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Islam is
the middle way. Both communism and capitalism have
to admit that they fall short of the aim
they set out to achieve and cannot deliver what they promised to
provide: a happy way of life. Islam, often being blamed to be an
outdated medieval system, is indeed the only answer
for the future. In the Islamic understanding, the
government's prime purpose is to serve the people. Human happiness is
at the heart of all regulations for social interaction.
The relationship
of the members of an Islamic society are therefore based
on reciprocal responsibility, not exploitation. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon
him) said on the basic necessities of life: 'If a person who is
charged with work for us (the community) has no wife, he shall have
one, if he has no dwelling place, he shall have one, if he has no
animal, he shall have one". This is not peculiar to state officials
but to every member of society. Each individual is encouraged to
give to society his best and is entitled to all his needs met
without the excesses of communism which tries to level all people
down to a basic minimum, or capitalism which places the individual
rights above the well-being of the whole community.
An ideal society as
modelled by Islam does not need an expensive bureaucracy to keep
basic services going. A society built on mutual care and respect,
remembering the common origin and common destiny of man, living in
the spirit of brotherhood and good neighbourliness, will naturally
look after its weak, disadvantaged, needy, handicapped, or
misfortunate members without looking upon it as a burden. A good
society is a society which encourages the good aspects which arc
abundantly available within the British community, but often dormant
or stifled. The materialistic encouragement of selfishness has done
a lot of harm to good relations in Britain. A good society strengthens
even the weakest, a bad society corrupts even the
strongest. Government and administration shoulder a heavy
responsibility in keeping the fabric of society together. Social
requirements and necessities may not be commercialised. It is
grossly immoral to sell back to the people what already belongs to
them, as in the privatisation of service industries, or to leave
essential care to the bottom line of private balance sheets.
A great deal of social
unrest and tension could easily be avoided would we attempt to
alleviate understandable frustrations amongst large numbers of
society due to economic disadvantage, disabling of activity, lack of
purpose, and lack of self-respect due to missing satisfaction of
personal success in a more and more anonymous and institutionalised
world.
Any remaining form of
resistance, for example in trade unionism, meets with systematic
oppression and forceful coercion in the interests of a system which
has since long stopped to be the servant of the people. If citizens
can no longer identify with their politicians and government,
sympathise with their fellow-citizens and feel understood in their
grievances, society runs an immediate danger of disintegrating. A
return to a caring attitude is incumbent before it is too
late.
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