The Economic System 53
through his soul, which is in ceaseless journey towards the fi nal meeting
with Allah (swt).
The sole declared purpose of man is to “serve” Allah (swt) and to do so
in accordance with His commands. This service (ibada) is the implementa-
tion of the divine imperative for man and is for his own benefi t. The notion
of service indicates the act of the removal of barriers (material and other-
wise) which exist along the path to that fi nal meeting.
Man’s designated role as Allah’s vicegerent on earth, bestows particular
responsibilities which are composed of developing his own potentialities
and struggling for the creation of a just and moral social order. Man is pro-
vided with material and extra-material means to assist him in discharging
his duties. Through his intelligence and will, he can discern and then choose
between right and wrong, between just and unjust, between true and false,
and between the real and the illusory. Although this power of discernment
has been imprinted on his soul, he is provided with guidance in the form
of the Qur’an and with reminders in the persons of the prophets and oth-
ers to show him the “right path.” These are there to remind him that there
will come a day of reckoning, “the Hour,” when deeds and misdeeds will
be judged. Through these means, he is constantly reminded of the transi-
tory nature of this world and the permanence of the next, of what he must
do to earn happiness in this life and felicity in the next, of his purpose, and
of his responsibilities. Finally, all created phenomena in the material world
have been subjected to man’s use in order to provide him with the necessary
material means to perform his responsibilities. Through his intelligence man
is charged with the power to discover the knowledge which is necessary to
utilize the natural resources to the fullest possible extent in enabling him,
and his kind, to actualize their full potential.
Thus, Allah (swt) creates, preserves, guides, and fi nally judges man
vis-à-vis the performance of his responsibilities. Hence, man’s purpose is
defi ned, his responsibilities are designated, necessary means of discharging
these responsibilities are provided, guidance and reminders are constantly
made available and the promise and criteria of the fi nal judgment, as well
as the rewards and retributions commensurate with obedience and transgres-
sion, are made known; it is, then, man’s free will and choice which determine
which path he, in fact, chooses.
Islam, then, models man as a being whose behavior, including in its
economic dimension, is teleological in nature. Whatever he thinks or does
is accomplished with his fi nal purpose in mind. His behavior is oriented
toward his fi nal destination. Things of this world, including material pos-
sessions, represent only the means by which he can come closer to his fi nal
goal. In his thought and behavior he is constantly aware of the presence of
Allah (swt), who is “closer to him than his jugular vein.”^7 This awareness
extends not only to the individual’s own affairs, but, particularly, also to his
day-to-day dealings with others. This ever-present consciousness (taqwa) is a
crucial concept in the Qur’an and represents an “awe,” a “fear,” or a “heed-
ing,” which a believer feels when fully conscious of Allah’s (swt) presence in