ISLAM VERSUS COMMUNISM Part:1

ISLAM VERSUS COMMUNISM Part:1

BY Professor Dr. Mahmoud Youssef Shawarbi

Islam is a universal religion which is embraced by one quarter of the population of the world. In fact the followers of Islam are spread all over the world from the Far East to the Far West. Many thinkers in the world who studied Islam carefully believe that Islam is a natural barrier against communism.
In this essay we shall try to discuss this fact and show how Islam really stands as a concrete barrier against communism.
At the outset we should like to mention the main principles on which communism is founded. They can be summarized in the following
1. — The Denial of the existence of God.
2. — Life is absolutely materialistic and has no spiritual background.
3. — Abolition of private ownership.
4. — Nationalization of all resources and its control by the State.
5. — Replacing the inland trade by rationing cards.
6. — The adoption of Linin’s theory of wages which says "Form everyone according to his ability to everyone according to his needs."
It is thus clearly shown that the idea of communism is based on a purely materialistic basis. According to communism the whole universe has no supreme power behind it. It has no God who created it. The denial of the existence of God is a common belief Lo all communists. All the Russian pioneers to the space denied the existence of God. Karl Marx as one of the founders of communism. declares that there is no God and that the message of communism is to abolish religions.
By the denial of the existence of God, communism contradicts and ignores rail morals and spiritual values and kills the incentive in man to evaluate and respect all non-materialistic ideas. It thus makes man nothing but a tool in a big factory and kills the humane side in him.
These facts are evidenced by the great prosecution which Christianity and priests suffered at the hands of communists who believe that religion, any religion, is the opium of nations. They believe moreover that religion is something the nation should get rid of in order to achieve her goals in progress and prosperity.
Thus we see that communism is based almost and foremost on a very false assumption, namely, that man is nothing but a body without a soul. In so doing communism is defeating its own aim and is anti-nature itself. Man is composed of a body and. a soul and any regime who ignores anyone of those two sides of man is apt to fall. Human beings can never tolerate to be treated. as animals, nay, but as tools in a big factory.
In this respect, we find that communism is quite alien to Islam, which is based on a belief in one Almighty God Who created. both our eternal souls and mortal bodies. Islam as such caters for both the soul and the body.
In fact, according to Islam, we are humans due to our souls rather than to our bodies. The essence of life for a Muslim is his strong belief in God, the Most Merciful the Most Beneficent. He is the Lord of the worlds and the Creator of the universe, to Him everything belongs and unto Him everything ends.
It is beyond communists to appreciate the great effect of the belief in God on human souls. Even to the present day after these long years of spreading communistic principles in Russia, the communists were unable to extinguish completely the instinct of belief in God among all the Russians.

Secondly in communism this world is the ultimate goal of every communist. All his deeds end by his death. He is only responsible to the human authorities and is governed by human taws. The Muslim, on the other hand, believes that this world is only a beginning to an eternal life. To him it is like a farm for the other world and he is going to reap in the other x world what he cultivated in this world. His incentive to behave properly and act correctly and to be noble in all his deeds is not due to the human laws as much as it is due to the fear of God and the great hope to lead a peaceful and decent life in this world an in

the hereafter. Thus we see that the motive to act properly in Islam is within the human being himself. For this reason the individual in Islam is more conscientious and his behavior is governed by more eternal, continuous and spiritual values. From the above mentioned facts we see how Islam stands clear from communism and would lead, to bring up more humane individuals.

In fact a true Muslim is not only a good citizen of his own country but also a good citizen of the whole world. To him the human society at large is nothing but a great international family of the whole universe.

Thirdly, communism is quite contradictory to Islam because in the Islamic society there is no room for any other "ism" may it be communism, nazism or fascism. In Islam we ha^ve an "ism" of our own Any system of these various systems of government can never thrive under the rule of Islam, as it is in great conflict with its principles. The reason for this conflict is not far to seek. According to Islam all the Islamic laws derive their existence and power from the wisdom of the Creator of the whole universe. In the meantime the communistic laws derive their existence from those fallible creatures who worked them ont and thought them over.

it is clearly shown that no true Muslim would ever think of replacing the Islamic laws and principles by those communistic

laws. It is even quite simple for anyone outside the Islamic world to appreciate this fact. No reasonable man on earth would ever think of replacing any laws which he believes to be Divine by any man-made laws especially if these laws are against human nature and human instincts.

The fourth aspect of life in which Islam stands very firm against communism is the right of individual ownership. This right is sacred in Islam, so much so that the Prophet of Islam says "He who dies defending his honor dies as a martyr and he who dies defending his own property dies as a martyr".

The communistic principle of abolishing private ownership led to opposite results. The incentive of the people to do more and sincere work was killed.

So far as individual ownership is concerned, Islam is quite alien to communism. In Islam the individual has the right to own whatever he likes and to any extent he can cope with so far as he abides by the principles of legal profit and free and honest competition.

In fact the desire of ownership is a deeply rooted instinct in human beings and can never be eradicated. This instinct is definitely a great incentive for work and production. For this reason Islam stands very firm towards the right of ownership.

Islam, however, has regulated the fight of ownership very carefully and formulated many laws and regulations for this purpose. It levied certain exact taxation on every kind of property and made it an obligatory duty for every man and woman in Islam to observe it. I should like to add that Islam went in this respect as far as to make the observation of those taxations one of the five pillars of Islam, namely, the poor-rate which is also called almsgiving or "zakat".

In fact the system of "zakat" or almsgiving in Islam is an ideal system of taxation which has never been preceded in the history of mankind. It exceeds the man - made laws of taxation in many aspects, namely, the motive behind it, its justice, its universality, its great influence on the conscious of the tax payer and last but not least its wonderful results.

It should be mentioned here, however, that Islam in some cases may not allow the ownership of public services by one individual in order to avoid the dictatorship of great capitals.