BASIC FEATURES OF THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM

1. Individual Liberty

The individual enjoys complete liberty to do anything or adopt any profession or use his (or her) wealth in any manner he (or she) likes within the law of the land. "Islam allows a person to create as much wealth as he can by his knowledge, skill and labor, through the means that are not unsocial and immoral, and it envisages a natural inequality of energy and aptitude which necessarily results in the inequality of material or social rewards. But as all society is one organism, t prohibits all those means that lead to the concentration of wealth in a few hands. It is a Qur'anic injunction that economic life must be so organized that too much wealth does not remain locked up in private treasures. Like all religions, Islam inculcates charity, but it goes further than any other creed by imposing a capital levy on all surplus that remains unutilized in single hands for a whole year. Then the Islamic Law of inheritance is used as a means of dispersion of capital, creating a comparative equality of opportunity for a number of individuals to start life again on the basis of individual initiative and personal effort."

And there is absolutely no doubt that "if the system, as visualized by Islam, is truly and wholly established in society and all its departments are organized in the right places, a social system will grow in which there will be neither big millionaires nor paupers and destitutes. The great mass of people will be moderately well off."

2. Right to Property

Islam has recognized individuals' right to own property, but subjects it to such limitation as to render it absolutely harmless to the common good of society. It has, however, established and developed such an intimate relationship between the individual and society that they work together without any apparent clash between them. It maintains that the individual has two simultaneous capacities: capacity as an independent individual and his capacity as a member of the community. His response to either capacity may at times be greater than his response to the other one, but he will finally combine and harmonize both. The social concept based on such a belief does not separate the individual from his community nor does it regard them as two conflicting forces trying to overcome one another.

"This system is based on the concept of harmony between capitalism and communism, combining the merits of both without having their drawbacks.