third World on the industrialised world, and the unsuitability of the technology of the West to the conditions of the Third World, is another major theme in the debate.
In spite
of some transfer of technology, it is claimed that the new technology is unable to act as an internalised arent of growth. Instead, it is producing new technological destabilisation, without really meeting the technological needs of these societies. Moreover, this increases the
technological dependence of the Third World on the West and as the prices of capital goods are escalating, this technological dependence is also producing financial dependence.
The hope that foreign aid would act as the chief stimulant • to development in the Third World countries has been dashed to pieces. In view of these failures, the Third World countries are asking for a new deal. In the new deal, they are demanding, among others, the following changes.
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(a) A restructuring of the international
institutions, particularly of the International Monetary
Fund, the World Bank and the operative organs of the
U.N., particulary the Security Council.
The first
major demand of these developing countries is, the
restructuring of the international institutions so as to have a greater say in economic and political decision-making
at international level.
(b) Their second major demand is an acknowledgement of national sovereignty on their raw materials.
This
Presently the
would mean that a country, where a certain raw material or source of energy is found, should have the right to own it, to price it and to benefit from it. position is that these raw materials are either in the hands of multi-national corporations, who are not fully under the control of the national governments, or their extraction, development and trade are so much under the influence of the developed countries that they are in a position to manipulate their prices and supplies.
1
This puts these resources at the mercy of these outside forces.
(c) Another major worry of the Third World is the alleged International division of labour which leads to a perpetuation of a secondary role for the producers of raw materials, the industrialised world specialising in the production of secondary and tertiary goods.
This
also leads to the type of economic development the Third World is expected to have, and
its consequences for
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relative shares of economic power for different parts of
the world.
(a) The freedom of movement for goods, particularly for the manufactured products, even for agricultural and dairy produce of the Third World into West Europe and America They
·
is another worry of the underdeveloped world.
insist on access to these markets to step up their
economic development and evolution of some permanent mechanism to seek stability of prices. stab
(e)
Financing of development is becoming more and more
difficult.
Due to the deterioration of the terms of trade, most
of the underdeveloped countries are facing balance of
payments crisis. Foreign aid has failed to provide any First of all, “foreign aid” is a misnomer
real relief.
because it is not a grant or subsidy.
Almost 90% of
it constitutes tied loans, extended on commercial terms,
subject to a number of restrictions. The result is that
the net benefit is sometimes more in favour of the giver than th
recipient.
The volume of aid is also much
the needs of the developing world.
below
Total foreign aid
from the developed world is much below the targets set for the 1960’s and 1970’s,with the result that the voluntary transfer of resources from the rich to the poor is not taking place. The burden of external debts has risen.
too high, and quite a significant part of the export
earnings of most of the Third World Countries is eaten up in service charges and debt repatriation.
The Third
World is, therefore, suggesting some form of compulsory
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transfer of resources from the rich to the poor through as against bilateral aid. international institutions,
The Third World is now generally feeling that a stage has come when, instead of negotiating about each one of their specific problems, they must try to enter into a new deal .with the West so as to restructure the economic relations between them.
As such a number of packages and strategies have been developed to bring about a new economic order.
At the level of analysis and consequent remedy,
there is a wide degree of divergence of opinion.
Even
when some of the facts about international economic disorder
are not disputed, there is great controversy about the
factors responsible for them.
Western economists and statesmen emphasise greater inter-
dependence between different parts of the world and the relative obfolescence of the idea of national sovereignty and
autarchy.
They throw light on the benefits that the
Third World has derived from its contacts with the West, and the continuing help and assistance the West is extending to it. They suggest that the natural economic factors are not being allowed to play effecting their proper role and yield final benefits.
They
also suggest that the internal organisation of society
and economy, in the Third World countries, leaves much to
>
be desired, with the result that it obstructs the
fruition of efforts towards economic development.
According to this thesis the prosperity of the two is inter-
dependent: the Third World can prosper only if the
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– industrialised world prospers.
Anything that damages
the West and its economic prospects, is bound to adversely
affect the prospects of the Third World.
World.1
The Third World theorists too have now developed a
framework for the analysis of their relationship
with the West.
As against the West’s concept of a
benevolent world economy, in which the growth and prosperity of the West results in spreading wealth to the underdeveloped world, the general thesis of these writers is that the industrialised West constitutes the powerful central core of the world economy, while the entire Third World is its weak periphery which is dependent upon this centre which is sucking in resources from the periphery. The result is an heirarchical and exploitative world order, with built-in arrangements for the transfer of resources from the underdeveloped world to the developed world.
Development and underdevelop-
ment are not two autonomous realities, but two aspects
Bergston,
7. See: Cooper, Richard N. The Economics of Interdependence: Economic Policy in the Atlantic Community, New York: McGraw Hill, 1968; idem, “Economic Interdependence and Foreign Policy in the Seventies”, World Politics, 24th idem, “Macroeconomic Policy January, 1972, pp.159-81; Adjustment in Interdependent Economics,” Journal of Political Economics, 83, February, 1969, pp.1-24; C. Fred, The Future of the International Economic Order: D.C. Ileath & An Agenda for Research, Lexington, Mass.: Co., 1973; Johnson, Ilarry G., International Economic Questions Facing Britain, the United States and Canada, British North America -Research Association, June, 1970, Vernon, Raymond, Sovereignty at Bay, New York: Books, 1971.
Basic
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of the same process.
This state of affairs has its
roots in the imperialist mode of production, established during the colonial period and continues unabated,
although some of the forms and instruments of control have changed. The multinational corporation now
figures very prominantly as the midwife of this neo- imperialism.
These theorists argue that the Third World cannot reasonably hope to achieve self-sustaining development without breaking itself away from this system of dependence and bondage.
2
Marxian analysts try to develop
this thesis, in the context of their appreciation of the nature and dynamics of international capitalism in the context of imperialism and neo-irperialism, while others lay greater emphasis on the elements and structures of dependence without committing themselves too much to the nature of the system.
छ. See: Prebisch, Paul, “Commercial Policy in the Underdeveloped Countries, American Economic Review, 49, May, 1959, pp.251-73; Grunder-Frank, Andrew, “The Development of Underdevelopment, “Monthly Review, 18, September, 1966, pp. 17-31; Myrdal, Gunnar, Development and Underdevelopment, Cairo: National Bank of Egypt Fiftieth Aniversary Commemoration Lectures, 1956; Cohen, Benjamin J., The Question of Imperialism The Political Economy of Dominance and Dependence, New York: Basic Books, 1973; Sunkel, Osvaldo, “Big Business and ‘Dependentia”: A Latin American View”, Foreign Affairs, 50, April, 1972, pp.51–31; Ilymer, Stephen, “The Mutti- national Corporation and the Law of Uneven Development” in Economics and World Order From the 1970’s to the 1990’s, edited by Jagdish Bhagwali, New York: The acmillan,
1972.
–
1
The remedy each group offers for the solution of the
contemporary international economic crisis emanates largely from their analysis of its causes. The Western economists believe that solutions to the problems are possible, within the overall framework of the present order, by improving efficient allocation and use of resources,. and by some transfer payments within the system. The other group insists that structural changes are an essential precondition for any real change in the situation.
The Real Challenge of our Times
This rather longish digression has been made to recapitulate the mood, and the themes of the debate on the new inter- The facts of the situation are
national economic order.
not very much in dispute.
The interdependence’ thesis
and the ‘dependentia’ theorem both contain elements of truth, but none of them goes far enough to explain the whole truth. They remain partial in their explanation of the present crisis. Each explanation is very much rooted in the overall sympathy-framework, to which the analyst happens to belong, psychologically, culturally and Our submission, on the other hand, is that
economically.
the crisis is not confined to economic relations and
institutions.
an
It is rather/all-pervading crisis, and as
rather/all.
such, the real causes will have to be traced in the context of the crisis of civilization and not merely of the economic order. It is too partisan, and consequently too unrealistic to assume that the disease is specific to the
t
context of capigal alism. The basic problems that confront man today are very similar be it under capitalism or
10
socialism. In fact, both of these systems are products of the same culture system, the Western civilization. Capitalism and socialism both are equally exploitative . and unjust.
The establishment of a just and humane order
for the moral well being of man is not their primary
They deal with different blueprints of
concern.
mechan istic structures of society.
Their real failure
has not been their inability to correctly answer the basic questio:
but in not asking the right questions.
the universe as a moral order.
They do not treat
They regard man as self-
sufficient and regard material and economic progress as his real objective. They cannot offer as ultimate goals anything higher than material privileges: economic wealth, political power, military strength, international
influence.
Conflict of interests is built into this
concept of life.
It is bound to result in a crisis of
values. A perceptive analyst of contemporary history describes the crisis of our times in the following words:
“The contemporary human crisis is so profound and pervasive that the very attempt to analyse it let alone resolve it seems to defy the power of human reason and imagina- The battle for survival is currently being
tion. waged by millions of men whose precarious existance is one of poverty, squalor and even, hunger. Man’s predicament impinges on the future of entire nations that are threatened by external attack or internal disintegra- tion. It dominates the vast network of international relations so delicately poised on the dangerous and
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ultimately instable ‘balance of terror ‘3…..
“Traditional conceptions of time, space and movement have been overthrown by the technological revolution and the shift to an exploitative, power-centred culture. . The ensuing social and psychological discontinuity and moral vacuum have produced a severe crisis of conscience and a large-scale flight from reality……
“The crisis which confronts twentieth century man is truly global, not simply by virtue of countless men and women, but in the more far-reaching sense that it permeates and vitiates the whole fabric of human relations and human institutions, and is now distorting man’s entire relationship with the natural order….. …No human community no individual, no corner of the globe, however remote or isolated, however powerful or well endowed, can now escape from the disorder which affects the entire planet…. Perhaps we can best describe the global crisis in terms of a fundamental disequilibrium which severely limits and may ultimately destroy man’s capacity for biological and ..6 cultural adaptation to his environment.
3. Camilleri, Joseph A, Civilization in Crisis: Iluman Prospects in a Changing World, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1976, p.1-2.
Ibid, p.5
5.
Ibid p.9
6.
Ibid, p.11
A NEW WORLD ORDER AND NOT JUST NIEO
This being the real challenge that mankind faces today,
stated
it must be/by all men of faith, with all the force at their command, that the real issue is not simply that of a new international economic order but of a new world order, based on a new concept of man and a different vision of ‘society and of man’s destiny on earth. Any effort at reform under the inspiration of world faiths in general and of Islam in particular must start with correcting the perspective for the understanding of the human predica-
ment.
The real issue is not to seek some concessions on this end, and bringing about some changes in the super structures at that end.
The real need is to re-examine the foundations on which the entire structure of the society and economy is built and the ideals which the culture aspires to achieve. The crisis in economic and political relations is the natural outcome of those
ideals and the structures built to realise them.
Islam, therefore, suggests that it is only through inviting mankind
towards a new vision of man and society that
its house can be set in order.
change in our approach.
This calls for a basic
This change could be summed up
as follows:-
(i) The real problem is more basic and covers a vaster area than that of mere economic crisis. As such the economic crisis.deserves to be examined in the wider context of the overall human crisis – of the crisis of Our objective should be to strive for
civilization.
the establishment of a just and humane world order and not
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the afflicted by the rich and powerful;
inflation and
stagflation; structural deformities in relations between developed and developing countries;
all of these
and many more problems fail to be tackled within the framework developed by post-Keynsian economics.
This
is being realised even by those economists who had earlier thought that their sophisticated economic models can now deliver the goods.
Noble Laureate, Paul Samuelson of the MIT laments on the disarray into which the economic theory has fallen. He warns “there are no signs that we’re converging towards a philosopher’s stone that will cause all the pieces to fall neatly into place.”
Professor Otto Eck-
stein of Harvard says “We are always one inflation too late in specifying the exact form of the price-forecasting
equation.”
Robert Heilbroner goes a step further when
he says “Economists are beginning to realise that they have built a rather elaborate edifice on rather insub- stantial narrow foundations.”
The predicament of economics has been searchingly examined
in a new book Economics in the Future: Towards a New
Paradigm and the near consensus
that emerges is that what
is needed to salvage “the duck of economics”, to use Veblens’ analogy, from the “tangled weed” in which it is struck at the bottom of a rubbish-ridden pool, is not just some new interpretation of this or that economic theory or some changes within the current paradigm of
8. Dopfer, Kurt, Economics in the Future: Paradigm, London: Macmilan, 1976.
Towards a New
76-
of economics, but the need to change the paradigm itself, and move towards a new paradigm under which economic problems could be approached not as economic problems in isolation but in the context of an entire social system and as part of the overall moral problem.
As such, what is needed is a widening of our approach from merely an isolated economic approach to a moral approach within which the technical aspects of the economic approach are fully assimilated,
Our approach should be value-oriented.
In economics,
But such
as in any branch of human activity, there is an area which deals with technological relationships. technological relationships per se are not the be-all and end-all of a social discipline. Technological
relationships are important and they should be
decided according to their own rules.
But technological
decisions are made in the context of value-relations. Our job is to weld these two areas and to make our values explicit and to assign to them the role of an effective guide. It is only through a thorough understanding of
the social ideals and values of religion and a realistic
assessment of man’s socio-economic situation resources, oriented problems and constraints that faith communities can develop and innovative approach to change.
a creative
This
approach would be ideological as well as empirical and
somewhat pragmatic
pragmatic not in the sense that
ideals and values can be trimmed to suit the exigencies
9. See also: Schumacher, E.E., A Guide for the Perplexed London: Jonathan Cape, 1977, pp.135-154.
of the situation, but pragmatic in the sense that ideals
and values are to be translated into reality in a
practical and realistic way.
(iii) As the real objective which inspires faith-oriented communities is not a package of economic and political concessions or even some changes in the super structure
–
but the construction of a new world order with the frame- work of its own ideals, values and foundations, our approach to social change has to be unique. The Western approach has always a-sumed that radical change can be brought about by changing environment. That is why emphasis has always been placed on change in structures. This approach has failed to produce proper results. It has ignored
the need to bring about change within man and has concentrated on change in the outside world. What is needed, however, is a total change within man as well as in his social environment.
1
The problem is not merely structural, although
structural arrangements too would have to be remodelled. But the starting point must be the heart and soul of man – his perception of reality and of his own place and mission in life. The Islamic approach to social change takes full cognizance of this. It consists of the following: –
(a) Social change is not a result of totally predetermined historical forces. The existance of a number of obstacles and constraints is a fact of life and history, but
there is no historical determinism.
Change has to be
planned and engineered.
And this change should be
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purposive – that is, a movement towards the ideal.
(b); Man is the active agent of change. All other forces have been subordinated to him in his capacity as God’s
vicegerent and deputy (Khalifa) on the earth. Within
the framework of the divine arrangement for this universe and its laws, it is man himself who is responsible for making or marring his destiny.
(c) Change consists in envi onmental change, and change within the heart and soul of man his attitudes, his
–
motivation, his commitment, his resolve to mobilize all that is within him and around him for the fulfilment of his objectives.
Change
(d) Life is a network of inter-relationships. means some disruption in some relationships somewhere. there is a danger of change becoming an instrument of disequilibrium within man and in society. Islamically oriented social change would involve least friction and disequilibria, and planned and co-ordinated movement from one state of equilibrium to a higher one, or from a state of disequilibrium towards equilibrium. As such
As such
change has to be balanced and gradual and evolutionary. Innovation is to be coupled with integration. It is this unique Islamic approach which leads to revolutionary changes through an evolutionary trajectory.
These three basic changes will revolutionalize our
approach to the problems of the new world order.
Now
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we would like to briefly explain what Islam is and how
it proposes to establish a new. order.
ISLAMIC APPROACH TO LIFE
It is
Everything
Islam is a world view and an outlook on life. based on the recognition of the unity of the Creator and of man’s submission to His will. originates from the One God, and everyone is ultimately responsible fo Him. Thus the unity of the Creator h-s as its corolary, the oneness of His creation. Distinctions of race, colour, cast, wealth and power disappear; man’s relation with fellow ran assures total equality by virtue of the common Creator. forth, man’s mission becomes a dedication to his Creator
1
Hence-
worship and obedience of the Creator becomes
his purpose in life.
XX
Man plays a crucial role in the making of this world. He acts as God’s vicegerent (Khalifa) His deputy and representative on the earth. He is morally prepared to play this role.
His success lies in playing it properl
to enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong, to free man from the bondage of fellow men, to demonstrate that a sound and serene society can only result if one harmonizes one’s will with the Will of God, makes seeking the Creator’s pleasure as one’s
purpose in life, treats
the whole of Creation as one’s partner, raises the concept of human welfare from the level of mere animal needs to
seeking what is best in this world and what is best in the Hereafter.
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This is the Islamic world-view, and its concept of man and
his destiny.
Islam is not a religion in the Western
understanding of the word.
It is a faith and a way of
life, a religion and a social order, a doctrine and a code of conduct, a set of values and principles and a
social movement to realise them in history.
There is no priesthood in Islam, not even an organised ‘church’. All men and women, who are committed to this ideal, are expected to live in accordance with its principles and to strive to establish them in society and history.
Those who commit themselves to Truth try
to see that Truth prevails.
They strive to make a new
world in the image of the Truth.
A new model of human personality and a new vision of
by Isles!.
human culture are presented. Science and technology
are developed but they are not directed towards destroying nature and man’s abode therein;
they add to man’s
Islam aims
efficiency as much as to life’s sublimity.
at a new harmony between man and nature and between man and society. The uniqueness of Islamic culture lies in its values and principles. When Muslims, after an illustrious historical career, became oblivious of this fact and became obsessed with the manifestations of their culture, as against its sources, they could not even fully protect the house they had built. The strength of Islam lies in its ideals, values and principles.
And their relevance to man is as great today as it has been
in history.
The message is timeless and the principles
it embodies are of universal application.
-.21 –
Islame Role in the Establishment of a New Order
In our search for a new world order today, Islam emphasises that we must aspire for a new system of life which could approach human problems from a different perspective, not merely the perspective of limited national or regional interest, but the perspective of what is right and what is wrong, and how best man can strive to evolve a just and a humane world order at different levels of his existence, individual, national and international. That the present
order is characterized by injustice and exploitation, is proved beyond any shadow of doubt. But Islam suggests that the present order fails because it is based upon a wrong concept of man and of his relationship with other human beings, with society, with nature, with the world.” The search for a new order brings us to the need for a new concept of man and his role. From the viewpoint of world religions in general, and of Islam in particular, the focus of the discussion deserves to be shifted to a new vision of man and society, to an effort to bring about change at the level of human consciousness, of values, leading to new cultural transformation.
Islam is a movement for social change. It not only gives a clear concept of society and the modus vivendi of bringing about the covetted change in history but it also gives clear guidelines for socio-economic policy, for some of the key institutions that guarantee the implimentation of that policy, and generally an organised social effort under a .disciplined leadership to see that these objectives are achieved in space and time.
oriented approach to religion.
Muslims have this movement
This model operates at
-2.2-
three levels, that of the individual, the society and
the world.
Unless the individual has a new faith, a
new consciousness and a new perception of his own role, required changes cannot be brought about.
Second is the
The
level of the society, initially it may be at the national level but then at the level of. the whole world. Islamic strategy is that it starts with creating a new consciousness in the individual, who imbibes its values and strives to work for the establishment of a just life not on the basis of expediency or to seek personal or group The Qur’an interests, but to do what is right and just. shows us how an individual problem has to be approached at the universal level when it says that if one person is unjustly killed, this is tantamount to killing the entire
human race and whoever saves one single life saves the whole 104 mankind. This is how an individual incidence is trans-
formed into a world problem, an event moves into the realm
of values.
Secondly, Islam is not a defence of the status quo.
Instead,
The
it is a critique for human life, including the lives of the Muslims and the organisation of the Muslim society. present day Muslim society falls much short of the Islamic standards. As such we believe that the Muslim society has to be changed, in order to establish those social, economic and political institutions which would
·
establish justice in human relations.
Islam wants to bring
Such
political power under the control of its moral ideals.
a society and state are established as a result of a social movement directed towards Islamic revival.
Then the
Muslim world would be in a position to play its
100.
The Qur’an, 5; 32.
7
-23.
ideological role in the world, on the one hand availing its own resources to build a model society where it has political power, and then to share it with others in the. interests of justice on the same principle on which the Prophet helped the famine stricken people of Makka who were The Islamic State was politically at war against him. not at war with human beings as such, but only with the
institutions which represented
power.
beligerant political
This may help leading mankind towards the model
of a new world order where justice be done to all, friends
and foes and where wealth would be shared with the
needy not because it is expedient but because this is
just.
Zakat is a right of the poor.
According to the
Qur’an, those who do not help the needy or who scorn the
orphan are committing the crime of denying din, the itself. This idea of the sharing
Islamic way,
of
wealth as a right is a revolutionary idea.
It
is with these insights that Islam enters this debate and
gives to it a new direction and a new perspective and also clear guidelines for action.
In the light of these guide.
lines a strategy for change can be formulated.
A new just
order is not merely the need of the Muslims, it is a need
of man, everywhere, in the West as well as the East.
1
It provides a definite
Islam is a faith and a way of life. outlook on life and a programme for action, a comprehensive milieu for social reconstruction.
It reshapes the
entire personality of man and produces a new culture and
civilization.
It is deeply concerned with his moral
and material existence, his psychological attitudes as
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well as his socio-economic behaviour patterns. All aspects of his individual and collective life are
of
developed in a harmonious fashion, within the framework overall human development known as Tazkiyyah11 (purification).
Islam influences man at different levels of his existence: belief, motivation, personal character, individual behaviour, social institutions, collective action. That is why it is more correct to say that Islam is a faith, a way of life, a process of change, and a social movement for the reconstruction of society and the establishment of a just world order, not just a religion.
The basic values on which this world order is established are as follows:-
- Tawhid. God’s Unity and His Sovereignty. This is the foundation on which Islam’s world view and its scheme of life is based. man relationship. It lays the rules of God-man and man- Tawhid is not merely a metaphysical doctrine, man’s approach to social reality is an inextricable part of this belief. Establish- ment of justice in human relations is a demand of this faith. Belief in God’s Unity and His Sovereignty means that all human beings are equal, and that their rights (Huquq al ‘Ibad) are a natural extension of God’s rights (Huquq Allah). The Qur’an says:- 11.
The Qur’an, 2; 129, 151; 91; 9-10; 87: 14.
Does not urge the feeding of the needy. Bitter grief to worshippers Who Who Yet are neglectful of their prayers; would be seen in prostration refuse kindnesses and charity.
- Khilafah (man’s vicegerency) . Islam defines man ‘s status in the world as •that of God ts vicegerent — II is Everything that exists is at deputy and representative . his disposal for the fulfilment of this role and is like This means that he is not the a trust in his hands. Master, he is God! s agent and his primary concern should • Man is in the be the fulfilment of the Will of the Lord. position of a trustee in respect of all that is in the universe, his own and belongings. the framework of whatever he does. participat ion in creation, not as personal faculties and all his pos.seséions All authority is to be exercised within this trust and man is accountable for This principle stipulates man ts active life and invites him to treat the entire his foe, but as his partner and friend, The Islamic concept made to fulfill the same objectives. of man’s equality and brotherhood and the creation of the ideological fraternity of the Ummah (the community of faith) are essential elements of. this principle of Khilafah, man ts trusteeship and stewardship. 12. The Qur’an, 107.’ 1-7 .
- Establishment Of Justice arrong human beings is One Of the basic objectives for Which Ck)d raised Ills 13 prophets and sent down guidance. All human beings have rights upon III that God has provided and as such (k3d ‘s bounties are to be shared equitably. The poor and the needy have a right upon the wealth of the rich and Of the society. They must be helped and enabled to participate in the struggle for living With skill and honour.
- POI it ical and economic power are part Of the religious mission Of man the fulfilment Of noral objectives. not evil. It is a to harness them for Instead of remaining instruments of oppression and exploitation they rust be made to serve the ends Of justice and prorrote good and virtue and to forbid evil and vice.
- There a re/ Intermediaries between God and man . God ‘ s guidance is available in the form Of His Book, tho qur’an and the I ife—example of Prophet, the Sunnah. They clearly state the ideals, values and principles that man needs to build his individual and life on in this Luidance truth and justice and there existe/.a ouilt—in mechanism to meet the demands of changing times. Evolution is possible Only the divine law is eternal, within the framework. all man—mado expediants are temporary and time—hound. Pursuit of the vine law is the treater,t guarantee against human arbitrariness and relapse into injustice .
These are the basic principles on which Islam wants to Thc contribution that Islarn rebuil.d the world order. wants to make is, first of all, at the level or man’s Islam adopts an all—embracing approach to this problem. approach, based on a spiritual appreciation of reality. It approaches man in the context Of/ Ilbtal existence, in It relation to his Creator and Ills entire creation. admits of no dichotomy between matter and spirit or It welds the religious with between physical and moral. the secular and life as One integrated and It stands for total change as against harmonious whole. all contemEX)rary ideologies and some systems It purifies the Which are content With partial change. sæiety, making both the individual and reconst ructs individual and society achieve a still higher ideal fulfi.l ment and not on national. Its approach is based on values of Divine Will. the demands of expediency, personal or Its outlook is ive and constructive, It seeks run ‘ s and not just negative or destructive. It stands total welfare social and economic. for the real ization of justice in all aspects Of human It upholds the principle Of universal gcx)d and its justice and invites ent ire mankind to work for establ ishment . It affirms the intettrity Of the individual and sanctity of his puman rights, as rights guaranteed by the Creatoi• and tries to establ a social order whorein peace, dignity and justice prevail.
Islam’s strategy Of the establishment 01 such an order consists in inviting all human beinßS to this path, -irrespective Of their colour, race, Language, nationality or ethnic or historical origin. It does not the language Of the interests of the east or the west, Of thc north Or the south, Of the developed or underdeveloped. It wants the new order to be established for all human beings in parts Of the world. Through this universal approach Islam wants to bring about a new consciousness Of the ideals and principles on which the house Of humanity should be rebuilt and invites them to spell out its impl ications for the reconstruction Of human thought and policy . Islam also launches a social movement, an international movement manned by all those who accept these ideals and values to establish the new order. Islam is eager to establ iSh the new model in any part Of the world. The Muslim world, if it reconstructs its order On these principles, could be the living example Of this order h the present real Of the Muslims is far removed from the ideal. Once this rtndel is eatablished in part Of the world this experiment can be shared with the rest as sunshine is shared by all. The prospects Of the present effort the Isl amic nn vement that is trying social effort for the establishment very much depend upon to spearhead this Of new world order
17 April 1978 K.A
