396 chapter nine
This shows how much al-Sadr wanted to say about Marxism com-
pared with capitalism, and of course how devoted he was to the
Islamic system. He criticises Marxism fervently and even reaches the
conclusion that it contradicts itself in its own philosophy. Capitalism
to him is based on insincere freedom as, while it advocates the free-
dom of the market, it does not per se provide the individuals with
the economic means, or reinforces his/her purchasing power, to act
in a freely economic manner. Freedom of the market therefore
becomes restricted as it does not, per se, lead to economic freedom.
Such freedom is, therefore, illusory. Islamic economics, he stresses,
is a value-laden system, which caters for the needs of both the rich
and the poor. The ethical values emanating from the teachings of
Islam are quite distinct. Al-Sadr assertion is consistent with the argu-
ments of other Muslim economists and Sharì"ah scholars in general.
If we concentrate on the third section, Islamic economics, we find
that in dealing with the main outlines of the Islamic economics al-
Sadr has divided the subject into six main sections, as follows:
- The general structure of Islamic economics,
- Islamic economics as part of a whole system,
- The general framework of Islamic economics,
- Islamic economics is not a branch of science,
- Distribution as separate from the form of production,
- Economic problems from an Islamic point of view and their
solutions.
In explaining the general framework of Islamic economics al-Sadr
states that it is based on three basic foundations: the principle of
dual ownership, the principle of conditional economic freedom, and
the principle of social justice.
On ownership, we find al-Sadr advocating that ownership is of
three types, private ownership, public ownership, and state ownership.
The mixed forms of ownership, he warns, do not imply that an Islamic
economic system is a mixed economy which allows both forms of
private and public ownership. It cannot be described as such, in his
views, as Islamic economics has a different ideology from that of the
mixed economic system. The mixed economic system is a capitalist
system that allows for public ownership, or a Marxist system that
permits private ownership. The Islamic economic system is neither as
it has its own values that are neither capitalist not communist. Would
al-Sadr allow nationalisation? This is not very clear in his early part