political fragmentation and cultural diversity 239- Man: his importance, functions and needs
- Production activities: importance of production, cooperation and
specialisation, means of production, employment and unemploy-
ment, and the scope of economic activities. - Wealth and its sources: the relationship between man and wealth,
riches and poverty, and money. - Spending: balance and imbalance in spending, and consumption.
The main points in al-A›fahànì’s al-Zarì"ah are discussed as follows:
Al-A›fahànì’s Zarì"ah begins with a first chapter on man. This is not
particularly surprising as man is regarded in Islam as the centre of
the universe for whom God has made every thing possible. Starting
his book with a first chapter on man, his/her nature, creation, duties,
needs, and motivation is an intelligent realisation by al-A›fahànìof
the position of human beings in the universe as manifested in the
Muslims’ sacred book. In terms of a logical classification of the con-
tents of a book on economics, a first chapter on human beings, needs
and behaviour, could be a reasonable start as he/she is the con-
sumer, producer, distributor, investor, wealth seeker, entrepreneur,
decision maker, and so on, and as such, man is the pivot upon which
economic decisions revolve. One cannot ignore this simple fact even
in books on positive economics that are not related to Islamic eco-
nomics in particular.
Human Needs: Consumption
Bringing the issues close to home, al-A›fahànìlooked into the needs
of man as a consumer and divided human needs into categories
depending upon the purpose of satisfying these needs. In his view,
human needs are divided into two main categories: physiological
needs and spiritual needs which are related to satisfying ethical and
moral values. In his classification of physiological needs, we find al-
A›fahànì in addition to mentioning food, clothing and shelter, he
specified marriage as one of these needs. By including marriage, the
list represents a full recognition of human needs, and, by being stated
by a religious Muslim scholar, is a reflection of the view of Islam
of the basic human needs. The needs are fulfilled, or ought to be
fulfilled, as al-A›fahànìstressed, in accordance with God’s rules and
commands, or Sharì"ah. When Sharì"ah rules are fulfilled the first
type of spiritual needs is fulfilled. Worship and meeting other religious