Central to the Arab spring has been the
dire economic straits the Muslim world finds itself in. Mohamed Bouazizi's
self-immolation which was the catalyst to the resultant mass demonstrations
that engulfed the Muslim world was due in part to the economic situation in
Tunisia, which is common across the Muslim world. It beggars belief how a
region which possesses the world's largest oil and gas fields, the world's
largest Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) and has annual revenues of £500 billion
can ever have economic problems.
Unemployment, poverty, soaring food prices,
economic insecurity and corruption have all become the norm as many have
attempted to make ends meet when the system constructed by the colonial West
works against them.
With this in mind, we present an outline
of a few polices that a future Khilafah may pursue based on the Islamic
economic system and on the current economic realities of the Muslim lands.
The Khilafah will focus on job creation
Much
of the Muslim world requires huge investment in construction of infrastructure
and heavy industry. Such a policy will create millions of jobs and deal with
the unemployment situation in the region. It will also move people out of
poverty and allow the region to make use of its disposable income, further
stimulating the economy
Create public works projects such as
motorways, bridges and infrastructure development programmes which will not
just help communities but create jobs
Incentivise
private companies with contracts which require labour.
The Khilafah will pursue industrialization
Expansion
of defence industry. This would act as deterrent and lead to innovation of
technologies.
Share
technological expertise between Muslims regions as each country is at different
stages in defence development.
Develop
high tech weapons
The regions countries need to take
control of its raw materials and expand its mineral processing infrastructure
Expand
and construct steel and iron mills, refineries, automobile industries and
Chemical and petrochemical industries.
A
nuclear programme should also be started to act as a deterrent to those who
have designs on the Muslims lands.
The Khilafah will use all proceeds from
public assets such as oil and gas for the interests of the Ummah (citizens) to
focus on job creation and pursue industrialization
The region should aim to achieve near
self-sufficiency in agricultural production
Grains
like wheat, rice, maize, and oilseed provide the basic ingredients for a vast
variety of food production. In contrast to current farming methods, the role of
the state should be to promote competitive food, farming and fisheries
industries. This will promote a thriving rural economy supported by Government
funds from the Khilafah to help poor farmers.
Through the removal of Western rules and
application of Islam's economic rules sustainable economic growth can be
achieved
Taxation
policy which is based on wealth rather than income will give citizens more
disposable income which can be spent in the economy.
Islam
does not have complex rules for taxation and has only seven revenue sources for
the state, in this way the rules for taxation are much simpler, cheaper to
administer
The
removal of interest (riba) from the economy removes the parallel financial
economy and in this way an Islamic economy will have real growth built upon
wealth which is invested in the economy rather than debt.
The
Islamic ruling on the gold standard as a currency creates a stable economy
allowing long term decisions to be made.
Sources:
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