When we say that economic system exists in Islam or that Islam has an economic theory we do not intend to mean that there exist in the Islamic sources all those views which generally characterize a school of economics.
What we mean is that Islamic sources contain a vast collection of laws concerning various fields of economic activity, such as the Islamic laws about bringing the waste land under cultivation and the discovery of minerals, or the laws about letting and hiring, partnership, intrest etc. Islam also has laws about zakat, khums , taxes and public treasury.
If all these laws are collectively brought into a definite shape and on their analogy some other laws are deduced and added to them it is possible to evolve an Islamic system.
It is not necessary that the Islamic sources should produce general principles comparable to such principles as that of say, economic freedom in capitalism. Anyhow, in the Islamic sources and traditions we come across a number of laws and regulations which make the position of Islam clear vis-a-vis economic freedom, and enable us to get its subsitute from Islamic point of view. Islam has forbidden the use of capital for earning intrest. It does not allow to owm land without cultivating it. It allows the Muslim rulers to fix prices. These laws put together make the position of Islam vis-a-vis economic system clear.
Article taken from Book `Islam and schools of Economics' published by Islamic Seminary.
Author : Ayatullah
Baqir As-Sadr. Transalated to English by M.A.Ansari.
