Islamic Economy Its Ideological and Legal Foundations

The Flexibility of Islamic Economic System

This subject is, in general, related to the flexible character of Islamic rules but we will show it from the economic angle.

Briefly, Islam supplied this system with all necessary elements which enable it to accommodate the vital changes which occur frequently and rapidly in the economic field. The reason is that economy is a field related to the complexities of man's social life as well as to nature's ability to provide, and the proper environmental conditions, and so on. Therefore, with respect to land distribution and ownership, there is a great difference between the situation of land's perfect abundance and man's insufficient physical power and the situation of scarcity and increasing shortage resulted from human growth rates on one hand, and man's immense technological power to reclaim the land. This difference may affect the issues of 'ya'zah [occupancy] -which is considered as an ownership factor-, social development, mines' ownership, vertical ownership -both in depth and in altitude-, energy's ownership, etc.

This difference may also influence the issue of alteration of the nature and effects of property relationship leading mujtahids [jurists] to keep aloof from the issue of absolute ownership of land and suggest the subject of al-ikhti#a'# [exclusivity right] which results from the impact made by the individual on the land, thus when the impact ceases to exist the right will expire and returns to the public domain which can be used by the Islamic state according to the public interest.

Therefore, existence of the element of ijtihad and its constant openness represents one of flexibility elements without which one cannot know the developments' effects on the nature of the rule deduced form the nu#u'#.

The fact that Islam put forward certain broad economic rules and related them to the `urf [prevailing standards of conduct] concept has a special connotation for notions like isra'f and tabdhi'r [wasting and squandering], faqr and ghina' [poverty and needlessness], al-nafaqa't al-muta`a'rifah [customary allowance], al-manfa`at al-mualah [lawful profit], ma`u'n [basic need], riba' [usury], mithli'yyah and qi'mi'yyah [fungibility and being ad valorem], circulation and depression of cash currencies, _ama'n [liability], individual and social damage, [impediment], _aru'rah [urgency], al-ma#lahat al-`ulya' [the higher expediency], being asbaq [preceding] in waqf, being `aqdi'y [contractual], being bay`i'y [exchange], trade through tara'_i [mutual agreement], being qimari'y [gamble], lahw, and even `ada'lah [justice], ~ulm [injustice], ta`addi' [transgression], and akl al-ma'l bi al-ba'>il [misappropriation of property]. Thus, `urf intervenes when these concepts change, often due to change in conditions, and consequently, as a result of change in the `urfi' [commonplace] view of the subject the judgment also changes as we saw in the issue of sha>ranj [chess] for example.

However, the most important element on which the Islamic system concentrates is the element of intervention by the mujtahid, just wali'y al-amr in the economic life. This intervention has its own criteria, rules, and what the late al-@adr calls the penetrating beams that illuminate Islam's positions and give it the spirit of the system and its promising goals1. In such a system, the wali'y has the obligation to take advantage of his social power and true commitment to Islam and the Islamic expediency of the ummah and, through consultation with the masters of knowledge and expertise, carry out his duties which can be summarized as the following:

1. Identification of the best methods and executive arrangements for the enforcement of the fixed rules of Allah, e.g. looking for the best way to eliminate riba' in the society while preserving the positive activities performed by the banks.

2. Filling the public domain with laws in accordance with the supreme Islamic expediency while preserving, as much as possible, the primary rule regarding the various cases.

3. Determining the extent to which the conditions are favorable for the enforcement of Islamic rules and institutions. Therefore, if the faqih finds the conditions and the rules in such a serious incompatibility that is called by the scholars of u#u'l as taza' [conflict], namely taza' between the wuju'b [obligatoriness] of implementing the [ruling] and the prohibition of resulting evil consequences, he must produce the best possible solution to facilitate the implementation of the while compensating its mafsadahs [damaging results].

If this appears to be impossible he should shift to the area of tarji' bi al-ahammi'yah [preference based on priority] which is a vast area that follows the opinions of experts and mujtahids. The situation may reach to a point that due to the priority of preventing the mafsadah caused by it, the implementation of a certain hukm is suspended. This area is an accurate and a delicate one which is not to be resorted to except in rare situations.