Exposition of Capitalism –

The Corrupted Creed

The objective of this article is to illustrate the intellectual foundation of Capitalism, from which emanate other thoughts that define to its adherents their point of view towards life and shape their outlook and behaviour.

The need for this study is extremely vital because of the extensive propaganda for this ideology, especially after the collapse of Communism, and the War against Islam launched by the US, and the other Western nations. The propaganda for Capitalism yielded its fruits and exerted its impact all over the world. Concepts such as Democracy, Free Market, Pluralism, and Secularism, became ideals for various people, including the Muslims. Such ideas are being deceptively marketed to the Muslims detached from their creed. This has hidden the clash of ideologies, and some Muslims feel, that there is no threat from Capitalism, and indeed we should adopt from it. The British Foreign Office Minister Mike O’Brien in his speech entitled 'the threat of the modern Kharijites' (21/11/02) reiterated, the lie what many of his colleagues have been saying “…I do not buy the suggestion put forward … that there is some sort of clash of civilisations” As a result, the Muslims would accept them as universal ideas rather than distinct ideas which emanate from a specific Aqeedah that contradicts the Islamic Aqeedah in its outlook.

In addition to this phenomenon, the Muslims have been subjected to the application of Capitalism for a considerable period of time. Together with the apparent success of Capitalism in its application in the West - particularly in the spheres of economics and human rights - all these factors have produced new patterns of thought among the Muslims. The roots of this new pattern of thought began to emerge towards the end of the 1911 century and the beginning of the 20th century. Individuals fell under the influence of Muhammad Abdu, Jamaal ud-Deen Afghani, Khayrud-Deen At-Tunisi, and (Sir) Syeed Ahmad Khan, the pioneers of the Modernist movement.

Afterwards, such a pattern of thinking began to concentrate and firmly root itself among the Muslim masses. Nowadays, the means and styles which are used to present and circulate ideas amongst the Muslims, such as the various seminars, lectures, and publications, culminate to produce a new thinking style which both the Secularists as well as some among the "Islamists" express.

Such a pattern of thinking varies from one extreme to the other. Some are openly and explicitly calling to disregard Islam and adopt Capitalism in its place. They call for the total separation of Islam from life, reshaping Islam into a personal relationship between the individual and his Creator. Islam for them is not intended to interfere in the affairs of the society to any degree. Others attempt to reconcile between Islam and Capitalism by claiming that Islam focuses on some basic ideas and goals which must be maintained in the society, such as justice, Shura, social justice, maintenance of ownership, honour, and the sanctity of human life. To them, the achievement of these objectives is all that matters, regardless of the means adopted. The system or regime can be a monarchy, a presidential system, a republic, or any other shape, as long as it upholds and guarantees these principles.

A third category of Muslims try to patch up both Islam and Capitalism. They adopt from Islam only some rules in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, but beyond this they are ready to take from Capitalism the entire economic structure, which includes the market economy as well as the monetary, banking, and insurance systems. This pattern of thinking is the most dangerous pattern because it allows people to adopt rules from a Kufr system as long as it does not "contradict" Islam.

These patterns of thinking produced different perceptions or understandings towards Islam. Such understandings are presented in such a way to imply that they are different brands of Islam altogether. These various strains of Islam are further entrenched by designating them with distinct labels such as “Orthodox Islam”, “Conservative Islam” “Political Islam”, “Extremist Islam”, “Militant Islam” and "Moderate Islam."

This labelling scheme has become widely used not only to demarcate these various brands, but also to discriminate between certain followers associated with such brands. Terms such as Fundamentalist, Moderate, Extremist, and Liberal verses Conservative, became used to describe the people. The basis of such labels was how remote or near the Muslim is from the Western way of life. Thus, the Western way of life became the frame of reference for measuring both Muslims as well as Islam itself.

Therefore, we need to illustrate the basis of Capitalism in order to show that Islam set distinct boundaries which defines the Islamic ideology and distinguishes it from other ideologies, and these boundaries must be acknowledged and preserved. The study is further needed to show that certain ideas which are currently propagated among Muslims are Kufr ideas because they stem from a false doctrine.


Secularism Defined

Secularism literally means an indifference to or rejection or exclusion of religion and religious considerations, and in the political sense is taken to mean detaching religion from state. In its ideological sense, it means removing the Creator from the worldly affairs and restricting the realm of religion to the individual while delegating the authority of the state to human beings and man-made institutions. As a result of this division, two authorities are created: The religious authority, which assumes the role of handling religious events, festivities, and rituals, and the temporal authority, which assumes the role of organizing the systems of the society. Thus, a secular society has two references: In the realm of the individual, the person refers to his or her belief regarding character, individual morals, and individual worships. In the public affairs the people refer to other human beings and man-made institutions, such as Congress and Parliament, to legislate laws for them.

Although Secularism detaches religion from the worldly affairs, it does not deny religion, nor does it deny the existence of the Creator. In fact, the leaders and presidents of many of the Western countries quote the term "God" on many occasions. With Bush, and Blair both, calling the War on Islam as a God sanctioned war. The official pledge to the United States has in it the term, "One nation, under God." However, when it comes to legislating laws or running the affairs of the society, the division between the religious and state authorities is clear, and religion or "God's Law" has no influence in the political aspects of society. Secularism states that religion is a personal matter, and it is up to every individual to believe whatever he wants to believe regarding the spiritual dimension. As a result, the questions of what is before and after life is detached from the public opinion, has no relevance to the life itself, and is left to every individual to have his or her own answers. Thus, Secularism separates the spiritual and political aspects, although it does not deny the spiritual aspect. This doctrine forms the basis of the thinking of the West, and from this fundamental thought emanates all the concepts and ideologies of the West, such as the ideology of Capitalism, and the concepts of Democracy, Freedom, Individualism, and "Human Rights."


The Origins of Secularism

Historically, Secularism grew as a negative reaction to the bitter oppression imposed by the Church's authority over Europe during the Middle Ages. After prophet Isa (as) was raised, the original scriptures were tampered with, and many man-made ideas and philosophies were incorporated into the revelation. Furthermore, during the 4th century. Constantine, one of the emperors of Rome, converted to Christianity and instituted it as the religion of the State while forcing his subjects to adopt Christianity. As a result, many people accepted the Christian doctrine not out of sincere conviction or deep understanding but out of blind faith in order to protect themselves. The blind faith that resulted allowed for many pagan ideas and superstitious beliefs from the existing Roman culture to influence the Christian culture and further distort Christianity. For example, the concepts of Christmas and Easter (although they too were man-made ideas that were incorporated into the original message) have purely religious connotations, but the "Easter Bunny" and “Christmas”, Santa Claus came from Roman Pagan culture the Nicene Council was held in 325 and adopted the Nicene Creed as the official creed. This was attended by 1800 bishops of the Roman Empire, who chose four bibles as their official ones, and they agreed on a version of Christianity which remains until today.

The doctrine that the scholars adopted contained concepts such as the Trinity, the Vanishing, and the idea that Isa (as) is the "Son of God," and of the same substance (homo-ousios) and had nothing to do with the message that Isa received and conveyed. Because the original message was lost and the later version was tampered by human beings, the implementation of the Christian doctrine failed to provide any solutions, and the doctrine itself was full of contradictions. This failure and contradiction was eminent because the new version was a man-made doctrine that reflected the contradictions and imperfections of the human being. Thus, the Christian doctrine was far removed from reality. As a result, the opinions of the clergy were used as the source of laws and rules while the Christian doctrine was suspended and only used as a cover- up to justify the rulings and opinions of the papacy.

Furthermore, the emperors and kings of Europe, seeing that the Church was a respected institution in the minds and sentiments of the people, would use the Church to consolidate their position. As scientific facts began to contradict the clergy, the Church was put on the defensive and was forced to suppress scientific advancement to avoid compromising its authority. Because the doctrine of Christianity contradicted reality and had no intellectual basis, Christian rule had to establish its belief by blind faith and imitation among its adherents while suppressing scientific innovation or technological advancement or anything that might stimulate thinking. Throughout the Middle Ages, oppression, economic backwardness, and stagnation kept civilization at a standstill, and the Christian world developed a notorious reputation for ruthlessness. Any scientific fact that contradicted the opinions of the clergy was quickly censured, and those who questioned the authority of the Church were bitterly persecuted. The capitals of Europe were squalid centres of disease and poverty, and many hundreds of thousands were killed, particularly during the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, because they held a different belief. The oppression and persecution of the Europeans under the theocratic authority caused a bitter reaction among the people against the Church in particular, but this negativity eventually extended to include anything related to religion.

Two major movements among the philosophers and thinkers emerged. One of these movements denied religion flatly, and the ideas propagated by such individuals later formed the basis of Communism. To reconcile between these two diametrically opposed views, another movement called for the detachment of religion from life and a removal of the Church's influence and authority from the political arena.

A fierce struggle resulted between the clergy and monarchs on one hand, and the philosophers and thinkers on the other, after which a compromise solution was reached. The authority of the Church was separated from the state and was confined to individual worships, preaching, and conducting religious holidays and festivities. All that was associated with religion, God, or spirituality was removed from the worldly affairs, and the human beings would be free to run their affairs through man- made constitutions and human institutions. During the succeeding four centuries, the European nations slowly began to eradicate the old feudal order from their public affairs', and many movements, such as the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution, spearheaded the emergence of Secularism. To reach this, the relationship between state and church went through many stages.


The Failure of Secularism

After the decline of Islamic rule, the Muslim Ummah was deceived to attribute Islam as the reason for their failure, which caused them to look towards the West for solutions and eventually led the Muslims to adopt Secularism as their saviour. As a result of their experience under the Church's oppression, the Western nations have propagated the belief that mixing God or religion with politics results in stagnation, backwardness, and oppression, and it was through the separation of God from politics, they claim, that led to technological advancement and progress that swept through Europe since the Industrial Revolution and Renaissance. The West has propagated this dogma even amongst the Muslim Ummah, and many Muslims mistakenly equated Secularism with success. Looking at the current situation of the Western nations shows that, behind the veil of material progress, the Secular revolution was far from successful. It is true that Europe entered into an industrial revolution and rose to superpower status as a result of the adoption of Secularism, but behind the technological advancement and the many achievements was a society that suffered from poverty, mass exploitation, injustices, and severe inequalities in wealth. With the exception of a few elite and distinguished people who held the ruling and the wealth, European History remained dark and oppressive before as well as after the rule of the Church. It is well known that the societies that existed in Europe had a rigid and aristocratic class structure in which people were defined by their social status and social mobility was almost unheard of. In addition, the working class, which constituted the vast majority of the people, suffered tremendously. Despite the technological advancement and the scientific discoveries that emerged, only a few would reap the benefits of such achievements if any. The Secular Revolution constituted only a partial revival, but such a revival did not provide the correct solution for the vast majority of the people who continued to live, and still remain under, oppression and economic slavery.

The reason for the failure of Secularism stems from the incorrectness of the Secular doctrine itself. Secularism emerged as a negative reaction to the oppression of the Church. The correct doctrine cannot be established as a reaction to the environment because once the environment is removed, then the entire basis of the idea becomes invalidated. Furthermore, should the environment change, then the idea must also change. Secularism was a reactionary idea which emerged as a by-product the Middle Ages and has no intellectual basis. Had that environment never existed, then Secularism would never have materialized.

When the Secular movement emerged, the intellectuals and thinkers justified the detachment of religion from state purely, on the experience with the Church. Such a justification rested upon two assumptions:

First, the assumption that the Christian doctrine that existed was correct, and second, the assumption that the experience with the Church can be generalized to include all religions claiming to have a divine source. Such assumptions have no validity because the Christian scriptures that were revealed to prophet Isa (as) were tampered with by human beings immediately after his death. The doctrine that the Church adopted was filled with superstitious beliefs and manmade thoughts and ideas that bore no resemblance to the original scriptures. It was human beings, and not the revelations, that resulted in the oppressive rule of the Church because, first. the opinions of the clergy were the source of legislation and not the doctrine, and second, the doctrine was twisted with man-made ideas. Thus, the removal of the Church and the subsequent adoption of Secularism constituted nothing more than the fall of one man-made system and the rise of another man-made system.

Also, the Christian experience cannot be used to claim that all religions arc false or that any system based on divine origins is doomed to failure because the Islamic Aqeedah is proven correct based on conclusive facts that agree with reality. In addition, under the influence of the Islamic system, civilization flourished and reached unparalleled heights in technological advancement, scientific innovation and economic prosperity. And those people who lived under the Islamic ideology have adopted its ideas and culture wholeheartedly, to the extent that the same people, who were conquered by the Islamic State, such as in Algeria, Sudan, Iran, and Afghanistan, are at the forefront demanding the reimplementation of Islam. Those who claim that the implementation of Islam would repeat the Dark Ages on the basis of the European experience would have a difficult time explaining how the level of progress among the Muslims was directly related to their understanding of Islam and how the Muslims today, in the absence of the Islamic system, are the most poverty-stricken, technologically and scientifically backward, and economically decadent nations despite their enormous resources and wealth.

Even though the adoption of Secularism resulted in a revival, the Secular doctrine overlooks one reality that any doctrine must acknowledge - the limited human being. Because of the limitations of the human being, any system or idea emanating from the human being will have flaws, disparity, and contradictions, regardless of the level of genius of the human being. Also, human beings are influenced by their environment in addition to having a subjective point of view. For example, Carl Marx lived in 19th century England, where the working classes were heavily exploited. In addition, the Founding Fathers of the United States, even though they were seculars, came from a society where Christian values and ethics were still strong in the sentiments and culture of the people.

During such a time homosexuality was an abomination and pornography was unthinkable. If they had a glimpse of the Western Society today, and saw that, as a result of their constitution, homosexuals are legislating laws in Parliament, pornography is widely distributed and generally acceptable within certain limits, and over a million of their citizens are living in prisons, they would have formulated a completely different constitution. Because of this defect, any system or way of life emanating from human beings would be unable to comprehensively and correctly address the needs of humanity.

Furthermore, the human mind is limited to what it can perceive. No human being has access to what is before this life or what will come after this life, or anything beyond the senses, and any doctrine must provide answers to these questions for the doctrine to be correct. If such answers come from the human being, then they will fall nothing short of speculation and doubt. Because Secularism detached these questions from the worldly affairs and left it to every individual to provide his or her own answers, then the result would be uncertainty and doubt which would result in speculation and superstition. The need to worship something is inherent in every human being, and the Secular Creed fails to satisfy this need in the correct way. As a result, the people who live in the West have made a habit of making a god of just about anything, from celebrities to money to superstitious characters. Because this fundamental question remains unsettled, then the spiritual emptiness and psychological void that is epidemic in the West comes as no surprise. Also,, the need to worship manifests in the human being realizing his dependency on Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’aala) and, as a result of this dependency, inclines the human being to look to Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’aala) for systems and rules to solve his problems and organise the life affairs.

By detaching Allah (Subhanahu wa ta’aala) from the political affairs, the Secular doctrine goes against the nature of human beings because it denies the human being's need to worship the Creator by submitting to His Laws in the life affairs and looking to the Creator's systems to solve worldly problems. The inconsistencies and fallacies in the Secular creed itself manifests in the failure of the Secular thoughts and concepts to productively settle the core problem of existence as well as the failure of the Secular-based systems to organize humanity and create a society conducive to justice. The very basis of Secularism, which emerged from the Compromise solution between those who denied the existence of the Creator and those who believed in the Creator’s existence, has no correct basis because it attempts to compromise between two contradicting issues. One can compromise between two similar issues but not between two contradicting issues; one must be correct and the other must be incorrect, or both of them are incorrect. Either the Creator exists or He doesn't exist.

To claim that that the issue of whether the Creator exists is irrelevant and not important has no intellectual basis. The issue of whether or not the Creator exists must be resolved and cannot be ignored, and no doctrine can claim itself as correct if it ignores this question. Because Secularism is based upon this Compromise Solution which ignores the question of whether the Creator exists, then the Secular doctrine is invalid, and the effects of ignoring this central and vital issue of humanity is felt in the frustration and spiritual emptiness that the people of the West feel as a result of having this core problem unsettled. The compromise Solution, which attempts to bring Truth and Falsehood together, forms the basis of thinking among the Secular nations, and such a thinking that is unable to define clearly what is correct and incorrect has created many contradictions in the policies and lifestyle of the Secular nations.

In Islam, the Truth and the Falshood are clear, and the Islamic System maintains this clarity through the, implementation of the Ahkam Shar'iyah. The Islamic system has a specific answer to every situation or issue and has a practical mechanism to solve human problems. The compromise solution removes the clear boundary between truth and falsehood and results in confusion and contradiction. As a result, it comes as no surprise that, among the Secular nations, people would be willing to sacrifice their lives and even kill others in the name of the rights of laboratory mice, and at the same time, condone the mass killing of hundreds of thousand of children in Iraq as a just cause. It comes as no surprise that, in a Secular society, people would care for their pets while giving little or no regard for their own children, or that the people would raise so much concern for the presentation of birds and fish while venting their anger on the poverty-stricken as the cause of their economic burdens. It comes as no surprise that, in a secular society, the entire nation would be shocked and moved by a few people murdered by a serial killer, but when it comes to the killing of millions around the world in the name of securing jobs or oil, they would cheer for the killers under slogans such as "Support our Troops." Such contradictions arise as a result of a mentality that stems from an ideology whose foundation brings truth and falsehood together and is unable to draw any clear distinction between right and wrong.

Capitalism is the ideology and system that emerged from the secular doctrine that the Europeans adopted after the fall of the Church from the political arena. One of the fundamental concepts that emerge from secularism is the need to preserve for each human being the freedom of religion, freedom of opinion, freedom of ownership, and personal freedom. From the principle of freedom of ownership stems the capitalist economic system. Democracy, or the concept of “people sovereignty”, is the political system that stems from the secular creed, but the political system is far less prominent than the economic system among the secular nations. Although democracy delegates the power to legislate to the people in theory, those who hold the economic wealth are the ones who have the real power. The capitalist system in the West subjugates the government, and the policy-making of the West is almost purely driven by economic factors. From the capitalist economic thought stems the concept of benefit and interest, and the need to maximize the benefits and interests of the individual and the society. Such a concept provides the driving force of the West's political system as well as its foreign policy. Thus, the capitalists, those who hold the most capital and wealth, are the real rulers of the society. In addition, democracy is not limited to the secular creed; the communists also claim to be democratic and claim that the government belongs to the people. As a result, it is more accurate to call the system which emanates from the West as Capitalism, with secularism comprising its foundation.

The Failure of Capitalism

When President Bush Senior announced in his State of the Union Address of 1991 that he wishes to establish a new world order with America at its helm, the world was captivated by the idea. After all, Communism had failed, and Capitalism had won, or so it seemed to the world, and what appeared to be the stunning victory of the West in the Persian Gulf reiterated for many that Capitalism was a fact of life that bestrode the world like a giant. From day one, Muslims under the Western - sponsored educational curricula, were brainwashed to believe that it was that giant called Capitalism which lifted Europe from the oppression, stagnation, and darkness of Christian rule into the glory of the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, and that this same giant would lift the Muslim world from the “tyranny and oppression” of Islamic rule into the light of progress.

Little did the children of the Muslim Ummah know the ugly face of Capitalism that the West had disguised behind a thin veil. The true nature of the capitalist ideology can be seen from the philosophers who promoted, and formulated what we have today.

The English philosopher Herbert Spencer formulated a concept he called the “survival of the fittest” (a phrase that Darwin eventually borrowed to use in his explanations of Evolution). Spencer believed that it was the duty of the economically strong to drive the economically weak into extinction. That drive was in fact the secret of Capitalism's strength; it eliminated the weak.

Spencer created the eugenics movement to stop the unfit from reproducing because he believed that the most humane way was to do what the economy would do in a more brutal way if left to itself. In Spencer's view, all remedial social welfare measures simply prolonged and expanded human agony by increasing the population who would eventually die of starvation.

Such thinking shows that Capitalism is an ideology based on exploitation, competition and ruthlessness. Such bases featured strongly amongst other founders of western capitalistic thought such as Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527CE) and his philosophy of “might is right”.

Scratching the surface of the apparent glamour of Western civilisation reveals nothing but a sick giant struggling internally from exploding crime rates, uncontrollable social deviation, moral degradation, economic exploitation, and political hypocrisy, all covered up by the facade called Capitalism. Those nations who carry the banner of Capitalism themselves have a legacy of brutal exploitation and colonisation that has created a situation where the Third World is drowning under economic slavery to the West. Such a miserable track record emphasises one fact; Capitalism has failed.

Because Capitalism made everything into private property, it left human beings to fight for the resources of the world in a fashion similar to the animals who compete in the jungle. According to the capitalist doctrine, anybody can acquire ownership of anything, be it luxury items or natural resources. The concept of free enterprise, or freedom of the individual to acquire ownership of anything in any manner, emerged from this thinking, and the capitalists hailed this concept, among many others, as the secret formula behind the success of their economic system. What the capitalist doctrine overlooks is that, in any society, human beings have different capabilities and resources, and those who possess more and acquire greater strength may prevent others from accessing these resources.

Throughout the history of the capitalist nations, a few elite who held the wealth of the nations were the only ones who enjoyed that wealth while the rest of the nation remained either close to or below the poverty line. In America, the implementation of Capitalism resulted in a situation where a few untouchables, such as the Carnegies and the Rockefellers, held the resources of the nation. While those few individuals enjoyed a life of exuberance, the working class majority lived near or below the poverty line. This gross inequality in wealth has remained, between the nations as well as within the people themselves and today the vast majority struggle with the little crumbs of the cake that the major corporations, banks and businesses leave for them to compete over.

Today, it is a well known fact that Capitalism is at the root of the major discrepancies in wealth distribution, among the nations as well as within them. Although America has less than 4% of the total population of the world, it consumes over 35% of the world's resources. The capitalist economic system has created a situation in which a few nations control the wealth and financial markets of the world and exploit the rest of the nations for their resources. Because the vital resources are at the hands of a few, then those few elite influence the governments and policies to function according to their interests at the expense of others. Within America, the wealthiest 10% own over 90% of the nation's wealth while the majority of the people live near or below poverty. Such a vast discrepancy in wealth distribution does not exist in Islam because the Islamic system categorises property into private property, public property which includes natural and vital resources and state property. Through this unique categorisation, Islam ensures that the people will have access to the natural and vital resources of the world while maintaining a state powerful enough to supervise the distribution of wealth in the society. At the same time, Islam allows the individuals to pursue their luxurious needs while safeguarding against economic exploitation and corrupt practices by prohibiting monopolies, hoarding of wealth and usury.

Also, the capitalists defined the human being as having unlimited needs, and that the resources of the society will never be enough to satisfy the needs of every individual. The concept of scarcity emerged from this thought and because of this concept poverty, famine and social deprivation are integral components of Capitalism. Even though the resources are abundant, the capitalists would create scarcity in order to maintain their economic system which is based on price fixing. The capitalists know that if everyone was free to produce to his maximum and utilise his skills, and the resources of the world were freely accessible, then the abundance of resources would be so tremendous that prices would virtually drop to zero, and access to the resources and services would be well within everyone's reach.

Just to keep the prices high, the capitalists would maintain scarcity of jobs and resources, even if half the population would die of starvation. It is well known that the food produced by the Great Plains of America alone is enough to feed the entire world three times, but to maintain the prices for the sake of the corporations and the wealthy, the surplus food is burned. Adding to the list, surplus milk is dumped into the ocean, the oil companies restrict the distribution of oil and gas in order to keep the prices high, and the drug and biotech companies further restrict access to health care by blocking production and distribution of needed medication. In Islam, the satisfaction of the needs of every individual is the basic economic problem. Thus, the Islamic economic system is built upon the full utilisation of the human being's capabilities and does not put any restrictions on the production of wealth or the output of human beings in the name of “price fixing”. As a result, the Islamic system inherently creates wealth and abundance in the society in order to ensure that individual's needs is satisfied, whereas in Capitalism poverty and scarcity are created in order to keep prices high so that the interests of the wealthy are met.

Furthermore, the capitalists failed to classify the needs of the human being and made the mistake of considering all the needs as the same. According to Capitalism, the need for medicine or food would be the same as the need for an extra yacht or jewellery. As a result, one finds in capitalist nations millions of people unable to feed themselves and simultaneously a few people feeding their pets million-dollar meals. The axiom in Capitalism is, “If you can afford it, good for you; if you can't afford it, tough luck because it is Survival of the Fittest”. Islam deals with this issue through its unique categorisation of the human requirements into basic needs, luxury items, and prohibited items. Under the Islamic system, the state would ensure that everyone's basic needs are fulfilled to maintain and preserve the dignity of the human being, and those with additional wealth would be free to acquire luxury items within the Islamic rules.

Also, Islam recognises that some things, while they may provide a certain benefit are actually deemed as providing incorrect satisfactions. Islam prohibits adultery, the exploitation of women as sexual objects, pornography, alcohol as well as other intoxicants and gambling. Because Capitalism is based on benefit and interest, then such a mechanism does not exist in a capitalist society. For example there is no limit to how much the woman's body can be used if the exploitation of women will generate profit or provide a “service”. The economic solution of Capitalism is to ensure the maximum fulfilment of everyone's material benefits by any means possible, without any regard to whether they are incorrect or correct. As one commentator said in response to the Gulf War, “War brings business, and business is good”, which means that, according to capitalist thought, whatever brings benefit is considered correct regardless of the moral, ethical, or social consequences. This profit-driven thinking has led to exploding crime rates, the never-ending spiral of economic and social problems and the ever-increasing deterioration of the social and moral fabric that characterises the capitalist nations.

Under Capitalism, the correctness or incorrectness of anything is subjected to the human mind, which is incapable of determining what is correct or incorrect. Since human beings suffer from contradiction, disparity and the influence of the environment, then the standard itself would be subject to contradiction and continuous change. During the early 20th century, homosexuality was considered an abominable manifestation of the devil and today it is not only accepted as normal, but the entire culture of homosexuality is being enforced in the school curriculum. In Islam, the standard is set by Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) and does not change. The rights and obligations of every individual as well as the state are fixed by the Ahkam Shar'iyah. The sources of Islamic laws, the Qur'an and the Sunnah, are very specific and well-defined, and not subject to the whims and desires of a few elite as in the capitalist System. Also, the methods for interpreting the Islamic texts as well as deriving rules in Islam through ijtihad and tafseer are very specific and well-defined processes with fixed rules. By clearly defining the source of rules as well as the methodology for deriving rules and interpreting the sources, Islam guarantees the rights and obligations of every individual. In Capitalism, the source of rules depends upon the interests of the human beings who control the decision making, and such a standard is haphazard and subject to change. Because Capitalism did not establish any fixed source of rules or any clear methodology of deriving rules, but left these processes up to the whims and desires of the elite, then nothing is guaranteed in Capitalism and, instead the rights and privileges of the people are tossed in the air between the conflicting interests of major interest groups.

In the international sphere, the West, under the capitalist ideology has proclaimed itself as the leader of the world and has assumed upon itself the responsibility of taking care of the affairs of humanity. At the same time, the capitalist West has produced behind its slogans a legacy of ceaseless conflicts, bloodshed, exploitation and occupation under the banner of acquiring raw materials, securing jobs and wealth for their citizens or maintaining national status. Because Capitalism revolves around benefit, then the relationship of capitalist nations to other nations are based on imperialism where conquered nations serve as colonies to be exploited for the benefit of the conqueror. When the European capitalist nations conquered new lands, their motives were purely imperialistic. At times they would send missionaries to paint a facade that they were going “in the name of God”, in the same manner that the Western nations today, driven by the same imperialistic motives intervene under the guise of “humanitarianism” or “human rights”. They exploited the inhabitants, subjugated them to the level of slaves, and robbed their wealth in order to fuel their own economies. Under the dominance of the European nations, such countries were treated as satellite entities whose wealth and resources would return to the capital to satisfy the interests of a few elite. In order to keep such nations at a level of subservience, the Europeans would use political manoeuvring to create fires or install puppets who would maintain their loyalty to them and safeguard their interests, in much the same manner as the capitalist nations do today.

Today, the same scenario exists in which the Western nations maintain an iron fist over the wealth and the resources of the world through institutions like the IMF, the World Bank and the United Nations (UN). What commonly occurs is that multinational corporations and other major institutions which represent the capitalist nations target a nation if it possesses a benefit or interest. In order to legitimise its intervention, the capitalist nation would initiate a crisis or ignite turmoil through political manoeuvring. After bringing the country into ruin, the “reconstruction” phase would follow in which the victimised nation has no other choice but to seek the help of the capitalist nation, and the media is quick to justify to the eyes of the naive masses that a country like the United States is intervening in the world in the name of “democracy” and “freedom”. In reality such nations seek nothing more than raping the world of its resources and leaving the country with barely enough to feed its own people. As a result, the colony would ask for loans from the capitalist nations or from financial institutions under their control, and the loans would be barely sufficient to maintain production of their resources. Eventually, interest accumulates and the situation of the country becomes one of ever-increasing dependence upon the capitalist nation.

The current Iraq crisis is an apt example, but there are many other examples of this and they can be seen throughout the world today.

When Islam was implemented, the foreign policy of the Islamic State was motivated by only one purpose; to carry the Islamic ideology to the world. The Islamic State never fought for the sake of nationalism or tribalism or for pride or glory. Never did the Islamic State conquer a people or a nation in order to exploit it or reap its resources. Those nations that were conquered by the Islamic State were annexed to the body of the State and became part of the State, and the people who were conquered were not looked at as colonised people but as citizens of the State. The Islamic laws were applied universally upon all people without any discrimination given to any group or nation. In fact, even the capital city of the Islamic State moved four times. From Medina, it moved to al-Kufa, then to Damascus and later to Baghdad, all of which were lands that the Islamic State conquered. The conquered people thus took the banner of Islam and carried the Islamic message to the rest of the world. After the fall of Baghdad, the capital moved to Istanbul which was totally populated by non-Arabs. Nobody could imagine the British would move their capital to Zimbabwe or New Delhi, nor could anyone imagine the capital of the United States moving to Seoul or Taipei all of which are colonies of America. This is because as a capitalist nation, America looks to other nations as colonies for the purpose of exploitation and not as lands to be annexed as additional states. The people living in the colonised lands have no access to the wealth or the system of the capitalist nations, and whenever they flee to the capital city or country in order to enjoy the wealth and prosperity, the immigration policy kicks them back into the sewer where they can live a life as colonised people. When the Islamic state conquered new lands, it would apply the Islamic System upon them and the wealth of all the Muslim lands would be distributed throughout the entire state and not concentrated in the capital. Under the Islamic system the conquered lands flourished to the extent that during the time of the Khalifah Harun al-Rashid, the capital of the Islamic State was experiencing a shortage while the conquered provinces were prospering.

From this perspective, Capitalism has failed to bring unity or prosperity to humanity on the basis of benefit. By its very nature benefit and interest create division, conflict and disunity, exploitation of people and their lands. The capitalist economic system creates inequalities in wealth in which a few nations exploit other nations and dictate the policies of the world in order to secure their own benefit. Furthermore, within each nation a few elite control the policies of that nation and exploit the masses in order to maintain the status quo and secure their own interests. The foreign policy of the capitalist nations is established purely upon imperialistic motives, and the sole purpose of capitalist nations in forming a relationship with another nation is not for any ideological aim but to exploit other nations and people in order to secure their own worldly interests. Based on such a policy, the world suffers from conflicts sponsored by a few nations who fuel them in order to secure jobs and consolidate their grip on the world.

Because the capitalist nations revolve around benefit they consider the maximization of the interests of the people and the fulfilment of their desires as the driving force of any action and such a policy has led to the decaying societies that the capitalist nations are ailing from. Alcohol, rape, crime, domestic violence and other social ills are tearing the capitalist nations apart. Yet since drug counselling, rape counselling, and other businesses that thrive on these social problems collectively constitute a multibillion dollar industry, then the capitalist notion of benefit and interest maintains that such problems will remain to keep the industry of “crime prevention” alive. The woman has been reduced from an object of honour and dignity to an exhibit to be displayed on the strip bars, night clubs, cinema screens and magazines of the world in the name of profit or satisfying the sexual needs of the consumer (what the economists refer to as “maximizing the benefits of society”). In the name of benefit, the capitalists maintain the degraded status of women and indoctrinate this culture into the entire population. All of these facts illustrate that Capitalism has failed, and nothing else can be expected from a system whose creed and fundamental doctrine, secularism, is incorrect and invalid.

Democracy literally comes from the Greek term Demos Cratus, which means "People sovereignty". The concept itself had its origins with the Greek philosophers and thinkers. The system of Polis-which theoretically meant that everyone was entitled the opportunity to vote-became the model political system for major powers like the Greeks. The implementation of the democratic system resulted in many problems, which caused many of the Greek philosophers who founded the concept to reject it altogether as impractical. It was only revived by the European nations as a political system after they removed the church from the political authority they shared with the despotic monarchies. Thus the vacuum that was created, was filled by this system.

Since then The West has adopted Democracy as its political system. The democratic system is not a complete ideology by itself, but just the name of the political system adopted by the secular nations. A common misconception is that Democracy is unique to the capitalist nations. Even the former communist Soviet Union claimed that its political system was democratic; we have the communist North Korea formally known as the Democratic People's-Republic of Korea. It is claimed that its political system was democratic in nature because they maintained that the power to legislate lay with the people or a group from amongst them i.e. The Communist Party.

Although many shapes and forms of Democracy exist, they all state, or claim to state that the sovereignty to legislate laws and systems resides with the people. Thus, the underlying factor of all democratic states is that the sovereignty, or the right to legislate and act as the source of laws and codes, is ultimately delegated to human beings.

The veil of Democracy

It should be noted that the Greek philosophers who invented the concept of Democracy were also the first to criticise and even reject it. For example Plato believed that the selection of rulers could best be made through the prolonged training of men and women, he did not believe in wisdom of the masses and preferred rule by the select few or by an enlightened one.

If those who invented Democracy took this attitude towards their idea and system, then it doesn't require much research to realise that Democracy is a failure. The primary reason is because it puts man as the source for legislation. By putting man as the legislator, he is unable to design a system of laws and rules to organise humanity and address human problems in the correct way, any system that relies on the human being as the source of laws and systems is bound to fail, as contradiction, disparity and differences will occur.

Thus we see nations built upon this basis failing to solve problems correctly, and inherent problems existing within them.

The Capitalist system in practice leads to disparity and contradictions. Experts are assigned to solve problems. Some of these are normal human problems. Others are problems that the system itself has generated. The result is that loopholes and get-out clauses proliferate dramatically.

A contradiction can be seen with the then UK Home Secretary Jack Straw's commitment to keep Myra Hindley locked up for the rest of her life. The original sentencing judge stated that 'life' meant, "...a very long time". In 1985, this was set at thirty years by the then Home Secretary Leon Britten. Now over thirty years after the original sentencing, 'life' suddenly means 'for life'. The right to appeal for parole for 'lifers' is enshrined within the British legal system. The sentence of 'life' meaning 'for life' contradicts British and European laws and conventions. The 'Moors Murders' have remained an emotive issue in the UK solely due to the tabloid manipulation of the masses. Hindley's deeds were hideous, but it is the press that have sustained her infamy in the minds of the British people. Three and a half decades later, the press still titillate their readers with the gory details of the trial in a manner that has no relationship to the academia of the legal process. She ended up dying in prison. Thus, saving David Blunkett from facing the vexed question.

In the realm of government the problems that humans have created for themselves are numerous. The US has a relatively young system. It was framed far away from the bitter racial and religious prejudices of Europe at that time. The 'New World' consisted of many peoples that had purposely fled from religious intolerance. The Americans had the opportunity to take a long hard look at the European democracies. They attempted to take the best from Europe and to think deeply about forging a utopia. The American constitution has been a paradigm and an inspiration for many nations that gained independence from colonialism.

The American system, it may be said, was carefully planned and thought out by rational, intelligent, well-intentioned lateral thinkers. Yet, we see the reality of America is that it is a complete mess.

Some of the main issues that were mulled and mused over to the greatest depth were enshrined in 'The Bill of Rights'. The most famous of which was the First Amendment; freedom of religion, speech, press, protest and petition. For two centuries this has been quoted, used and abused in defence of many issues that even the average American considers damaging; for example, pornography and white supremacist material, whereas at the same time, these rights which allow such things, are ignored when it came to the Muslims incarcerated post 9/11. When this is linked with the Second and Fourth Amendments, we see the chaos that these principles gave birth too. These being, the right to bear arms and, "the right to secure in their persons and houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures". The interpretation of these amendments led to the emergence of the 'Branch-Davidian' sect in Waco, Texas. The whole 'Waco Incident' was the direct result of the very things that the founding fathers held to be so sacred. The US has always been the home of weirdo cults, crackpot militias and right-wing lunatics.

Satisfactory solutions to human problems, such as crime, have been elusive to The West for all the above reasons. They have reached a point of complete desperation. Criminologists, psychologists and sociologists rack their brains to come up with satisfactory solutions. For example, to combat crime in Britain, they have just extended a trial of electronic tagging of criminals. However, the success statistics have not yet been published. We should not be surprised if this gives a greater than 80% re-offending rate as was seen with safari holidays, softly-softly, short-sharp-shock and confronting the victims of crime and so on. None of the methods cooked up by humans can ever produce satisfactory solutions. This is because the root remains the same; that man is the legislator.

The Capitalists' takeover of governance

If we look to every human society, it requires laws and rules to regulate and organise it. These rules and laws necessitate that it has a ruling system in order that it executes and administers the laws of the people, and the final decision is left with the one individual. In Islam, the ruler is the Khaleefah. His decision-making is limited to only the extraction of solutions from the Qur'an and Sunnah. His personal interests, or anything else for that matter, have a non-existent impact in rule making.

Let us compare this to states of The West. The governments are linked decisively, to the strongest factions in society, which are the Capitalists. Interest groups and individuals with big money hold the sway in policy-making, and in some cases are part of government.

The Capitalists, in essence control government policy, whether it is foreign policy or domestic policy. They influence this by dictating to politicians the policy to make. This has reached to the extent that the Capitalists are forming governments. A brief look to the present US administration reveals that its members were either heads of massive corporations, or sitting in high positions in the firms. By looking at just a few figures within the government we find George W Bush, who had a seat on the oil company Harken Energy, Dick Cheney (Vice-President) was CEO of Halliburton Industries; an oil services company that had dealings with Iraq. Former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, was CEO of Alcoa the world's largest Aluminium manufacturer. Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans was CEO of Tom Brown Inc. a $1.2 billion oil and gas company. Donald Rumsfeld was CEO of G.D. Searle, a pharmaceutical company. Colin Powell was on the board of directors of Gulfstream Aerospace and AOL, and so the list continues. This is not unique to the US, but endemic to all the capitalist states. The UK has had Ministers of State such as Lord Simon of Highbury, who was chairman of BP, and then became Minister of State for Trade and Competitiveness in Europe. The Capitalists further exert influence through funding the political parties, by giving huge donations to election campaigns, by sponsoring conferences, etc these special 'favours' are returned with patronage, lucrative contracts, and direct policy initiatives.

This state of affairs is not unique to one political party or the other, but just a reality of Democracy in The West.

This has led to despondency by many within The West, to the extent that voting turnouts barely reach above 50%. Tony Blair's "landslide" election looks much less triumphant when you consider that 41 percent of the population didn't even show up to cast a ballot. While the media tried to portray the election as a tense battle between "left-of-centre" Blair and his arch-rival Conservative opposition, many voters saw the parties as virtually indistinguishable.

Blair spent less on health and education than Thatcher, and under Blair's "true radicalism" approach, the gap between rich and poor has grown even faster than under former Prime Minister John Major, a Conservative. So when faced with what Margaret Thatcher ominously called TINA, subverting the majority into thinking There Is No Alternative, many British voters just gave up.

Islam is the only system that is immune from prejudice and bias stemming from man. Nor as a source is it at the mercy of man's limited knowledge. This is the system that is from Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala), our Creator. Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) is the one who created us with so many needs and desires, but He (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) is the one without needs. Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) knows best our very nature. Nothing of creation escapes his knowledge. Allah (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) designed us and, therefore, is the best designer of a system for us to live by. Surely His (Subhanahu Wa Ta'aala) system is the only system for man to live by.