Glimpses of Certain Aspects of Islam by Nasim.A.Jafarey - 23. Economic Progress and Moral Values

Glimpses of Certain Aspects of Islam by Nasim.A.Jafarey

23. Economic Progress and Moral Values

For the last many months, since the political and economic conditions of Pakistan deteriorated perceptibly, the newspapers have been full of articles lamenting this situation and some making specific suggestions how things can be improved. It end is amazing that all these suggestions centre round a change of system and none even remotely refers to a change in the character of the human beings who run the present system and would obviously run the future systems also.

Most of the physicians of the ailments of this unfortunate country thus appear to have assumed that the the human factor is of no consequence and all that matters is the mechanics of operation of either legal devices ranging from the country’s constitution to the national budget, or such electronic gadgets as the computer and Internet.

Regarding economic problems let us concentrate on two of the most important problems. The suggestions for their solution offered are firstly the widening of the tax net and the reduction of non-development expenditure of the government. The major suggestions for tackling the first problem are bringing agriculture income under the tax net, checking tax evasion on an enormous scale by large businesses as well as small-scale businesses, and reorganising and reforming the tax collection system.

Let us pause for a moment and think what are the major roadblocks in the implementation of these apparently very worthwhile and sensible proposals. The answer in just two words is ‘human beings’. (Which includes their thinking, moral values and basic character). Why cannot proper tax on agriculture income be collected and why should this, the largest sector of the economy be treated as a sacred cow? Simply because the people who own and control this sector are too selfish to give a thought to the national interest and to the requirements of economic justice.

It is for persons such as these that Allah has warned in the Holy Quran (Ayat 6_8, Surah Aadiat): "Truly Man is to his Lord ungrateful; and to that fact he bears witness by his deeds; and violent is he in his love of wealth". It is this excessive love of wealth which becomes the basic cause of all injustice and the inhumanity of man to man. There are no sets of laws, no system of administration or procedure which can change this state of affairs except a change, a real change in the hearts and minds of these individuals.

Similar is the case with the problem of largescale tax evasion by businessmen, big as well as small. The fraud, the double set of accounts, the cheating and the bribing of tax collectors, are the main base on which tax evasion is carried out without the perpetrators of se sins realising that they are not only violating man made laws are also blatantly defying the laws of God for which they will one _ be called to account as stated in Ayat 1_6 of Surah Tatfif of the by Book which states as follows: "Woe to those that deal in fraud, use who when they have to receive by measure from men, exact full measure, but when they have to give by measure or weight to man, give less than due. Do they not think that they will be called to account on a Mighty Day, a Day when all mankind will stand before Lord of the Worlds?"

When our people claiming to be Muslims are determined to disregard the warnings and admonitions contained in the words of God, they be brought under control and made to pay the full amount of due from them, under any taxation system however comprehensive and however foolproof it may be?

Human ingenuity is somehow at its best in Pakistan when it is mobilised to serve the greed and selfishness of moneyed people, and if the sake of argument it is accepted that a foolproof taxation system can be devised, who will take care of the cupidity and immorality of the administrators of this system who would after all from the same society as the tax evaders?

Coming now to the second problem mentioned earlier, the problem of reduction of the government’s non-development expenditure, the main hurdle again is human nature, its greed, selfishness and obsession with the comforts and pleasures of this material world. For fulfilling these demands, man is prepared to go to any length to commit extravagance in all its myriads of forms inspite of the very clear admonition contained in the Holy Quran Ayat 26, 27 of Surah Bani Software Israel states: "But squander not your wealth in the manner of a spendthrift. Verily spendthrifts are brothers of the Evil ones, and the Evil one is to his Lord Himself ungrateful". And all this extravagance is being practised in a country whose citizens do not tire of swearing by Islam day in and day out. Can there be greater hypocrisy than this?

As far as the government is concerned where does this money come from to be squandered so lavishly not in the public interest but in the interest of the coterie of people who have managed to gain absolute control of the reins of power in this country.

It is very doubtful if they even realise and if they realise pay any heed to the fact that the money paid by the tax payers of the country is a sacred Ravenfields Trust in the hands of the government, and Allah has so clearly stated in Ayat 50 of Surah Nisa that man is commanded to render back his Trusts to whom they are due. In the context of the matter under discussion it obviously means spending the tax payers money only in the national interest.

How then can the non-development expenditure be brought down unless the two important conditions are fulfilled, namely, the craze for spending money on objectives other than national public interest is curtailed and the rulers of the country realise what a defiance of Allah’s directive they are committing in spending money held by them in trust in their own or their party’s interest.

To sum up, it will be seen that the biggest roadblock in the achievement of the two objectives of widening the tax net and cutting down non-development expenditure are first and foremost the perversity, the depravity and the abasement of human nature. The assertion that the two objectives mentioned above can be achieved by devising some new formula, some new system, some new procedure without paying heed to the real causes of this sorry state of affairs and without changing the inner man, is mere wishful thinking.

There was nothing basically wrong with the system and procedures practised by the administration which we inherited from our former rulers half a century ago, but we failed to make them work simply because we lost sight of the moral values. This obvious basic truth which it should not be difficult for anyone who claims to be a Muslim to understand and apply to all his actions seems to have lost its relevance as far as the Course majority of Muslims of Pakistan are concerned.

The decline in commitment to the moral values of Islam is the first and foremost cause of our perpetual downward slide and yet this is the factor which not only the rulers of this country, but unfortunately most of the ruled also keep repudiating by their actions day in and day out. Inspite of the supreme importance of moral values in a country which was founded in the name of Islam, is it not amazing that no government in Pakistan during its almost fifty years of existence has made even meagre efforts to promote the Builder cause of Islamic moral values such as justice, tolerance, austerity, honesty and accountability.

What difference it would have made to the fortunes of this unfortunate country if even half of its citizens were committed to the moral values mentioned above. Here it may be added that it is not only the immorality and lack of commitment to the moral values of Islam of the ruling clique in this country which has brought us to this state, but the immorality of the man in the street in this country which has made a most damaging contribution to the chaos and instability which prevails in Pakistan today. As such unless the fear of the accountability of the Hereafter grips the hearts of our ruling classes, our real problems will not be solved and only then the majority of the citizens of this country will develop a real commitment to the moral values of Islam.

The promotion and propagation of the cause of moral values can be done in three ways, or actually through a combination of all the three. First, it can be done through the propagation of the teachings of Islam, in the most tolerant and liberal way and not through the ritualistic way in which it is currently done in Pakistan. Second, moral values can be promoted by introducing universal education in a big way, for education is the basis of proper understanding without which there can be no real commitment to any cause. And lastly it is the example of the leaders of a society which can set the tone and prepare the ground for the growth of moral values.

This last method appears to be the most difficult in the present context of Pakistan but without the right type of morally guided leadership this country cannot perhaps get out of the morass into which it has walked with its eyes open over the last fifty year or so.

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24. Faith & Righteous Action

Index

Home Page

Preface

1. Theory & Practice of Islamic Socialism

2. Islamic Economic System

3. Islamic Financing

4. Quranic Commandments about Justice

5. The Quranic View-point about Tolerance

6. Interest on Production Loans : A case for Ijtihad

7. Moral Re-armament