The Economic System 49
producer; and (iii) property acquired through inheritance from the pro-
ducer. Rules regarding distributive justice operate through the second and
third of these bases.
Assuming equal liberty and opportunity, whenever work has to be per-
formed for the production of wealth, the output of different people may
vary greatly both in quality and quantity. Equity then demands that,
commensurate with their productivity, different people receive different
rewards. Hence, starting from the equality of liberty and opportunity of
access to resources, equity may lead to inequality. Moreover, the allocation
of resources arising from the operation of the market will refl ect the initial
distribution of wealth as well as the structure of the market. Assuming that
both the operation and the structure of the market are just, there is no logi-
cal reason to assume that the market outcome, by and of itself, will lead to
equal wealth distribution. Consequently, the result may be (and often is)
that inequalities, equitably created, will have immediate and longer-term
implications. It is here that the distributive mechanisms of Islamic economic
justice attempt to modify inequalities equitably created.
As we saw earlier, Islam recognizes claims based on equality of liberty
and opportunity, which are refl ected in the degree of access to resources, the
degree and extent of the ability of persons to actualize their potential liberty
and opportunity, and the right of prior ownership. The right that the less
able have in the wealth of those who have greater ability and opportunity
to produce greater wealth is redeemed through the various levies (zakat,
khums, sadaqa, nafaqa, and so on), the payment of which is not benefi cence
but a contractual obligation that must be met. Islam also encourages benefi -
cence over and above these obligatory dues, but these levies are in the nature
of returning to others what rightfully belongs to them. Shirking from this
obligation causes a misdistribution of wealth, which Islam considers as the
major source of poverty.
Islam asserts unambiguously that poverty is neither caused by scarcity or
paucity of natural resources, nor by a lack of proper synchronization between
the modes of production and distribution. Rather, it is a result of waste, opu-
lence, extravagance, and non-payment of what rightfully belongs to less able
segments of the society. This position is illustrated by the Prophetic say-
ing that: “Nothing makes a poor man starve except that with which a rich
person avails a luxury.” This is why waste, abuse of wealth, extravagance,
and excessive consumption are condemned as unjust, particularly when they
occur in conjunction with poverty that they can help to alleviate. In the
morality of property, Islam unequivocally considers all individuals entitled to
a certain standard of life; and it is this entitlement that entails the satisfaction
of their claim as a matter of equity and justice.
In Islam, the rules of inheritance modify the distribution of wealth
to the next generation based on the principle that the right of the owner to
his wealth ceases upon his death. The power of the person to bequeath his
wealth as he wishes is recognized, but is basically restricted to a maximum
of one-third of his net assets.