This is Our Religion
Part 3

Freedom from Poverty

To be free from poverty is a right for every human being.
Efforts to establish this right came after what was engraved in the mind of humanity from tragedies caused by need and poverty.
Man has the right to secure himself from poverty and guarantees his well being by learning from the past what might protect him from the future.
It is also a strong wish that Man will gain the kinds of knowledge that will give him certainty in all of his matters.

As for Islam, it frees man from this obnoxious poverty in many ways. First of which is to enable man to find the work that Allah has chosen for him because work is the essence of Man�s living, the source of his benefits, and the meaning of Man�s being Allah�s successor on this earth!

Allah almighty has shown for people that He created this earth for them to use, to extract it�s hidden fruits out of it, and then for them to enjoy these benefits:

And Allah has made the earth for you as a carpet (spread out). That ye may go about therein, in spacious roads. [71:19-20]
It is He Who has made the earth manageable for you, so traverse ye through its tracts and enjoy of the Sustenance which He furnishes: but unto Him is the Resurrection. [67:15]
It is He Who has made the sea subject, that ye may eat thereof flesh that is fresh and tender, and that ye may extract therefrom ornaments to wear, and thou seest the ships therein that plough the waves, that ye may seek (thus) of the bounty of Allah and that ye may be grateful. [16:13]
We Who have placed you with authority on earth, and provided you therein with means for the fulfillment of your life: small are the thanks that ye give! [7:10]

The Holy Quran is filled with verses that explain for Man his wide sovereignty and the resources of his enormous wealth.
So what stands between Man and wealth?
The first causes of richness, the first keys of strength, and the first elements of winning are for people to put their hands on what destiny has provided for them from the means of sustenance, and blessings spread all around them.
Deprivation certainly would be the share of those who are blinded from seeing these treasures or were unable to gain from them.
The road of fortune starts from finding the connection between characteristics of man and the nature of this universe. If the way were paved for this connection then doors of good would be opened.
Both groups and individuals should cooperate for establishing and finding this inevitable connection.
It is not accepted from anybody to stretch his hands asking for help while being able to work or use anything that would provide for him.
If it was strange for a strong man to beg for money, it is even stranger then that there are nations in the east that beg for help from others while under their feet you find fountains of wealth with which they can eradicate their poverty and establish their prosperity.
But lack of determination, and ill natures would drag poverty and crises to wealth and to all the other aspects of life. Islam considers this poverty- poverty of laziness and foolishness- to be a vice, and begging resulting from it a crime.
Think of these sayings of the Prophet pbuh to be certain of what is stated before: � the upper hand is better than the lower hand; the upper hand is the one that gives and the lower hand is the beggar.� (Bukhari)
� Hands are three kinds: the hand of Allah is the highest of all, then the hand of the giver, then the hand of the beggar and this is until the day of judgement. So abstain from asking and begging as much as you can.� (Al-Hakem)
� The beggar will keep on begging until he meets Allah almighty on the day of judgement without any piece of flesh left on his face.� (Bukhari)
� Whoever begs for something while not in need for it, it will be something in his face in the day of judgement.�

Look also in the following story:
Anas bin Malik (a companion of the Prophet) narrated that once a man from Al-Ansar came to the Prophet pbuh asking for charity. The Prophet pbuh asked the man, �Don�t have anything in your house?� the man said, �Yes, a piece of cloth we wear and a jar we drink water from!�
The Prophet pbuh said, � Bring them to me.� The man did and the Prophet offered them for sale saying who buys these?
A man said, I�d take them for one Derham (coin used for money). The prophet asked who would pay more for them, two or three times. Another man said, I�d take them for two Derhams.
The Prophet took the money and gave it to the first man and asked him to go and buy for his family food for one Derham, and an axe with the other and to come back to the Prophet. The man did and the Prophet fixed a stick in the axe with his own hands and asked the man to go gather some firewood and asked him not to come back to see the Prophet for 15 days.
Then the Prophet told him, �This is better for you than to come on the day of judgement and the sign of begging is shown in your face!�
�Begging is not allowed except for three kinds of people, one with extreme poverty, or one with terrible loss, or one who wants to pay blood money.�
This is a man with nothing in his house except some trivial furniture, and despite that the Prophet ordered him to sell this furniture in a public sale! And made the price of the sale a beginning of a capital money for a worker who would work with his axe and earn money from his hands for himself and his family, and forbid him to beg.
So what will the Prophet pbuh say about nations that live in lands full of treasures and fortunes despite that they place dirt over their heads, and stretch their hands here and their seeking help and aid?
Establishing freedom from poverty and need is built before anything on linking human efforts with the nature�s easy or hard to get resources.
No matter how difficult it is to make such a link, it will still be the job of both the individual and the state to make every effort possible in order to reach this link.
Earning money from various kinds of businesses leave apparent scars in people�s manners, public relations, social relatives, and political situations.
Of course we cannot ignore the psychological consequences of the economical circumstances.
Islam in its turn is a religion that penetrates all matters of life because of its attachment to humans in the core.
So how can Islam leave out the most important issue related to people, and the most attached to the needs of their bodies and souls?
This is why Islam included a group of rules and texts that explains its economical policy and draws circles within which people can live.
In general Islamic economy can be described as an economy directed for serving the highest ideals found in Islam and directed to the whole world.
The meaning of this is that money has a high social function that can never be separated from it.
It is not allowed for greedy natures to degrade this function or to deny people the right of its public benefits. Of course the country has the right to assess the situations on the light of these principles and guide lines:
1. The right of Allah over this money is preceded on the right of the man who earned it. The social committee is the one who can use the highest right. The base for such rule is what Allah said in the Quran: Believe in Allah and His Messenger, and spend (in charity) out of the (substance) whereof He has made you heirs. For, those of you who believe and spend (in charity); for them is a great Reward. [57:7]. And said, give them something yourselves out of the means which Allah has given to you. [24:33]
2. It is not accepted that money be manipulated by a certain group of the community because this causes disorders in the social and behavioral balance, but maintaining the general balance is a must. This principle �spread of wealth� is taken from the Quran, in order that it may not (merely) make a circuit between the wealthy among you. [7:59]
3. Brotherhood is a social system in which severe monetary differences that might divide the nation into different classes are not allowed to occur. Such differences might cause this system to be a theory rather than reality.
4. Work is the foundation for earning and prosperity, but if a group in the society got its living from other sources like inheritance then that shouldn�t be a common syndrome that might cause unemployment in certain groups. And to all are (assigned) degrees according to the deeds which they (have done), and in order that (Allah) may recompense their deeds, and no injustice be done to them. [46:19] the Prophet pbuh said, � whoever is slowed by his bad deeds from entering Paradise then his kinship won�t make him enter it faster.�
5. Only clean and legal earning is the one that remains and is accepted, other kinds of earnings are confiscated and returned to their original owners or for the community if the circumstances behind earning them were not normal.
6. Usury (interest), monopolization, and suspicious exploitations are forbidden.
7. In dealing with Land ownership, land can�t be owned except lawfully and it remains in the hands of those who cultivate it not those who neglect it. The Prophet said, � Servants are servants of Allah, and the Land is the land of Allah.� (Abu Daoud). Allah said, for the earth is Allah's, to give as a heritage to such of His servants as He pleases. [7:128]. And inheriting (giving its ownership) the earth is for those who can work in it, plant it and make it useful for themselves and their nation not for those who are inactive and negligence.
8. Islam requested certain virtues and forbade others so whatever were the material resources that help in applying these virtues the state is considered responsible for monitoring them and the group is responsible for making them accessable.
9. Islam has a global message with specific ends. Relaying this message requires that the state supervises the general economical mechanism, or at least interfere in the production or theresults in a way that would guarantee the accomplishing of the message. Probably these principles would reveal the basic lines Islam draws for its nation�s economical situations. You�ve seen first how Islam urged work and earning. Then how it monitored human activities in economical fields to protect the rights and prevent injustices. But in spite of this some people might suffer from poverty and emergency impotence.

There is no automatic system in the whole world capable of preventing hardships and emergencies from happening to few or many people whether in times of war or peace.
But we find here that Islam has worked out such matters by ordering those who are capable to aid those who can�t immediately, and to provide as a minimum the limit which might cure the pain and end the suffering.
Allah said: They ask thee how much they are to spend; say: "What is beyond your needs." Thus doth Allah make clear to you His Signs: in order that ye may consider. (Their bearings) on this life and the Hereafter. [2:219-220]
And what is this � beyond your needs�? It is said that it is what is left after man spends on himself and family.
And it was said that it is the purist and the best of your money. In both interpretations it is meant to help the needy with good money that would fix their matters not with junk and wasted things.
In a saying of the Prophet pbuh he said, � whoever have an extra animal to ride on let him give it to those who don�t have, and whoever has an extra amount of food let him give it to those who don�t have.� (Muslim)
The narrator of this Hadeeth (saying) Muslim narrated that Abu Sa�eed said: the Prophet pbuh mentioned kinds of money until we came to realize that none of us has the right in any extra (more than needed) amounts of it.

Verses of spending in the Quran number more than 70. They would make feelings of generosity and tolerance non-ending ones.
In addition to the mercy and charity such spending gives for the weak and needy Islam reminds those who spend and gives that the fruit of this returns to them. It is not required of thee (O Messenger), to set them on the right path, but Allah sets on the right path whom He pleases. Whatever of good ye give benefits your own souls, and ye shall only do so seeking the "Face" of Allah. Whatever good ye give, shall be rendered back to you, and ye shall not be dealt with unjustly. [2:272]
Behold, ye are those invited to spend (of your substance) in the Way of Allah: but among you are some that are niggardly. But any who are niggardly are so at the expense of their own souls. [47:38]
And this reward will be first in this life then in the hereafter. Because the absence of spites and enmities from a united in solidarity society, is a well being in the community that would make living for the rich before the poor comfortable and relaxing.
It is all right to mention here for those who say that -religion is the opium of nations- an advisory opinion for a scholar called Ibn Hazm in his book (Al-Muhalla). Ibn Hazm said, � The needy Muslim has the right to fight in order to provide for himself, and he is not allowed to eat from dead animal meat while there is some extra food with another Muslim or non-Muslim.� �If he go killed by those who prevented him from getting that extra food then the one who killed him have to Pay blood money and be punished for killing. If the one who tried to stop him from getting food got killed then may Allah curse him for his preventing because he is a transgressing party. If two parties among the Believers fall into a quarrel, make ye peace between them: but if one of them transgresses beyond bounds against the other, then fight ye (all) against the one that transgresses until it complies with the Command of Allah. [49:9]
And the one who prevents his brother from getting his right is transgressing.
After all that, would you find any guarantees for the freedom from poverty stronger and more reliable than those which Islam introduced?

* * *

Freedom from Fear

Humanity has looked forward to this right immediately after the Second World War, then it became one of the foundation principles of the UN and the security council?
The idea is noble.
Why not have security and peace all around the globe?
Why not terrorism, oppression, and terror vanish from international relations?
If one of us can wander the streets of his city in the day then go home at night without carrying any weapons or being afraid from attack because the state and the law are watching over him, then why shouldn�t all the countries in the world be the same?
No one nation is afraid from attack of the other, no small country is worried from a bigger one, and no colored race is frightened by a whiter skin race?
This would be a sweet dream.
And hopefully the human family will cooperate on accomplishing it because if it happened the human race would live a life full of security and peace.
Islam in its turn would like to see the face of the earth full with this given security and guaranteed stability.
But is it possible that the severity of the wild human natures be broken to an extent that thousands of people would be ashamed from hostility and harming to others?
Whatever was the case still freedom from fear is an original Islamic objective.
An atmosphere full of trust and understanding is the one that this religion can live by and refresh.
It is the atmosphere Islam wants to provide for others no matter how different their principles or ways of thinking are from it. Islam in its extension refuses pressure practiced on the minds, or wills.
Islam builds faith on absolute intellectual freedom and never seeks super natural practices that might coerce the mind powers to fasten faith in people�s heads.
When pagans asked the Prophet for a miracle that proves the existence of Allah and the truthfulness of his message, Allah revealed in the Quran: If (such) were Our Will, We could send down to them from the sky a Sign, to which they would bend their necks in humility. But there comes not to them a newly revealed Message from (Allah) Most Gracious, but they turn away therefrom. They have indeed rejected (the Message): so they will know soon (enough) the truth of what they mocked at! Do they not look at the earth, how many noble things of all kinds We have produced therein? Verily, in this is a Sign; but most of them do not believe. [26:4-8]
And from looking into the signs of the universe true belief is established and formed.
Nobody who respects his mind should only believe only with supernatural, pressing miracles.
Muslims respect for intellectual faith made them discuss the following issue:
Does the faith of those who believe by imitation of others have any value? And does it spare its people anything in the hereafter?
Islam also denied pressing minds to believe, and denied compelling the intentions to comply�only the intention of good counts and this has been explained previously in the freedom of belief.
We sum up from this introduction to say that Islam doesn�t know religious wars, and never launches an attack to spread its principles or to impose its teachings over others.
Islam only goes to war in two cases:
* When an enemy launches an attack in order to conquer Islam or to humiliate and scatter its people.
* To aid the injured humanity in a certain country where oppression and tyranny rule.
In both cases Islam refuses to impose itself over others. It just defeats the attackers and then leaves them to the creeds and religions they choose.

* * *

Then are you considered obstinate if you make peace with those who make peace with you and fight against those who fight you?
Are you considered an offender if you smile for those who doesn�t offend you and frown and get disturbed from those who try to hurt you?
The Quran says: Allah forbids you not, with regard to those who fight you not for (your) Faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them: for Allah loveth those who are just. Allah only forbids you, with regard to those who fight you for (your) Faith, and drive you out, of your homes, and support (others) in driving you out, from turning to them (for friendship and protection). It is such as turn to them (in these circumstances), that do wrong.[60:8-9]
Indeed I have the right to boycott that person who annoys me; to be friends with those who never seek to harm me� is there any ignorance in such principles?

* * *

Despite the wide distance between Islam and Paganism, Islam never fought this fake religion, instead it told its people: To you is your Way, and to me mine. [109:6]
Then afterwards Islam fought not to crush this paganism completely but to breakdown its long and growing tyranny. Islam hasn�t fought Judaism as a religion but fought the gangs that attacked Islam using it.
When their strength broke down, and weapons taken away from them, Jews as individuals lived a secure and prosperous life. To an extent that the Prophet of Islam pbuh died while his shield was mortgaged with a Jewish merchant secured upon himself money and position.
This Islamic nature is still prevalent in Muslims� bloods until nowadays.
Despite the violent ordeal the Jews imposed upon Arabs of Palestine, we as Muslims never thought about fighting Judaism nor declared war on it in any Islamic country, rather we separated between the religion and its people.
Yes, Moses pbuh in our point of view is a brother to our Prophet pbuh. A Prophet with a revelation- the Tourat- that we believe in and read in our Quran verses of praise for it: It was We who revealed the Law (to Moses): therein was guidance and light. By its standard have been judged the Jews, by the Prophets who bowed (as in Islam) to Allah's Will, by the Rabbis and the Doctors of Law: for to them was entrusted the protection of Allah's Book, and they were witnesses thereto: therefore fear not men, but fear Me, and sell not My Signs for a miserable price. If any do fail to judge by (the light of) what Allah hath revealed, they are (no better than) Unbelievers. [5:44]
What is strange is that we haven�t deviated from this plan despite the continuing provocation that stimulate anger.
France as an example insisted on stating a discriminating war in Algiers.
Since General De�gol didn�t hesitate a bit while talking about the need for waging war against 9 million Muslims in Algiers. Ancient grudges hasn�t cooled down in this man�s blood in spite of the passing years�
We in our turn refused to accept a fact other than that France attempt French against us is just colonialism� and discarded any relationship between the teachings of Christianity and France. This is because religious wars were never a custom in our natures, past, or future.
Of the silliest news I�ve heard is that the president of South Africa talking about discrimination in his country, alleging that his Christian government only follows this discriminating policy in order to prevent Islam and barbarism from entering his country in the future.
Do you recognize this multiplied evil?
Suppose that a certain force was able to go to this country in order to liberate the suppressed black there.
Would you call such a force an anti Christian power?
Isn�t the true description for such force is a force that saved humanity and Christianity from the silliness of some people?
Frankly speaking, when Muslims fought the Roman Empire they weren�t at any point fighting Christianity itself rather when they defeated this country they kept the freedom of belief intact.
They just settled for defeating the oppressing power and to unleash beaten people from its chains.
We can�t ask why Arabs set out of their peninsula conquerors towards north of Africa? Without asking in the same time why did the Romans came to these countries at the first place as colonists and oppressors.
The companions of Mohammed pbuh didn�t do to the Romans more than what the Police might do to some troublemakers and anarchists try to offend the people.
I wish the Security Council of these days would get kinds of highly type people like the early Arabs.
The right for freedom from fear is a right for thousands of helpless oppressed people all over the world.

* * *

Then what prevents us from forgetting the whole past?
Religions were never spared from kinds of people who offended their high spirits and manipulated them for their own desires. And of course no fruit can result from blaming each other on what had happened in the past, so what�s preventing from building a world on new foundations that would spread security in it?
We love peace, and would like to insure a delicate, kind tomorrow for our children.
But is it possible to make peace while colonialism still prevails, while human rights are still ignored, while the right for self-determination is still rejected, and while enormous efforts are practiced in order to wipe out the message of peace, and to rip its people from the right to live?
We are so keen that freedom from fear is established and we seek others cooperation to reach this goal.

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