Islam is a comprehensive system and embraces all facets of human life. It provides guidance in all walks of life. This point not only can be deduced from the Islamic laws, but the Islamic sources themselves stress upon it. We draw the attention of the readers to the following reports pertaining to the sayings and remarks of the Imams of the house of the holy Prophet(SAWS) of Islam:
"Islam has fully explained what is lawful and what is unlawful. It has an answer to every question that people may be confronted with to solve in their lives. It has mentioned even the penalty for a minor scratch".
Then the Imam put his hand on Abu Basir and said:
"With your permission, may I press your hand a little bit?"
"I am at your disposal, my lord." replied Abu Basir.
The Imam then pressed him a little and said:
"Even the penalty for this is there in Islam".
"Islam gives an answer to all that is required by the people. There is no point which has not been discussed by Islam. Even the compensation for a little scratch inflicted upon the body of someone else has been mentioned."
It is reported in Nahj-al-Balagah that Imam Ali (A.S) while eulogizing the Holy Prophet SAWS and the Holy Quran, said:
"Allah the Almighty raised the Holy Prophet SAWS at a time when there had been no Prophet since long, and the people were in a deep slumber. They were all violating the commandments of Allah. At such a critical juncture the Prophet SAWS was raised with a beacon of the light of guidance, i.e. Holy Quran. It contains the remedies of all your ills. It tells you how to arrange your livelihood and groom your relations".
It is clear from these reports that the Islamic laws cover all spheres of life. If Islam has a rule for even the slightest problems of life, it must provide a solution for economic problems also, for if it ignores such an important aspect, its comprehensiveness would have no meaning.
Is it imaginable that Islam lays down rules for the compensation of a scratch, but says nothing about the right of man vis-a-vis his productive activity or the relationship between the workers and the employees?
Is it reasonable to think that Islam, which determines your right in the matter of a scratch, does not determine it when you bring waste land under cultivation, extract minerals, dig a canal or acquire a forest?
Those who have full faith in Islam and its original sources are convinced that Islam can solve all the problems of economic organization and it is possible to derive an economic system from the Quran and Hadees.
From the above it is clear that those who say that Islam has organised only individual life and not that of the society and that the economic theory being a part of the social organisation is outside its purview, are sadly mistaken. The above quoted traditions prove beyond any shadow of doubt that the Islamic teachings cover both the individual and the social organizations.
In fact a statement that Islam organizes individual and not social behavior, besides being repungant to Islamic traditions is self contradictory, for it is wrong to make a distinction between the behaviour of their organizations and the society. The social organisations, whether political or economic, always influence the behaviour of the individuals. Hence, the conduct of the individuals cannot be separated from that of the social organizations.
Let us consider capitalism as a social system. It organizes economic life on the basis of the principles of economic freedom. This principle is reflected in the behaviour of the employer and the capitalist towards the workers and in the contract which is concluded between them. Similarly it is reflected in the life of the individuals.
As such, if it is admitted that Islam organizes the behavior of an indvidual when he takes loan from anyone, employs a worker or is himself employed by someone else it shows that this organizing is inevitably related to a social system. Hence, separation between the individual and his social behaviour amouunts to self-contradiction. When we admit that Islam organizes the behaviour of the individual and acknowledges that it has rules in respect of every human action, we must also believe that it has its own economic system and social organization.
