Author: M. Farahi Tojegi
A concise overview of the History and ideologies of Communism (Part 14)
A Rebuttal to the Economic System of Communism
One of the most important players in the global economy are governments, and governments in developed and even undeveloped countries do not have the same approach to the economy. Some of them favor market intervention and others favor the free market. Some seek to increase taxes and others seek to reduce taxes. Some governments seek to increase welfare assistance and others seek to develop the market for economic development.
These different approaches have led to the establishment of different laws. For example, if a government with a welfare approach comes to power in the United States, it is forced to increase taxes in order to implement its welfare programs, and increasing taxes leads to an increase in the cost of corporation companies, which ultimately leads to a decrease in the value of shares. At the same time, welfare approaches lead to the distribution of wealth, which ultimately leads to increased economic growth and increases inflation.
Therefore, it is important which government is in power in which country and what are the government’s spending plans?
There are mainly two economic systems that dominate the world: the capitalist system and the communist system.
In the capitalist system, individual ownership is respected, free and unlimited, while the government’s interference in people’s property is limited and does not hinder people’s economic freedom. On the contrary, in the communist system, people’s ownership is insignificant and almost eliminated with differences that exist in different countries, while governments act unlimitedly and almost exclusively, independently and freely, and are considered unrivaled owners; therefore, both have many disadvantages that we will only criticize the communist economic system here:
Before that, we will briefly introduce the economic system of Islam. In the Islamic system, economy is not the main thing; Rather, school and culture are the principle, and materialism is merely a means to reach spirituality and is valuable to that extent. Because materialism is a means, not an end, this issue cannot be easily ignored, because whether materialism is a goal or a means is different from the earth to the sky. This is where most of the disputes and animosities in materialism originate.
The Islamic system is an independent system separate from capitalist and communist systems in its economic dimension. Islam has accepted ownership in a reasonable and limited way, to the extent that it does not harm others.
A communist economy is an economic system in which all productive resources such as land, means of production, factories, and capital are managed collectively or by the state. In this system, efforts are made to ensure that productivity and distribution of wealth are in such a way that social inequalities are reduced and all members of society benefit equally from benefits and resources.
This idea of a communist economy was elaborated upon by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, two German philosophers in the 19th century, and was based on the principle that the inequalities in capitalist societies are due to private ownership of the means of production and the concentration of capital in the hands of a limited number of people.
Professor Muhammad Qutb has said: “Here we want to state in general that the general principles of Islam allow any practical system that is capable of responding to the changing needs of the individuals of the Islamic society to be established in society, provided that it does not contradict these principles.”
But the reality is that although communism is compatible with Islam in some details, it is not generally compatible with the basic principles of Islam, and a Muslim society that is blessed with the best system cannot turn away from it and turn to communism or other systems such as capitalism, socialism, etc.; even though these systems are compatible with Islam in some details, because Allah has clearly stated in the Holy Quran: «وَمَن لَّمۡ يَحۡكُم بِمَآ أَنزَلَ ٱللَّهُ فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلۡكَٰفِرُونَ» Translation: “And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed to His Messenger, then those are the disbelievers” [1]. Therefore, Allah did not say in this verse: Whoever does not judge by something like what Allah has revealed is a disbeliever. Is it really possible to say: It is possible to be a communist and still remain a Muslim?
Whenever we implement in society the economic communism which they claim, it will definitely lead to its conflict with the worldview and ideology of Islam, and there is no way to escape this conflict.
Here are some important points:
First: The principles of communism are based on a purely material philosophy and do not believe in anything other than the tangible. From the communist point of view, anything that cannot be perceived by the senses is superstition and outside the realm of existence, or at least is invalid. Engels says: “The truth of the world is summed up only in its material affairs.” Materialists believe: “Intellect is nothing but matter that reflects external phenomena.” They also believe: “What is called spirit is not an independent substance but is one of the results of matter.”
Thus, if communism is realized in society, we will live in a material space that will ridicule spiritual matters and consider them as unscientific truths. Islamic thought will never accept to confine itself in this limited material space that will degrade the dignity and personality of man and transform him from a noble being – whose body moves on the earth and whose soul and mind fly in the heavens – into a material being whose only concern is to satisfy the “basic needs” that Karl Marx summarized in food, shelter and the satisfaction of the sexual instinct. No one can claim that by implementing the communist economic system we can have no obligation to this material thought and with the justification that the economy is a separate issue from matters of faith, we will still maintain our beliefs in Allah and the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and our spiritual issues. No one can make such a claim, because communists themselves admit that this is impossible, so that they establish a strong relationship between the economic system and the beliefs, thoughts and philosophies associated with it, on the basis that the economic system is what constitutes the beliefs, thoughts and philosophies. Therefore, an economic system formed on the basis of a purely materialistic philosophy cannot create or be compatible with a spiritual philosophy.
The second problem is that, from the point of view of communist philosophy, man lacks will and agency in the face of material and economic forces. Karl Marx says: “In a group of productive activities in which people are engaged, they inevitably establish among themselves limited relations that are outside their will. It is not the feeling of the people that creates them, but their existence that creates their feeling and emotion.” On the other hand, from the perspective of Islam, man is a being with free will, whose will is naturally subordinate to the will of the Divine Essence. Allah says: «وَسَخَّرَ لَكُم مَّا فِي ٱلسَّمَٰوَٰتِ وَمَا فِي ٱلأَرضِ جَمِيعا مِّنهُ» Translation: “Allah has subjected to you all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth, and all of this is His grace and mercy for you.” [2]
Therefore, we understand from the above verse that man is the superior force on earth and all material and economic forces are subordinate and at his disposal, not that he is subordinate and obedient to them, and the proof of this is Islam itself; Because this religion does not undergo transformation based on the stage changes determined by dialectical materialism, at the beginning of Islam when Muslims believed, they never felt that economic development was a forced force that had overcome them – as Marx says – outside their will; rather, they realized that they themselves, based on the guidance of Allah Almighty through His Prophet, were shaping the economy and creating social relations based on it.
As a result, without the coercion of any economic factor, they freed slaves and prevented the emergence of feudalism; despite the fact that this system was established in Europe and other parts of the world hundreds of years later.
Therefore, undoubtedly, whenever we implement a communist economy in society, we will inevitably be forced to accept its materialistic philosophy that considers man as a being subject to conditions and economic progress independent of the will of the people, who does not strive for change and transformation with his own will or even thinks about it, and this is completely impossible.
The third issue that we addressed in the chapter on “Islam’s View of Individual Property” is that we can never separate the economic system from the social philosophy behind it. When we accept the communist economy, we must inevitably accept its social philosophy, which places society at the core and does not value humans except within the group. This is fundamentally in complete conflict with Islamic education. An education that gives great importance to the individual and, after internal refinement, leaves the responsibility for social affairs to himself, knowing well that he is a dynamic, living member with will and freedom who chooses his own type and place of work and has given him the right to guide the rulers and rebel against them if they leave the religion of Islam. Islam transforms individuals into guardians of the moral sphere by this excellent individual education and the existence of social supervision, so that they observe the moral affairs of society and refrain from the occurrence of evil and ugliness in it. This is something that if we consider the individual as a useless member of society and economic affairs, as a result of which his other affairs are subordinate to the state, it will not be possible to realize it spiritually and practically.
Another issue is that the communist philosophy is based on the principle that the only factor, or at least the highest and most influential factor in managing the affairs of society and establishing relations between its members, is the economy.
Islamic thought never denies the importance of the economy and the necessity of creating a society based on sound economic principles in order to create moral and social virtues; but despite that, it does not believe that all of life is made up of the economy or that economic solutions solve all of society’s problems.
Second: The communist economic system is based on absolute dictatorship, the government defines jobs and assigns workers to different jobs arbitrarily – regardless of their interest in the type or place of work – and divides them into different jobs; therefore, production determines general policies and forces people to implement them, and this will not be realized unless the government is the only observer of all matters, thoughts, statements, gatherings and guidance; because if individuals are given freedom in such matters, it will definitely lead to freedom to criticize the system and the ruler, which the government will never accept.
Here we must distinguish between the dictatorship of the ruler and the dictatorship of the government. The ruler himself may be a modest and generous person; but this is not the same as the dictatorship of the government in the administration of the economic system and its supervision by force, which communism openly admits to exist in its system of government and calls it the dictatorship of the proletariat.
In addition to all this, communism is a system that is still in the trial and error stage. At first, it abolished all forms of property absolutely and declared the wages of all workers equal; then, under the pressure of reality, it realized that it was better to allow individuals to have a limited amount of personal property and also to differentiate wages based on the amount of effort of the workers; Thus, he somewhat distanced himself from two of the principles laid down by Marx and approached Islamic thought. How is it possible to abandon the principles to which all humanity returns whenever it experiences a new problem, to join a train that is moving with a crooked and twisted slogan, and what will happen to it if its speed is suddenly increased?
No sane, self-confident person would do such a thing, and this action is an irreparable internal failure that takes on various forms and justifications; but only the weak and the needy endure it. [3]
Continues…
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1.Al-Ma’idah: 44.
2.Al-Jathiyah: 13.
3. Muhammad Shubat, Hawl al-Islam, p. 200.
