GOD Vs. MONEY

Mohammad Yaqub Khan
Editor : The Light

IN our last we commented upon the views of a writer in the local Press, wherein he had called attention to the fact that money is the sole obsession of the human mind and is bound to remain so, since man must first eat and drink before he can think of anything else. All talk of God and religion had therefore proved futile, and despite over half a century of indoctrination with religion, and the fact that the Pakistan battle itself was fought under the banner of religion, religious life in this country was never at a lower ebb than today. The conclusion he draws is that religion has failed and the only cure for all our ills lies in improving the people’s economic condition.

This position is a jumble of truths, half-truths and errors. That bread is the elementary need of life goes without saying. God Himself demands man’s allegiance on the basis of His being the bread-giver Rabb, the very first attribute of God means, among other things, Sustainer of life. Forestalling this very basic demand of human nature the Quran (Chapter 56, section 2) confronts man with the straight question whether it is he or God that causes the seed he sows to grow.

أَأَنتُمْ تَزْرَعُونَهُ أَمْ نَحْنُ الزَّارِعُونَ

Is it you who cause it to grow – or are We the causer of its growth?

(Al-Waqi’a (The Event) 56:64)

Man’s part in the growth of his own food is confined to mere ploughing and sowing. All the rest is done by the hundred and one visible and invisible Divine agencies. If the tiny seed grows into a plant bearing a whole bunch of food grains it is due 99 per cent to the bountifulness of God, man’s own part in the process being but infinitesimal. God’s bounty does not stop short at that. But for the machinery of eating, digesting and transforming into lifeblood with which He has equipped the mechanism of human body, the food itself would be of no avail. In a nutshell, God not only gives us the bread we eat but also the capacity to eat it, digest it and convert it into the blood which is man’s lifeline.

The Quran follows up this food argument with the next natural question of drink, which is equally an elementary need of life. ”Look at the water you drink”, it says. ”Who brings it down from the clouds – you or We (God)”? The saltish water of the seas, filtered of its saline ingredients, is picked up by the clouds, which, like Divine watercarriers pour down their contents, rendered fit for human and animal consumption. But for this wonderful elaborate process, there would be no drinking water on earth, indeed, no vegetation at all. The third process in food is that of cooking. The Quran, calling attention to this, says ”Look at the fire you kindle! Is it you who have caused its tree to grow or We have grown it?

On the higher level of basic principles, there is, thus, no antagonism between the demands of economics and religion. The natural resources which form the spring of national wealth are all the creation of God. Economic considerations should, therefore, make us all the more God-minded. So far as Islam is concerned, no stigma attaches to the production or acquisition of wealth. The Quran calls it God’s blessing and urges man to go about in the earth in search of it. Money as the symbol of the means of life’s wherewithal carries no profanity. Nor is there anything wrong in enjoying all the good things of life. Indeed the Quran wants man to convert this earth into a veritable Garden of Eden. He is told that it is entirely at his disposal, and he may eat thereof plentifully as he wishes. The very parable of garden is a broad enough hint that God wants man to develop the earth’s resources so that it may literally flow with milk and honey. That is the Islamic attitude towards this world and all the good things it has to offer. Call it materialism, if you will, but this so-called materialism is itself something spiritual, insofar as it is a Divine plan that man should subjugate the forces of nature and harness them to the service of mankind. The so-called material, at the touch of Islam, is transmuted into spiritual – the implementation of God’s will. Man has been created, the Quran tells us, as God’s vicegerent, and everything in the universe has been made subservient to him. It is for him to obtain mastery over them. In a way the scientists working in their laboratories unlocking the secrets of Nature are truly implementing God’s will, so far as this part of His planning is concerned. It is a mistake to suppose that God’s will can be done only within the four walls of the mosque. The whole of the earth has been described as a Muslim’s mosque, implying that all his worldly occupations are acts of religion, if properly done. It is the narrow outlook which has bifurcated life into mundane and ultra-mundane that is the root of all false notions that have crept into religion. Islam condemns monasticism as well as celibacy – things generally extolled insome other religions. This is an open acknowledgment that the basic needs of human nature like food and sex must be satisfied. There is nothing wrong about them – indeed, they are the indispensable roads to full spiritual growth. It should thus be obvious that there is nothing wrong about wealth and everyone must put in his best effort to produce and acquire it. The trouble comes in when we come to its production and distribution. It is the inequitable distribution of wealth and the opportunities to earn it that is the root cause of all the poverty, want, hunger, disease, ignorance, exploitation and slavery.

The question is What is responsible for this sorry state of affairs? Certainly, it is the greed for wealth that has brought about the exploitation of the masses by a few. It has been said that democracy is the conspiracy of the few against many. This is much more true of the imperialism of money. When the writer in the local Paper makes money all in all, and would have us banish religion outright, he forgets that he is arguing in a circle. What, after all, is the basis of the capitalist system which is responsible for so much misery in the world? Here again, it is man’s greed for more and more money.

And the remedy? Where to look for it? To suggest money-factor as a cure for the ills created by money-greed is to walk into a vicious circle out of which there can be no going out. That is what is happening under our eyes. Communism is creating more troubles than it claims to solve. Here again it is religion that can ensure an equitable distribution of Wealth. Islam extols and condemns wealth as God’s gift and curse in the same breath. It is its use that makes it one or the other. For a Muslim his wealth must be a trust from God. He is a mere trustee. He must spend it in social good. Its accumulation has been likened to hell fire with which the hoarder’s body will be burnt.We may summon all our ingenuity to devise systems ensuring equitable opportunities for acquiring wealth. But the best of systems is bound to fail unless the human factors involved in operating them are imbued with the spirit of religion. Indeed, these systems too often become the worst weapons of oppression.

Pakistan must by all means take whatever she can from the experiments of other nations to improve her economy. But the only guarantee of a fair distribution of the sources of wealth depends how far we are steeped in the spirit of religion and live up to its dictates.

M.Y.K.

(The Light , October 8, 1958)