The Islamic Piety and the Issue of Wealth

The Islamic worldview

Islam, as I understand it, is a comprehensive religion that concerns both materialistic and spiritualistic aspects of life. It calls human beings to that which will give them a new life[^1] ; a life that is good and pure[^2] . It helps the faithful believers to set their preferences pattern in such a state that a balance is secured between all real human needs. It never has human beings leave the world and its affairs for the Hereafter; on the contrary, Islam considers the current life as a farm for the Hereafter[^3] and says: “those who were blind in this world, will be blind in the Hereafter, and yet further and more astray from the road.”[^4] There is no monasticism in Islam as practiced in a monastery[^5] , instead its monasticism is a permanent effort to serve the people selflessly and to create wealth seeking the Lord's countenance and detaching oneself from worldly desires[^6] .

As a Muslim loves God he loves all creatures and considers them one by one as a sign of Him and part of His kingdom created for a transcendental aim. The Qur’an describes the true Muslims as the following: “Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): Our Lord! Not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this!” Thus he eagerly endeavors to approach nature to understand it perfectly and to cooperate with it righteously in order to direct its power toward excellent goals– not to harm it to satisfy his desires selfishly. Therefore, the concept of the direction of nature in the Islamic view does not necessarily match with what Alex Campbell says[^7] of removing all natural barriers and human norms and substituting artificial, fabricated equivalents for natural processes. Instead, it means creating a lovely relationship between human beings (as vicegerent of God) and nature (as their realm) leading to companionship and accomplishment. This process of leadership and conquering should satisfy human needs, supporting human dignity and sustainable development, which enables individual human beings and communities to achieve their aspirations and full potential over a sustained period of time.

Monotheism (Tawhid), the belief in the oneness and the unity of God, is the pivotal pillar of the Islamic worldview. It might be translated that we should have only one ultimate goal in our life - becoming God-like by reflecting all His beautiful names - and clearly it requires perfectionism. Hence, during his spiritual evolution, man as a two-dimensional being should make a journey from the basest material, mud, approaching the most High, God. In other words, God has invited him to pass through an important reference point, salvation. Thus, we can imagine that he has two distinct selves in his life: an arrogant, selfish mud-like self (when the real love is not the dominant factor); and a God-like, selfless philanthropic self. Clearly, each specific self requires a certain and separate corresponding rationality. The rationality corresponding with the mud-self creates a special utility function fully different from the utility function which comes from the divine-self. When a household as an economic unit, evolves from selfishness and being mud-like to salvation and being God-like, the inferior rationality will not be effective at all and will collapse instantaneously and

the superior rationality creates a special dynamism more powerful for economic performance. The driving force of this rationality is still self-interest, but a quite high-level one rooted in being God-like. Besides, this rationality is highly exalted, nature friendly, and fully compatible with sustainable development. On the other hand, due to self-interest maximization in an immature person who fails to feel love and has not yet obtained salvation, we may observe alienation, isolation and hostility.

I would like to refer to one verse of the Quran, which clearly argues that the individual desires derived from a low-level self-interest lead to harm and corruption: “Corruption doth appear on land and sea because of which men's hands have done, that He may make them taste a part of that which they have done, in order that they may return.” We may deduce that this corruption is only a part of the consequences of what man has done as a result of his selfishness, and that there might be many other bad consequences washed clean by God’s forgiveness. In other words, the invisible hand in an immature society not only is not able to optimize social benefits, but also it creates a great deal of harm and corruption that surpasses our imaginations. However, most of this corruption will be removed by God’s wisdom. The remaining corruption serves to warn the people and deter them from being selfish.

Technically speaking, Islamic teachings affect households’ utility function and consequently on their indifference map[^8] , not the price mechanism function. Thus, the role of Islamic teachings on consumer’s behavior formally is very similar to company’s advertising even though they are very different in content.