58 chapter two
depends upon the closeness of their relation to the deceased, as will
be shown later. This demonstrates the recognition of private ownership.
Private ownership is granted, however, on the condition that it
should not be abused. Two conditions are stipulated: productivity
and social justice. If the private ownership is abused the Islamic state
has the right to step in and rectify the situation. (These issues are
discussed below under economic development and income distribution).
Public ownership
As private ownership is acknowledged in the Qur"àn and the Sunnah,
so is public ownership. The Prophet determined the scope of pub-
lic ownership as being the ownership of water, pasture and fire; he
is reported to have said, “People have collective ownership in three:
water, pasture and fire” as being natural resources essential to life
in the early environment (Qutb, 1979). The society as a whole has
the right to the common use of these three types of economic resources
depending upon how important they are to fulfilling the necessity of
life. The reason for assigning the property of these resources to the
society is, perhaps, obvious. They represented basic commodities to
which people, particularly in Arabia, were badly in need and with-
out which life would be difficult to sustain. These basic resources
were deemed, therefore, to be excluded from private ownership.
Although the relative importance of these resources to society varies
from time to time and from one society to another, the rule boils
down to the fact that in an organised society the state, representing
the society, has the ownership of these resources when they are essen-
tial to society. The juristic principle of “public interest” may be
resorted to in deciding whether a public ownership of a natural
resource may be considered.
It may be worthwhile to stress that the society, or the state, assumes
the ownership of these resources as being natural resources, but indi-
viduals may own their own water source (wells for example), pas-
ture if it is planted by them or the source of fire. It is the condition
of an economic resource of being a natural resource or otherwise,
and how important it is to the society, that creates a reason for pub-
lic ownership. Books of early Islamic history tell us about cases where
Muslims owned their own water wells, some of whom gave their
wells voluntarily for the benefit of the community.
This creates a main problem with respect to definition: when can
an economic resource be regarded as serving the basic needs of the