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Text Box: ENGINEERING OUR ECONOMY (Part 6) By Mubaashir Uqdah This is part 6 of this article on Engineering our Economy (the economy of the followers of Imam W. Deen Mohammed). Let us take a moment to briefly recap what has been written in the previous five parts of this article and what will be in the remaining 3 parts. In part one, we outlined why it was important for Imam Mohammed’s followers to understand what an economy is and how we should use our economy to first evolve and direct ourselves, and then the larger African American society towards the fulfillment of the purpose and mission for which Allah fashioned us using the institution of chattel slavery. In part two, we discuss in more detail what an economy is and we demonstrate that successful economies are planned, regulated; they are engineered. We show in a number of ways that generating a powerful economy does not happen by chance or through instinct, but by conscious effort; through training, direction, and purposeful planning and action. We also identify the different types of economies and we ask the question, “What kind of economy do we have?” In part three, we describe and comment upon the key principles of an Islamic economy and we discuss some of the principles of Fitra that the followers of Imam Mohammed should use to shape our economy. We also provide a vision of a possible evolutionary path of CPC’s growth so that we can better see how support for that program will lead to real economic development for us. Parts 4 and 5 discuss the concept of Ribaa. It is important for us to understand not only that Allah and Muhammad the Prophet condemn Ribaa, but we must understand why they condemn it. Ultimately, building our economy without Ribaa will give us the economic advantage needed to come from behind in economic power and catch up with those we must help, guide, compete against, and those whose immoral plans we must defeat. Understanding the roots of the Ribaa problem will enable us to understand the methods we develop to solve it and the motivation to seize our natural advantage so that we can defeat those using Ribaa to usurp and enslave the lives and productive potential of the world’s people rather than freeing that potential for the sake of humanity. This article, part 6 and the next one, part 7, describe very important meanings from another sign in the Mother Book (the creation). In these meanings are principles that our leadership should find ways of applying across the communities that support Imam W. Deen Mohammed. Finally, part 8, will complete this discussion of Engineering Our Economy by connecting some of these principles previously discussed together with Imam Mohammed’s efforts (CPC) and the potential of our community to discuss how the resulting synergy can give us an economic advantage leading to economic strength. Consider the following Fitra (natural pattern in creation) in the earth’s economy. Observe how the earth generates living creatures (plant and animal) that use each other in the circular chain of life. One creature eats another so that it may grow strong and perpetuate its life to the next generation. That same creature also becomes the nourishment for another, so that the other creature can thrive and perpetuate its growth. Eventually everything goes back to the earth to feed the earth and become nourishment for plants and the recycling continues. In the sign described above, we see a minimum of nine economic principles at work: creation, production, marketing, distribution, consumption, growth, recycling, reuse, and reciprocity. The economic system of the earth is that everything gets nourishment from something else and everything becomes nourishment for something else. There is a give and take by all, for the benefit of all. This is the principle of Tawheed. It is love to see how beautifully Allah has architected His creation and how practical is its guidance. First, there is creation. An economy is of no benefit when its people do not create products and services. Just as Allah gives the creatures he creates what they need to survive and grow, we must give the items and activities we create what they need to survive and grow. Every time a new creation is made or produced, the society has new nutrients from which it can consume and derive nourishing strength. When we write a new lecture, book or play, make new music, create new mind drawings and paintings, design new clothes, conduct a workshop or public meeting, feed the poor, open new businesses, organize new political alliances, etc., we are creating the vitamins that feed the Ummah; we are creating the bricks that form the foundation our economy is built upon. Now, I beckon to those of us who follow the leadership of Imam W. Deen Mohammed to ask ourselves, “What are we creating to feed others in our society and what are others creating to feed us?” Are we starving our society and our mission because we are too distracted by the larger society to create what we need? Do you see how our Imam labors to bring products to us so that we will have something to trade between one another? This trading is the basis of an economy. He is trying to show us this by example. Next, there is production or rather reproduction. Allah engineered the ability to reproduce in living creatures to ensure that there is a continuous supply of food for consumption. Similarly, for our society to live we must continuously and consistently produce products and services. We cannot produce one book or one song, one program and then do nothing for the next three years. The society will starve. The drive to produce more music, textbooks, plays, unique foods (like the bean pie) and clothing products, games, etcetera, must intensify. We must ask ourselves, “At what rate are we producing for others in our society and at what rate are others producing for us?” Imam Mohammed related a statement by Ralph Ellison, who wrote the book The Invisible Man, which touched him deeply. Mr. Ellison said, “Somewhere along the road he found that he was severed from his social responsibility.” Imam Mohammed went on to say, “Allah wants Muslims to be financially and socially responsible.” The Imam crystallized this point by commenting on the honorable Elijah Muhammad, “He insisted upon us being responsible—responsible for ourselves and everything in our charge.” Are you a writer? Your charge is to write books. You must be responsible to create those books for us. No matter how difficult it is, make it happen! You make music? What! Your last CD was made 5 years ago? Music is your charge; you are responsible to your society to create for us. Get to it! However, realize that supplying poor nourishment (products) to our society will cause the consumer demand to drop and your brethren will stop partaking of your works. “What is the quality of what we produce for our society and what is the quality of the products that other members of our society are producing for us?” On the other hand, a society can starve its creative and productive people by not consuming their products in quantity. The books we write need readers, the songs we sing need listeners, the clothes we design need people to wear them, the foods we create need to be eaten. We want the products, but we don’t organize our population (our markets) to purchase them when they are produced. Every time the creator of a product or service earns income from the consumption of his or her creation, their capacity and motivation to create more products and services is increased. When we do not purchase what our community produces, then its products will not nourish us and its producers will cease to produce for us. If the consumer demand is low, our producers will cease investing the time and energy to create for us. Some of us feel that we can get a better deal on the same products from other people. Perhaps you can. But, if you do not want to get your education, politics, and culture from them, you had better make sure that you don’t get your economy from them either. So, you pay more for your own until you reach the level where product prices and quality are comparable. Let’s ask ourselves, “are we feeding from our own society (economy) or are we choosing to eat from another society?” In either case, failure to keep a constant supply of our own unique nourishing products and services causes both consumption and production to dwindle. As a consequence, there is not enough financial strength to finance the school system, the governmental bodies or any other national, regional, or state project. We call this a depression and such a state is depressing. The third principle is marketing. Marketing is the science of not only how to present a product to the consumer, but how to best make it available and convenient to purchase. It also includes the effort to determine if the target market is large enough, wealthy enough, and in need enough of the product to warrant producing the product or service. This last point is particularly important for us, because we have a tendency to initiate big projects without much regard for our market’s capacity or readiness to sustain the project. This has led to a string of project failures which negatively impacts the faith of the market when called to rally behind the next big project. It also negatively affects the faith of producers; they are reluctant to produce because they are not confident that their market (our community) will purchase enough for them to recoup their money and make a profit. Allah has made carnivores, herbivores, and omnivores. He has made predator and prey. Imagine for a moment: when Allah made the mouse, He already had the cat in mind. The cat is the ready market for the mouse; he is ready to consume that tasty product. The bird is the ready market for the worm. The idea is that the consumption capacity and desire of your market should be ready and capable of sustaining the cost of producing the products or services that you create. Our social engineers and economists must consider the size and nature of our market, analyze the products and services it needs and wants, make recommendations and design marketing and training programs that could be used to ensure the success of our economic system. At this stage of our community’s development, we must help engineer or facilitate the successful relationship between our producers and our consumers. We should not leave this to chance. This leads us to the fourth principle we see, distribution. Once you have a product and a market for that product, you must facilitate a way to distribute the product to the market. The cat must be fast enough to catch the mouse. The bird must have vision that enables it to see the tiny worm so it can capture it to eat. The message is that the consumer must be able to have easy access to the product. Our body (the community) must be fed by the products we create. If we have 25,000 members in our community and only 200 of them buy a CD from Suad El-Amin, we have not distributed the food (product) to our body. Our body is starving. Our producer is starving. Our government (leadership in our association) must see this as a matter of national security and help business establish a distribution system which helps our producers get their products to our markets. Similarly, support for CPC and the Muslim Journal and all products we produce is certainly a matter of choice, but the distribution and availability of these products should not be left to chance. Conscious planning and effort (from the national to the local level) to improve the distribution of these products to our population should be a top priority of ours. Next issue we will discuss the remaining economic principles found in the economic lesson given to us by Allah through his creation. They are the principles of consumption, growth, recycling, reuse, and reciprocity. Continue Part 7

M.A.L.I. Magazine:

Applying Teachings of Imam W.D. Mohammed

By Mubaashir Uqdah