American Capitalism, a Necessary Evil?

The Shield

Islamic Commentary on the State of the Muslim
Ummah
Vol. 1, No. 7 March 2007




“They will ask thee as to what they should spend on others. Say: Whatever
of your wealth you spend shall [first] be for your parents, and for the near of kin,
and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer; and whatever good you do,
verily, God has full knowledge thereof.” Qur’an 2:215


America or more precisely, the American Government would have us believe that its way of life is the only alternative for the world today. This is in spite of its failure at home, where the rich became richer on the backs of free African labor in the form of slavery for more that 400 years.

Capitalism is championed as are distributive necessary evil with the premise that the rich would create jobs for the poor, and that money would be circulated. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Capitalism only benefits those who have the power and the money already to exploit the powerless and the poor. For instance, the wealthiest 1% of the households in America own 33.4% of the nation’s wealth, and the wealthiest 10% of the households own 71% of the nation’s wealth.

According to one source, “The richest 2 per cent of adults own more than half of global household wealth, and almost all of the well-heeled live in North America, Europe and richest Asia-Pacific countries.” Without argument, capitalism is a man thought out system that does not bring prosperity, much less, equality to people. Right here in America, there is an economic problem. Just look at the black and Latino inner cities or ghettos. The capitalist’s mind says that the poor, the non-white, are a necessary evil to motivate people to spend long hours at work and studying in school so that they don’t end up like them, the outcasts, the undeserving.

Many people, who are fooled by capitalism, accept this condition of the poor in America as a necessary evil to make the system of capitalism work. This is sick, that we would accept a system that creates poverty for many and massive wealth for a few. Capitalism was thought of by men, thus anything created my humans is naturally imperfect. The root of the problem or the cause of the many symptoms is the disease. Islam is the only system or ideology that can rid the world of today’s inequalities and problems. This is because Islam is from the one who created all that is in existence today.

Allah is the attribute giver, and he is the ultimate problem solver. Islam eradicated poverty during its zenith, and Insha-Allah it will again. We can say that when the Islamic system comes back, it will make sure that there are no necessary evils, there are no ghettos, there is no world poverty, especially in the Muslim world where resources are abound. Ali (ra), the fourth Khalifah in Islam said, “If poverty were a man, I would have killed it.” As human beings it should pain us to sleep when others go to bed on empty stomachs. Allah gives the motive for redistribution of wealth:

“Let the man of means spend according to his means: and the man whose resources are restricted, let him spend according to what Allah has given him. Allah puts no burden on
any person beyond what He has given him. After a difficulty7, Allah will soon grant relief.”
(TMQ 65:7)

There was time in the history of Islam, when Africa had so much, that the poor due Zakat was left untouched. Capitalism is an evil, but we Muslims say not a necessary one when the true alternative is revived!