Islam and Socialism Part III

Hanna Eid
Source: Al Mayadeen English
15 Sep 2022 12:08
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In this installment, I hope to dream a little bit, and I hope to imagine what Islamic socialism could look like. I hope you’ll allow me this dream and join me.

Islam and Socialism Part III

To read part II, click here.

In my previous two installments regarding Islam and Socialism, I presented a historical overview of the relations between the two. During the October revolution in Russia and the surrounding Soviet sphere, Muslims found protection under the red banner; in Indonesia, many scholars and revolutionaries were examining the relationships between Islam and worker-power from Sukarno to Haji Misbach to Tjokroaminoto. In revolutionary Iran, Ali Shari’ati pondered the life of Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari (ra) and the essence of Shi’a Islam in his Red Shi’ism vs Black Shi’ism, while Ayatollah Beheshti and Ayatollah Taleghani tried to understand the construction of an Islamic economy in relation to and in contrast to the capitalist economy. In Palestine, in Gaza where we find Fanon’s wretched of the earth, the mujahedeen of Palestinian Islamic Jihad found a synthesis between Mao’s mass line and our own sirat al mustaqim. In this installment, I hope to dream a little bit, and I hope to imagine what an Islamic socialism could look like. I hope you’ll allow me this dream and join me.

While the Romans and Sassanids built empires of wealth, excess, and tyranny, our beloved Prophet (PBUH) presided over the lands of Islam in a different way; “He was the absolute ruler of a country and he ate barley bread. He would sit with the poor upon the ground at their meal just like a humble slave. He would ride a donkey bareback and, most of the time, he would sit another person behind him”(1). Islam, in this sense, belongs to the oppressed since its very inception. Today, while the US empire and its lackeys in Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and the Emirates live luxurious lives at the expense of the Muslim proletariat, this same proletariat is rising. In Yemen, Ansarallah is leading the agrarian revolution, in Palestine, the Islamic Resistance and their nationalist and communist allies are making strides to break the siege in Gaza, and in Lebanon, Hezbollah is keeping the country from collapse by providing fuel and much-needed supplies which pass through Iran and Syria. Here there are echoes of the original rise of Islam in a land where oppression and opulence ruled.

In this sense, Abu Dharr Al-Ghifari can be seen as an intellectual and spiritual predecessor of noted socialist and anti-colonial thinkers of the 20th century. I recall his words to the leader of the caliphate at the time of his death: “O Mu'awiyyah! If you are building this palace with your own money, it is extravagance, and if with the money of the people, it is treason”(2). Islamic socialism has its origins in the traditions of the Prophet (PBUH) and his companions. In his farewell sermon, Muhammad (PBUH) provides us with a moral and economic blueprint of what Islamic society should look like:

…an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a White has no superiority over a Black nor a Black has any superiority over a White except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly(3).

If we compare this last sentence to Marx’s dictum that communism is the real movement towards the abolition of the present state of affairs, then we see how Saudi, Emirati, and Turkish normalization with the Israeli settler colony is one factor that maintains the current status quo and prevents an Islamic renaissance in which social, economic, and political justice can be promoted in the Muslim civilizational sphere. On the other side of the coin, we see that it is the Islamic resistance in league with the nationalist and anti-imperialist forces which are challenging US imperialism, the Zionist entity, and its lackeys. Haji Misbach argued that this moral decay of the Arab and Islamic ruling classes is symptomatic of capitalism:

People’s morals and humanity are also broken in the era of capitalism, even if they get high levels of education. Because of this brokenness, they become easily manipulated by capitalism as its tools; whatever capitalism demands of them, they feel obligated to carry out, even though those demands denigrate and harm them…(4)

As Muslims, we are called to be viceregents of the earth by Allah (SWT). As viceregents of the earth, we oversee and take part in natural, social, and political processes. There is a balance which guides natural processes, as well as our human conduct. This natural balance can only be understood through tawakkul. This natural balance is thrown into disequilibrium by the capitalist world system. It is thrown into disarray ecologically with the near total collapse of certain ecosystems due to the extraction of oil and other raw materials. Through regressive social policies in education, healthcare, and mass media we are thrown further into confusion. Genuine Islamic socialism will not refute the materialist dialectics of Marxism for its analytical strength across many contexts, nor will it adhere to strategies of Marxism advanced in other parts of the world and create a new Gnosticism.

If we are true believers, then we understand that Allah (SWT) has aided the Prophets and the oppressed people in the lands to overthrow their oppressors. Our duty is to carry on in this tradition and continually revolutionize society. In Surah Al Ma’un, Allah (SWT) decrees:

Have you seen the one who denies the final Judgment? The one who denies the orphan

And does not encourage feeding the poor So woe to those who pray

But are unmindful of their prayers Those who dissimulate

And withhold things of use from others(5)

This Surah is very powerful, because it includes instructions on daily life. We should believe, and through our belief we should be led to feeding the poor, caring for the orphans, and providing aid to others. This would be the basis of societal cohesion in Muslim society under socialism. Rather than socialism aiming for some type of rootless cosmopolitanism where aspects of socialism’s rise elsewhere are mechanically copied, a genuine answer to the national question could be put forward. A genuine answer to the Islamic national question is one that understands that the faith of 2 billion believers will contain contradictions and will be fraught with challenges, yet it is a question worth answering. This question coincides with other national questions of the more traditional type, and an Islamic socialism would certainly not look the same in Yemen and Indonesia, for example, yet the basic principles of this remain: those who work to build society should enjoy the fruits of that society, and those who oppress and take from others what they did not earn are enemies of the faith and will be wiped out like Fira’un and the other oppressors before and after him. Our dear Prophet calls us to action as Muslims: “Whosoever of you sees an evil, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then [let him change it] with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart — and that is the weakest of faith”(6).