34 AN INTRODUCTION TO ISLAMIC FINANCE
obligation to apply their creative labor to natural resources to produce
goods and services needed in the society. However, if individuals lack
the ability, they no longer have an obligation to work and produce with-
out losing their original right to resources.■ (^) The sixth principle imposes the duty of sharing the natural resources.
This principle regards private property-ownership rights as a trust held
to effect sharing. Before any work is performed in conjunction with
natural resources, all members of society have an equal right and oppor-
tunity to access these resources. When individuals apply their creative
labor to resources, they gain a right of priority in the possession, use or
market exchange of the resulting product without nullifying the rights
of the needy in the proceeds of the sale of the product.
■ (^) The seventh principle imposes a limitation on the right of disposing
of the property—presumed to be absolute in the Western conception of
property rights. Individuals have a severely mandated obligation not to
waste, destroy, squander, or use property for unlawful purposes.
Islam recognizes that the Divine Providence has endowed individuals
with unique and unequal abilities and that some individuals have greater
mental and/or physical capacities and, consequently, are capable of obtain-
ing title to a larger amount of property and assets. But this only means
that such individuals’ responsibilities and obligations are greater than those
of others. However, once these individuals have discharged their duties of
sharing, in the prescribed manner and in the prescribed amount, and pro-
vided they are not in violation of the rules of Shari’ah, their rights to their
possessions are held inviolate and no one has any right to force appropria-
tion (or expropriation) of that person’s property to anyone else. This right
is held so sacred that even when rules had to be developed for emergency
cases of expropriation for projects of public utility it was called “legitimate
violation” (ikrah hukmi). Even then, such actions could be taken only after
adequate compensation was paid to the owner of the property. To violate
the legitimate property rights of a person is considered to be “oppression”
and “exploitation,” just as there is “discord and corruption on earth” when
individuals do not discharge their private property obligations.
While the above principles strongly affi rm people’s natural tendency
to possess, the concomitant obligations give rise to the interdependence of
members of society. Private initiative, choice, and reward are recognized but
not allowed to subvert the obligation of sharing. The inviolability of appro-
priately acquired private property rights in Islam deserves emphasis. As one
legal expert observed, given the divine origin of Islam:
... its institutions, such as individual ownership, private rights, and
contractual obligations, share its sacredness. To the authority of law,
as it is understood in the West, is added the great weight of reli-
gion. Infringement of the property and rights of another person
is not only a trespass against the law; it is also a sin against the