Islam and Politics: Islamic politics is transformative and demands redistribution of wealth and power.

The opening two discussions looked at how Islam provides support to a society and the emphasis on political engagement. In this part we will ask how Islamic sources speak of distributive justice and social equity.

Islamic politics is supposed to be transformative. This means its policies must (1) never tolerate oppression, (2) must not shy away from tackling injustice, (3) must restore rights and (4) provide an environment for goodness to thrive. As the Qur’an says of the prophetic mission it is to “lift the burdens and break the shackles” (7:157) upon a society.

First, the prophet’s of Allah (swt) are often described with a particular epithet or quality in the Qur’an. That description is particular to their characteristics which would respond to the specific challenge of their time. This means that if social change abc was present, Allah (swt) emphasised quality xyz in the prophet for us to understand what their mission was and how they would change their society through the presentation and application of that good quality.

For example in the Qur’an, Prophet Zakariyyah (a) fears his cousins would usurp the role of leadership in the community and owing to their incapability for interpreting the divine, would lead people astray. Knowing this he (a) makes a specific prayer so that Prophet Yahya (a) would be born to respond to THAT challenge. “Indeed I fear my cousins after me, but my wife is unable to conceive, therefore grant me an heir from You” (19:5).

Another example is the quality of absolute truthfulness in Prophet Ismai’l (a). It’s mentioning must be because his community has the opposite traits, of lies and hypocrisy such that when he acted it was an evidence upon them of how to restore their character and cultures. “And mention Isma’il in the Book; indeed he was evert truthful to his promise” (19:54).

In both cases we realise that the lesson for Islamic politics is that it must face up to the challenges and environments of its time and change the overriding state of behaviours.

Second, the Qur’an speaks to wealth and power distribution. This is a very topical discussion in political discourse, especially today. Islam speaks clearly to the redistribution of power such that no person should be left far behind nor a person have such a disproportionate amount.

Specifically it states that wealth is not to be kept to a certain class nor are the policies of distribution allowed to keep wealth circulating amongst one class. "Whatever [spoils taken] from the people of those villages God has turned over to His Apostle - [all of it] belongs to God and the Apostle, and the near of kin [of deceased believers], and the orphans, and the needy, and the wayfarer, so that it may not be [a benefit] going round and round among such of you as may [already] be rich” (59:7).

In fact the narrations also testify to its opposite that if taxes were to be paid i.e. proper wealth distribution, no person would be left poor. Imam as-Sadiq (a) said, “Zakaat has been put as a test upon the rich to aid the poor. Had people paid their taxes, there would not remain a Muslim poor, in need. And indeed people would not be made poor, not in need nor hungry or destitute except for the wrongdoings of the wealthy.”

The application is not just for Islamic dues such as Zakaat or Khums but is a principle of justice that where tax dodging is allowed or worse, encouraged, people will remain impoverished due to the imbalance in tax intake. This is also a debate in the political world today. Large and multinational corporations are able to avoid paying their taxes and governments are supporting wealth to remain with them instead of being redistributed. For example last year a number of companies made massive profits but paid nothing in income tax:

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