Ills of Capitalism

Obama himself has acknowledged the difficulties he would face in overcoming the crisis the country currently faces. In his victory speech in Chicago on November 4, he talked about the difficult time ahead and invited people to inculcate the spirit of sacrifice to help people come out of the ongoing trials and tribulations.

Obama was referring to a morality to fix the ills of an economic system that does not believe in any ethics other than the one it creates to sustain it. We live in a world driven by values generated by an uncontrolled capitalism. The more capital we accumulate, the more influential and powerful we become. Those who invest their capital in economic ventures are the ones who are deemed successful. Under this system, everyone is for himself and herself with no place for the marginalized and disadvantaged.

Capitalism in its purest form promotes the nurturing of only the human body. It emphasizes that the intellect is the only ingredient for the growth and nourishment of humans. The intellect demands that each must live for one self. It promotes accumulation of wealth first for oneself than for one's children and then for one's legacy. The race to accumulate greater wealth results in the marginalization of masses as only a few succeed to climb to the top.

The intellect does not offer any rebuttal of capitalism as it is the intellect that is its founder. Consequently, rich gets richer and poor get poorer causing sufferings to millions who are reduced to a kind of slavery where they are sustained to produce more and more capital for a few. Capitalism promotes the age old principle of might is right and instigates the most powerful to grab wealth at any cost. It creates fear in the masses and it makes them vulnerable in times of crisis.

The capitalist world that we live in today specially in the United States is brutal and inhumane in its greed to acquire more wealth. The ills that it has generated cannot be fixed by embellishing it or decorating it with artificial colors. On the crutches of social bail outs, this system may walk a few more steps and linger its existence, but ultimately, it will create new crisis.

The root cause of the current financial crisis does not lie in the draconian domestic and foreign policies of the Bush Administration. It lies in the nature of unbridled capitalism that builds itself purely only on human experience and intellect promoting ideas of survival of the fittest and might is right. No amount of fixing up can help us out of the deep ditch created by greedy capitalism because the reformers would not be able to find its depth and would never come out of it. .

Most of Capitalism today is built on the philosophy of those who in the words of God as described in the Quran "continuously accumulate wealth" (100:8; 14:2). They believe that "the wealth will give him eternal happiness (104:3).

Capitalism encourages people to go after immediate gratification, (75:20; 74:28). It ignores the long term consequences and seeks short term selfish worldly desires, (75:21; 87:16). Capitalistic greed creates animosity among people in the name of competition. . The response to crisis is not to fix the unfixable but to change our paradigm of thinking about the world, universe and human resources abundantly present therein. Intellect alone will not help us solve our problems. We have to rely on the divine guidance to find solution to our problems. The intellect coupled with divine guidance is capable of developing this perspective.

The Quran, the final source of God's guidance to humanity is believed by more than one fifth of the humanity, declares that each human being deserves a dignified existence and demands from those who believe in the supremacy of the divine guidance to work for the establishment of a society where the interests of all are secured and where people are willing to sacrifice their interests for others, (51:9). The Quran declares that God is the creator of ALL the resources essential for human survival. Water, air, food are all offered to human beings without any divine tax.

The Quran says that the foundation of economic activity is labor and not capital, (20:15). It says that wealth is not to be accumulated for one's self but to be shared with others. It should be used for nurturing those who are not in a position to live a dignified life.

The Quran suggests that whatever is given to others, it is the only thing that helps human beings grow and recommends that using one's resources for others helps one to attain a higher level of piety, (3:91). The Quran suggests that such an attitude can be attained in society by those who are inspired by the divine guidance because they would use their intellect to negotiate with the changing situations in a comprehensive and compassionate manner.

The Quran does not ask people to renounce or denounce the world. Rather it asks them to explore the universe and put it to work on the basis of guidance by God to serve humanity. It says that change will come when people will change their perspective about themselves and their cosmos on the basis of the revelations that various prophets delivered to them throughout human history and culminating in the Quran.

The Quran warns people of facing the consequences of all their actions, good or bad and recommends them to use the resources they earned through their labor for the welfare and well being of all. It was under Islamic economics the concept of Waqf (endowment, trust) was developed that demonstrates the application of the Quranic guidance. the Quran does not restrict the resources of God for a nation or a tribe. It encourages free trade and free exchange of resources. Above all it takes a very strong stand against those who want to monopolize resources and hoard them for their personal benefit.

The Quran suggests that human beings unlike the cosmos which is committed to rules and laws created by the divine can never think objectively for the entire humanity without the help of divine guidance in every aspect of life.

When people who believe that their responsibility is to preserve nurture, sustain each and every individual that lives on our planet and assume responsibility in regulating the resources created by the divine, we can build a better future for humanity.

The Quran encourages a holistic approach to economics. It does not say that by simply creating interest free banking institutions, the financial crisis can be overcome as suggested by many Muslim thinkers and scholars. During the depression in Japan, interest was dropped to zero and that did not help solve the crisis.

The Quran talks to humanity at a deeper level suggesting that without making labor the criterion for reward and caring for each and everyone regardless of ones' religious or ideological background, whatever financial system we adopt, we will continuously face crisisses.

All people should look within them selves to reflect the problems of today. As Muslims we need to realize that this perspective on the nurturing and nourishment of all human beings has been neglected by many Muslim elites, scholars, thinkers and governments who have adopted absolute uncontrolled capitalism in their own affairs. Many who offer solutions to capitalism do not go beyond interest-free banking.