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Text Box: ENGINEERING OUR ECONOMY (Part 2) By Mubaashir Uqdah Out of the earth come all forms of life; plant, insect, animal, and human. The earth is the stuff from which all manifest reality is made. The human life and even the Ruh (spirit) of Allah do not come to birth without the earth being molded into a form to receive it. If we are unable to shape and mold our economy, we will not be able to bring to life in our community the inspirations that have been put into our souls. The Arabic root word for shaping or fashioning is Sawara (the word Sura is connected to this root word). This word’s meaning is also connected to idea of a picture, painting and portrait. When you are molding, shaping, or fashioning something, you are forming it into a picture or image of something specific. In economic terms, shaping the mud or clay means that you must structure or organize the economy into the picture or form that you want. To get a human being into shape requires exercise and training. To mold or shape human beings into an organized structure or economy also requires training exercises. When you start off with a small project that has a high potential for success, you are training and preparing your team to take on bigger challenges. For example, the Muslim congregational prayer ritual has a specifically designed structure. Muslims are trained how to line up and pray in unity. Then we are motivated with good teaching and preaching to maintain conformity to this practice. The successful implementation of what we have been trained to do is also inspiring and the prayer ritual takes on a life of its own and fulfills the purpose for which it was fashioned. Similarly, when a coach conceives an idea or design for a football team and takes eleven boys and trains them to play the different positions and execute the offensive and defensive plays, he has molded the earth into shape. When he teaches them, preaches to them, yells at them, and compliments them, he is breathing into that team the spirit to carry out their positions to the best of their abilities, thereby enabling the team to operate like it was designed to do. Because of their training, the team is united in their execution and the beauty and power of unity is inspiring and they take flight. Fashioning an economy requires applying the same principles, although in a much more complex context. A picture of what the economy should look like must be designed and the component parts that make up that economy must undergo training to shape it up and prepare it to fulfill its design and function. In other words, train the business people and the consumers in the behavior needed to make the economy function as designed. Motivation (inspiration) must also be applied to keep the people disciplined and conscientious enough to maintain conformance to the economic design. Allah says in Sura 38: Ayat 27, “Not without purpose did we create the heavens and the earth and all in between!” A planned, regulated and designed economy is essential. Even a free-market economy has a design and purpose and is controlled by entities such as the Federal Reserve Bank, the laws passed by the Senate and House of Representatives, the tax incentives given by the president, etc. The idea that freedom is responsible for the tremendous growth of the American economy contains much truth, but is misleading because this freedom takes place within a larger regulated context. Perhaps you could say that freedom is the larger context and regulation happens within it to establish order and prevent chaos. In any event, the profit and power motives of the rich unfettered by regulation are able to build mega-corporations (subsidized by the investments of the tax payer) and traverse the land as dinosaurs devouring up whatever they encounter and desire. Yet, they are regulated by the imperialist principles, plans, and strategies that guide them towards establishing a global order and dominance of that order. Do you really expect us to be of much help to humanity when we do not regulate our affairs? Allah’s entire creation is regulated, even freedom is built in. Can we really function contrary to Fitra and expect to be successful? What is a human economy? It is the sum total of the ways and means by which the members of a society produce, distribute, and consume the goods, services, and wealth it needs to perpetuate and advance the well-being of the society. The economy describes the mechanisms by which humans obtain the nourishment (physical, mental and spiritual) they need to grow strong and perpetuate themselves and the mechanisms by which they give of what they produce to feed and nourish others in the society, so everyone can thrive and grow. Economists study the structure and interactions of the economic system of a society and make recommendations to government and business for improving the functioning and effectiveness of the economy. Government and business use these expert recommendations to consciously engineer the society in order to make it more productive for the benefit and advancement of the people or, as in most cases, for the ruling elite of the society. There are a variety of economic models in the world today. There are capitalist, communist, Islamic, socialist, monarchical, and totalitarian economies and there are economies that are a variation or mixture of the types I’ve just mentioned. All of these economies are fashioned to respond to the need for developing resources (both human and material) to supply the members of society with what is needed to survive, grow, thrive and fulfill the aspirations in their souls. What is our economic model? Do we simply accept the existing economic models and pray that they take us where we want to go or do we investigate the depths of the new mind and guidance we have and find a model that serves our purposes? What is our economic system? Continue Part 3

M.A.L.I. Magazine:

Applying Teachings of Imam W.D. Mohammed

By Mubaashir Uqdah