economic thought in the qur"àn and sunnah 39and their ultimate owner. This concept, with the principles that are
derived from it, has various implications for all economic functions
on earth: consumption of economic resources, development of these
resources, and the distribution of the added values among the con-
tributors and the would-be contributors, as shown below.
The Concept of Free-Will and Responsibility, Amànah
Free will
This is the ability of human beings to choose, select and decide,
which is clearly indicated in the Qur"àn, although the concept of
destiny is also referred to. This might cause confusion, and indeed
has done so, when the two concepts are looked at jointly and the
question is asked of whether man is directed in his bevaviour by the
divine force or by his power of reasoning. If it was the former, man
should not be held responsible for what he does, while he ought to
be accountable for his actions if the latter applied. Although such
discussion will not be pursued here, it suffices to say that man has
the freedom of choice as to good or evil and his destiny is only
“known” to God through His wisdom and knowledge of the char-
acteristics of the man He created. Man, therefore is free to choose,
to act in harmony with God’s code of conduct, the straight path,
or to divert from it, and God knows that in advance. This faculty
of freedom of choice has been emphasised in the Qur"àn in more
than one passage, of which the strongest is perhaps the statement
that man has accepted to bear the burden of God’s trust on earth
while no-one else dared to bear it. In a strong tone, the Qur"ànic
verse states, “We offered Our trust to the heavens, to the earth and
to the mountains, but they declined to bear it for fear of its bur-
den. But man assumed it”, (Qur"àn, 33:72). Also, man has been
shown two paths, good and evil, and it was up to him to decide
which to follow, “Have We not given him two eyes, a tongue, and
two lips, and shown him the two paths?”, (Qur"àn, 90:8–10). Free
will is a reflection of the delegated authority given to man by God
in the trusteeship relationship between God and man.
Responsibility
While authority, with the free will, represents one side of the trustee-
ship contract between God and man, responsibility portrays the other
side of this relationship. It imposes limits to man’s freedom of choice