Growth & Social Solidarity

To achieve the aim of social solidarity, individuals have to ‘work’ on behalf of the society on what they ‘own’ so as to tap and increase their wealth. They have also to ‘work’ to dispose of the acquired wealth rationally to the needy and poorer sections of the society. Otherwise their wealth may be eroded by Zakat, which is an obligatory levy on wealth. Work thus becomes the basic factor of production in an Islamic society. As such, it is the only factor legible for reward (other traditional factors of production - land and capital - are considered gifts of God for man to work with. Only when they mix with work they are entitled to reward).

To protect wealth from being concentrated in the hands of those who already own — i.e. to give work or the working individual an even chance — Islam has prohibited interest, monopoly, gambling, economic and financial malpractices.

Source: Islamic Banking, Abdur Rahim Hamdi. Republished with permission.