The Islamic Piety and the Issue of Wealth

The consistency of Islamic piety with sustainable development

Inviting all people to a progressive mission, The Qur’an depicts two extremely opposite kind of people and their missions:

The most rigid of opponents: they concentrate their efforts to make mischief in the land and destroy crops and cattle (thus destroying the environment), when given an opportunity to rule over a land[^19] ;

The loftiest human beings: they employ their utmost endeavors and donate themselves entirely to God’s way, which requires serving people seeking His pleasure.[^20]

Of course, the full Islamic mission, i.e. reflecting all God’s beautiful names, will never be accomplished[^21] . Therefore, there is no end point in front of a Muslim to stop. Consequently, he is passionately committed to exhibit His names throughout his life as much as he can. Therefore, in the economic domain, he tirelessly attempts to embody His creative characteristics and gracefully utilizes the widespread endowments bestowed by God. In this regard The Qur’an says: “He (God) brought you forth from the earth and has made you husband and develop it”[^22] . Since the Muslim’s attention has been focused on the loftiest objective, he endeavors to direct society toward prosperity and create sufficient wealth in the form of public or private goods vital for a living and stable society. He never damages the natural resources corruptly or exploits them extravagantly or wastefully. In contrast, when he gets involved in exploiting endowments, he invests in them; he helps them grow, flourish and reach their potential. His involvement in nature and society brings about activities and improvements, not environmental destruction.

In general, the ultimate socio-economic goal in the Islamic mission derived from The Qur’an and other Islamic sources is the high quality of life coinciding necessarily with social justice, brotherhood, and mutual interdependence. The best strategy to fulfill this goal is to put emphasis on building and increasing the stock of human capital and social capital hence – as Choudhary (2002, 127) argues – the establishment of the functional capacity for understanding and implementing systemically unitary practices and concepts in accordance with the epistemology of divine unity (Tawhid). To achieve this target and to conquer or remove obstacles such as ignorance, motivelessness, and alienation, there is a vital need to focus and concentrate on human resource development in order to build and foster moral consciousness.