New York City. Photo: The Rag Blog
This post is co-written by Inside Islam blogger Colin Christopher and Anwar Bin Hayat, Secretary to the Vice Chancellor of Lahore Islamic University. Bin Hayat has also served as a financial officer for more than 25 years and has graduate degrees in economics, Islamic studies, and a higher diploma in Islamic Law and the Judiciary.
Given the current fiscal crises in wealthy countries and the Occupy Movement’s response to wealth distribution, Islamic perspectives on economics have garnered increasing attention in even non-Muslim majority countries. In this post, we’ll attempt to highlight some core Islamic principles that specifically address wealth, distribution, and justice. Islam not only requires the fulfillment of everyone’s basic needs, primarily through a respectable source of earning, but also emphasizes an equitable distribution of income and wealth so that, in the words of the Holy Qur’an, “Wealth does not circulate only among your rich.” (59:7)
A year ago we wrote