Systems of Life

There are three basic systems that claim to organise the affairs of mankind. You find that in one of them the state takes ownership of all facilities for production, tries to own everything under the premise of true equality between the people. All humans are equal, and therefore all humans should have the same material needs, and same material desires. There is a second system of life that seems to behave in completely the opposite way. It claims that the means to create wealth are owned by individuals, and the individual has as much right to sell his or her labour at what ever rate he wishes to. What you find in this system is the rich seem to continuously become richer, while the poor seem to stay in a continual state of poverty because of the underlying rhetoric of ‘every man for himself.’

One of the major problems with these two systems is that they divide away the relationship between the world and the creator of the world. In the first model, known commonly as Communism, the role of God is not mentioned. Karl Marx, the author of the communist manifesto, was adamantly anti religion. All governments that have attempted to follow his ideas have also sought to control or eliminate religion. Within the second system mentioned above, commonly known as Capitalism, God again takes a back seat. Capitalist states are known to be secular, i.e. having a division of state and belief; one is allowed to believe what he likes as long as it does not effect the daily working of society.

So, what is the answer?

There is a system that not only acknowledges the creator, but ensures that the rules and regulations of every aspect of man’s affairs are organised. Who would best know how to fix a broken car, the very designer of that car, or a man who came along and simply pulled at one nut or another hoping to fix it? Surely the designer of the whole of mankind is in the best place to solve the issues of the very life he created. This system is known as a deen, with every aspect of life an act of worship; so when a man goes out to work he is allowed freedom to own his possessions, has freedom to gain wealth and prosper, but at the same time he is not allowed to cheat in the market place, exploit those who needs his goods and must give in charity to those who are poorer than he, thus giving a balance. When he takes people to work with him, he must treat them fairly, and pay them their salaries “before their sweat dries…”

"Seek the abode of the Hereafter in that which God has given you, and neglect not your portion of the world, and be kind as God has been kind to you and seek not corruption in the

earth…”

Other systems are organised too, in fact every system is organised by the creator. Apart from systems to organise the economy, we can see systems to provide for the whole of society in a manner that  looks after the needs of civilisation as a whole, therefore for a greater reason, the needs of the individual are looked after too. As examples we can see that the systems for health care are manifest, we can see the organisation of the judicial system, the political system, the manner in which to manage the environment, how to organise the social structure, and how to manage affairs between

countries; the list continues. Ultimately, this system is not man-made, so therefore if followed

perfectly will allow for a harmonious land to exist.

This system of life is Islam.