the Divine programme of the Rububiyyah Order, we are participating
in a joint business venture in which the capital investment is made by
God and we contribute only labour. We can claim only that part of
the land's produce which we have earned through our labour and
must hand over the rest to God, that is, devote for the benefit of
society. The poet Iqbal has expressed this idea in lines of exquisite
beauty, translated as below:
Who nourishes the seed in the soil which no ray of light penetrates?
Who raises clouds from the waves of the ocean?
Who drove hither favourable wind from the West?
Whose is the soil, whose the light of the Sun?
Who has filled the ear of corn with pearly grain?
Who has taught the seasons to change with regularity?
Landowner! The land is neither thine nor mine;
Thy forefathers did not own it, nor dost thou nor I.
(Baal-e-Jibreel, p. 161).
The Qur'an declares that the produce of the earth is the "means
of sustenance for mankind" (50:11). The slightest change in the
natural order could deprive man of the means of sustenance:
Who is he that will provide for you if He should withhold His
provision? (67:21).
The same idea is elaborated in the following verses:
Let man consider his food.
How We pour water in showers
Then split the earth in clefts
And cause the grain to grow therein
And grapes and green fodder
And olive-trees and palm-trees
And garden-closes of thick foliage
And fruit and grasses.
Provision for you and your cattle (80:24-32).
Ownership of land is not sanctioned by the Qur'an, nor is that of
any other means of production. The animals eat as much as they
need and leave the remainder for others. Man alone is plagued with
the desire to hoard and takes pride in his store, thus keeping for
himself what he does not really need:
And how many a living creature that does not carry its sustenance
(29:60).
The desire to hoard starts the process which culminates in the
Capitalistic system. Capitalism, by enabling the rich to exploit the
Islam: A Challenge to Religion 206