60 chapter two
of feudalism, which became clearly manifested during the Umayyad
and Abbasìd caliphate.
But at this stage of our early discussion the following points may
be emphasised:
(a) The Islamic approach to the ownership of economic resources is
to allow both the individuals and the state the benefits of own-
ership with no supremacy to either,
(b) Nationalization of economic resources that does not give the indi-
viduals the opportunity of participation in the development of
economic resources and the creation of surplus and wealth from
these resources is an alien policy to Islamic ideology,
(c) The ownership of economic resources by individuals does not
give them the right to the misuse of these resources,
(d) An unintentional misuse of economic resources by individuals
may give the state a legitimate reason to step in and rectify the
situation first through providing the necessary help to the indi-
vidual and second, if this means is exhausted, through the redi-
rection of the allocation of economic resources,
(e) An intentional misuse of economic resources may render the indi-
vidual guilty of wrong doing and may attract the attention of the
state to rectify the situation through the reallocation of economic
resources,
(f ) The reallocation of economic resources above does not lead to
depriving the original owner from ownership, rather it reallocates
the right to the utilisation of the economic resources without
impairing the right to the ownership,
(g) In case of reallocation of utilisation, the original owner is to be
given a fair share of the income generated from the reallocated
economic resource,
(h) The state has the duty to provide assistance to those in need of
help to utilize the economic resources they control. The role of
the state is that of a facilitator and watchdog that aims to assist
and educate on the one hand and to prevent waste and misuse
on the other.
(i) Free competition is legitimate as long as the parties concerned
observe the rules of the market with no harmful side effects for
the others.