By accepting this amanah man has been assigned to the most distinguished position of the office of khalifah. The faithful execution of the responsibilities of a trustee and the role of a vicegerent is the true ibadah in Islam. The khalifah is bestowed on the entire society through the performance of every individual. They “enjoin what is just and forbid what is evil” and are protectors of one another, irrespective of gender.40 Humans are but a trustee of Allah on this earth in society, and not absolute owners. If one does not perform one’s duties voluntarily then pressure should be created to bring one’s behavior in line with Islamic society’s collective behavior. Allah makes people inheritors of power and property so that He may try them.

It may be that your Lord
Will destroy your enemy
And make you inheritors
In the earth; that so
He may try you
By your deeds. (7:129)

Even family and children are but a trial for their perfection.

And know ye
That your possessions
And your progeny
Are but a trial;
And that it is Allah
With Whom lies
Your highest reward. (8:28)

It is our actions in relation to the execution of our duties as khalifah and trustee, that Allah is going to judge and so He warns us not to betray the Trust.

It is your actions that Allah
And His Messenger will observe. (9:94)

O ye that believe!
Betray not the trust
Of Allah and the Messenger,
Nor misappropriate knowingly
Things entrusted to you. (8:27)

The concepts of khalifah and amanah are natural corollaries to Allah’s sovereignty over material wealth. The use of power or of wealth to satisfy an individual’s ego is a direct revolt against Allah. All wealth belongs to the society and is intended for the support of the members of the society. A particular individual is only a trustee of the property.41 In an Islamic society the owners of wealth and those who control the means of production should manage and exercise their economic power, possessions, and resources as trustees of the society and not as absolute owners or controllers.

The concepts of man’s role as khalifah and as trustee removes the wide disparity between the rich and the poor. The theme of amanah rests on the belief that capitalists and landlords should transfer the accumulated wealth into a trust for the common use of the society. In such an Islamic society food, clothing, provisions for pure drinking water, shelter, security, peace, and sufficiency are the most inalienable features of a good life.

There is therein (enough provision)
For thee not to go hungry
Nor to go naked,
Nor to suffer from thirst,
Nor from the sun’s heat. (20:118–119)

Allah made the Ka‘bah,
The Sacred House;
An asylum of security for men. (5:97).

A city enjoying security
And quiet, abundantly supplied
With sustenance from every place. (16:112)42

In Islam one is to share one’s wealth with those who are of limited means and share in the works that benefit the society as a whole. Surplus wealth should go for the collective falah of the society. The orders in the Qur‘an in this regard are categorical and unqualified. It upholds the rights of the needy and destitute through the wealth of the rich.

And in their wealth
And possession (was remembered)
The right of the (needy),
Him who asked, and him
Who (for some reason) was
Prevented (from asking). (51:19)

And those in whose wealth
Is a recognised right
For the (needy) who asks
And him who is prevented
(For some reason from asking). (70:24-25)

Muslim, Abu Dawud, and Ahmad quoting Abi-Said al-Khudri states: “The Prophet said: ‘Whoever has a surplus of animals for riding should give it to a person who has nothing, and whoever has a surplus of food should give it to a person who has no food.’” He further adds, “The Prophet named so many kinds of property or belongings until we thought that no one of us has the right to keep a surplus.” A society based on such voluntary sacrifice for human welfare and advancement is an Islamic society.

Islam does not recognize a consumption-oriented affluent society. It advocates a low-cost economy and a middle class living for all. It seeks constant human elevation, freedom, and the avoidance of the dehumanization associated with competitive commercialization and heavy industrialization. Today even sociologists agree that technology’s prevalence does violence to the dignity of the laborer as a human personality—it is a direct threat to the imam.

Human exploitation of natural wealth subordinates the Will of Allah. It is obligatory on Muslims to harness the resources of nature to serve the cause of justice, to promote righteousness, and to eliminate evil. However, Allah’s resources must not be allowed to become instruments of exploitation by individuals or groups of individuals. Wealth is desired to ease poverty, hardship, and dependability—not for ease, comfort, and affluence. Islam condemns indulgence in luxurious living and the desire to showoff. 43 It opposes the conspicuous consumption of the leisure class.44 As a lesson the Qur‘an relates the story of Qarun, his lust for wealth, and his subsequent fall.

So he went forth among
His people in the (pride
Of his worldly) glitter.
Said those whose aim is
The Life of this World:
“Oh! that we had the like
Of what Qarun has got!
For he is truly a lord
Of mighty good fortune!” (28:79)

Wealth in Islam is desired to improve morality, to perfect the ibadah, and to develop the quality of a person. Wealth is not desired for the maximization of standards of living. Wealth is for collective purposes and not for individual utility. It is for social development and not for individual consumption and pleasure. In the eyes of the Prophet wealth was of no greater significance than the foam of the sea. According to Bukhari, a collector of Hadith, very often he would cry out from the depth of his heart, “O God! Bestow upon the descendants of Muhammad only as much provision as may be necessary to sustain life.” The Prophet also said to his wealthy companion Usman ibn Affan: “The son of Adam has no right (for the things of the world) except a home sufficient to live in according to need, clothes sufficient to cover his body, and utensils for food and water.”45

While insisting upon a powerful built-in mechanism for income redistribution, Islam is even more powerful on account of its alignment with the Pleasure of Allah. In an Islamically transformed society there would be two classes of people: workers and entrepreneurs. Land ownership is subjected to the interest of the society. Land is the free gift of Allah, given for use, and not for ownership. Shah Waliullah held that the use of land should be regulated by the society in its general interest while exploitation by idle landlords should be outlawed. No one, Shah Waliullah held, has the right to consider himself the master either of land or of fellow men.46 Islam “regards the cultivator as the owner of the land.”47 Landlords have no right to claim a natural power invested by Allah as a factor of production.48

A Muslim’s belief in Allah entails an automatic duty for justice. Income distribution induced through voluntary giving along with the compulsory resource transfer affected through zakah, kharaj, ‘ushr, and sadaqat ul-fitr are not only economic necessities but also means of spiritual attainment and mutual cooperation.

Of their goods take alms,
That so thou mightest
Purify and sanctify them,
And pray on their behalf,
Verily thy prayers are a source
Of security for them. (9:103)

Wealth is not to be circulated amongst only a few.

What Allah has bestowed
On His Messenger (and taken
Away) from the people
Of the townships—
Belongs to Allah,—

To His Messenger
And to kindred and orphans,
The needy and the wayfarer;
In order that it may not
(Merely) make a circuit
Between the wealthy among you. (59:7)

In an Islamic society each individual’s happiness should have equal value.

And spend of your substance
In the cause of Allah,
And make not your own hands
Contribute to (your) destruction. (2:195)

Allah loveth not
The arrogant, the vain glorious,
(Nor) those who are niggardly,
Or enjoin niggardliness on others,
Or hide the bounties
Which Allah hath bestowed
On them. (4:36–37)

It is essentially a society with equal income distribution.

Those who are deceived by the luxury and life of this world are rejectors of the Faith.

It was the life of this world
That deceived them. So
Against themselves will they
Bear witness that they
Rejected Faith. (6:130)

Piling up wealth which is not for use or service to those who need it has been condemned in the strongest terms by Allah.

Who pileth up wealth
And layeth it by,
Thinking that his wealth
Would make him last forever!
By no means! He will
Be sure to be thrown into
That which Breaks to Pieces. (104:2-4)

Spending one’s honestly earned wealth is obligatory.

O ye who believe!
Spend out of (the bounties)
We have provided for you
Before the Day comes
When no bargaining
(Will avail), nor friendship
Nor intercession.
Those who reject Faith—they
Are the wrong doers. (2:254)

One is asked to spend what is beyond one’s need.

They ask thee how much
They are to spend;
Say: “What is beyond
Your needs.” (2:219)

Tawhid and al-‘adl together make up the Islamic system, which at one and the same time unifies as well as balances. They are the ultimate aims of one’s self-realization that can only grow in an atmosphere of jihad. Such an atmosphere will prevail only in a society where an equal share is given “even unto the last.” The principle of sharing is described as:

One should spend all that he earns on his lawful and reasonable needs, and if any surplus accrues, hand it over to others so that they may satisfy their needs. Islam regards this equality as one of the highest standards of morality and has put it forward as an ideal with such force that a society influenced by Hidayah will always respect those who earn and spend, much more than those who keep their wealth hoarded and who go on investing surplus income in earning more.49

It is the salat and zakah, or pray and pay synthesis, which keeps the efforts to transform a society alive and perennial Inwardly one must develop by salat and dhikr; outwardly one must function in the social arena of action. Thus people can move from deep inner contemplation to vital and purposeful social activity in any sphere. Salat indicates the personal project whereas zakah and sadaqah indicate the social project. One is not complete without the other. If they are divided the result is either a superficial “Western radicalism” or a “socialist automatism” stressing action and service at the expense of awe and vision, or a pietism, relating spirituality to the private sector.

Social justice is the key to an Islamic social system.

My Lord hath commanded
Justice; and that ye set
Your whole selves (to Him)
At every time and place
Of prayer. (7:29)

It must be tempered with compassion to avoid unnecessary social hardship. Each individual is entitled to justice from the society. Social justice, or al-‘adl, requires the poor to be moved up and the rich to be moved down the scale of the social hierarchy. It is with this view that the great Khalifah Umar, seeing the gap between the rich and the poor widening, said: “Had I done first what I did later, I would have taken away the wealth from the rich and distributed it among the poor.”50 To solve or alleviate within a reasonable time the basic problems of poverty, deprivation, and inequity, it is necessary that the better off members of a society have their existing standard of living lowered, kept static over time, or kept from growing as fast as it would otherwise grow, until a favorable balance is reached.

CONCLUSION

The main strategy of transformation in Islam lies in raising a band of people. In the words of the Qur‘an:

Let there arise out of you
A band of people
Inviting to all that is good,
Enjoining what is right,
And forbidding what is wrong:
They are the ones to attain felicity. (3:104)

Under the shade of this spirit A’ishah said:

We have come into the field for the sake of the God, which Allah Almighty and His Messenger, peace and blessings of Allah be on him, has commanded every one, young and old, man and woman to do. We have come to command the people to do good and to protect the good, and to safeguard people from evil and remove evil from the world.51

When people are ready, transformation will take place in the rural societies through a mass-based reconstruction movement which will develop small “Islamic social laboratories,”52 units of peoples’ power, will, and work in which the people will run their own affairs according to the tenets of Islam. Thousands and millions of such Islamic laboratories centering on masjids [mosques] will emerge, restructuring the established order. Next these decentralized but highly ideologically motivated, cohesive units will form a pattern of the ultimate ummat al-Islam; a nonviolent world community, based on the din of Allah.

Salat or prayer in Islam is an institution for social action. The most cohesive prayer occurs on Fridays, when the whole society assembles. The masjid, therefore, is essential. The rhythm of Islamic practices is essential for group dwelling. A masjid with its arrangements for ablution, five daily prayers at the call of the muezzin, and the fast of Ramadan with its nocturnal activities, encompass communal rather than isolated activities.

Social living is indispensable to the dignity of life which Islam demands. Women must observe the injunctions of Islam, all children must be educated, all orphans must be taken care of, all widows must enjoy their social and economic rights, all disabled must be looked after, and all elders must be respected. All these requirements are difficult to reconcile in an isolated existence. Living together in a cohesive society is a pillar of the faith and a framework within which to live the good life in Islam.

Power is an essential force of life, always in operation, vibrant, and dynamic. When Muslims agree on Islamic ideas and want the power to propagate their iman, they organize a masjid, not in the physical sense, but in the moral and spiritual sense. When people agree on certain political ideas and want the power to put them into practice, they organize a political party. For Muslims, Islam is the political party. Power and organization are one and the same. Similarly masjid and Islam are one and the same. The masjid is the nucleus of power of an Islamic society.

Transformation of Muslim societies in rural or urban areas involves a rediscovery of social welfare, civic function, and the mobilizing capacity of a masjid for any nonviolent action. A masjid brings men and women together, establishes the spirit of cooperation, creates dynamic social solidarity, furthers mutual understanding, generates the spirit of consultation, helps keep the society informed, and keeps the society dynamic.

The masjid is a place for the quest of peace, both spiritual and physical. These aspects originate from the individual’s affirmation of Allah’s sovereignty with the concept of tawhid, and in the recognition and invocation of Allah’s Will. Jumu‘ah, a coming together, already represents the “actualization of peace” A Muslim oriented towards a masjid and jumu‘ah is in fact under obligation within his or her Qur‘anic commitment to invite others to participate in the nonviolent struggle for justice, peace, and security.

The essential Islamic elements on which the concept of rural transformation for a nonviolent world is based are: the exclusive and absolute Sovereignty of Allah; the shari‘a, being the paramount as well as the sole source of policy; the dignity and equality of man and woman; the authority being in the nature of a trustee of Allah; and mutaqi being at the helm of authority, exercising their power as khalifah of Allah on the basis of consultation. The transformed society of Islam will be a society of absolute justice, freedom and rights, peace and security, and sufficiency and work. It will aim at the ultimate unity of the ummah and of humanity at large.

Islam is a message for all and for all seasons. Against this background I have tried to sketch with a broad and rugged brush Islam’s approach to rural transformation, which I believe, if translated into action, both in letter and spirit, will clarify for all well-meaning persons the meaning of fundamentalism and militancy in the awakening of Islam and will assist exploration of whether Islam is relevant for ushering in a nonviolent world.

NOTES
1. Joan V. Bondurant, Conquest of Violence: The Gandhian Philosophy of Conflict (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1969), p. xiii.
2. Simple Living Collective of the American Friends Service Committee, Taking Charge, Achieving Personal and Political Change Through Simple Living (New York: Bantam, 1977), front cover.
3. World Council of Churches, Report of the Consultation on Militarism, November 1977, p. 3.
4. Edward Thomas Rowe, “Aid and Coups d’Etat,” International Studies Quarterly (University of British Columbia) 18, no. 2 (June 1974): 238–255.
5. Mahadev H. Desai, Tr. by Hemantkuma G. Mikanth, Day-to-Day With Gandhi (Varanasi: Sarva Seva Sangh Prakashan, 1968).
6. M. M. Sankhdhar, “The Relevance of Gandhism: A Point of View,” Gandhi Marg 27 (June 1981): 152-153.
7. Larry Collins and Dominique Lapierre, Freedom at Midnight (New Delhi: Vikas, 1976), p. 99.
8. Ibid., p. 98.
9. “A-Bomb Chaplain: I Was Told It Was Necessary,” Sojourner (August 1980).
10. “Where does the Power of Islam Lie,” Imam (London), Jamadee al-Thani/Rajab, AH1405 (March 1985): 39-41. The 17-Point Program of Action of the National Society of Egypt included the following:

1. Each day, every member of the Society must read at least one hizb (1/16) of the Sublime Qur‘an, with due care and reflection.
2. Compulsory prayers are to be said in congregation.
3. Do not abandon the principles to “enjoin good and to forbid evil.”
4. Call non-Muslims to Islam.
5. Debate with Christian missionaries in the best possible manner.
6. Have kindness and give charity to the needy and deprived.
7. Carry out any legitimate request, and help those in need of assistance without their asking.
8. Respect family ties and promote bonds of affection with your close relatives.
9. Visit the sick.
10. If a Muslim is missed at a gathering, inquire after his well-being and the reason for his absence, so that he can be helped in the event of difficulties.
11. Call on those who have returned from a journey.
12. Pay compulsory dues to the deserving needy.
13. Do not refrain from guiding and helping those who are not familiar with the injunctions and rites of their religion, which ensures man’s felicity.
14. Avoid contemptible qualities, particularly conceit, arrogance, selfishness and greed for power and position.
15. Overlook the petty faults and errors of Muslim brothers.
16. Do not be bad-tempered, irritable, or discourteous.
17. Refrain from saying or doing anything which has no material spiritual benefit for yourself or other Muslims.

Each member of the Society carried a small notebook and made note of every time he acted on one of the seventeen articles, to be recorded in the register-book of the Society. Since the implementation of some of these points required financing, those forty people decided from the outset to sell any luxuries they had and to live with only the basic necessities of life.
11. Ibid., pp. 40-41.
12. The Khudai Khidmatgar Pledge, which every member had to sign, read thus:

1. I put forth my pledge in honesty and truthfulness to become a true Khudai Khidmatgar.
2. I will sacrifice my wealth, life, and comfort for the liberty of my nation and people.
3. I will never be a party to factions, hatred, or jealousies with my people, and will side with the oppressed against the oppressor.
4. I will not become a member of any other rival organization, nor will I stand in any army.
5. I will faithfully obey all legitimate orders of all my officers all the time.
6. I will live in accordance with the principles of nonviolence.
7. I will serve all God’s creatures alike; and my object shall be the attainment of the freedom of my country and my religion.
8. I will always see to it that I do what is right and good.
9. I will never desire any reward whatever for my service.
10. All my effort shall be to please God, and not for any show and gain.

13. Pyarelal, A Pilgrimage of Peace: Gandhi and Frontier Gandhi Among N.W.F. Pathans (Ahmedabad: Navajivan, 1950), p. 134.
14. Ibid., p. 118
15. Gandhi, Young India 17 (November 1921).
16.

By (the Token of)
Time (through the Ages),
Verily Man
Is in loss,
Except such as have Faith
And do righteous deeds,
And (join together)
In the mutual teaching
Of Truth, and of
Patience and Constancy. (103:1-3)

17. Gandhi, Modern Review (October 1935): 143.
18. Ibid., p. 144.
19. Qamar-ud-Din Khan, Al-Mawardi’s Theory of State (Lahore: Islamic Book Foundation, 1983), p. 4.
20. Shingo Shibata, “Religion and Nuclear Extermination,” The Churchman (August-September, 1979).
21. In order to clarify this important concept we reprint here the following commentary from The Meaning of the Holy Qur‘an, translated and with commentary by A. Yusuf ‘Ali (Brentwood, MD: Amana, 1991), p. 71 (reprinted with the permission of the publisher).

1. Note first that this verse (2:178) makes it clear that Islam has mitigated the horrors of pre-Islamic customs of retaliation. In order to meet the strict claims of justice, equality is prescribed, with a strong recommendation for mercy and forgiveness. Therefore, to translate Qisas as retaliation is, I think, incorrect. The Latin legal term Lex Talionis may come near to it, but even that is modified here. In any case it is best to avoid technical terms for things that are very distinct. In English retaliation has a wider meaning equivalent almost to returning evil for evil, and would more aptly apply to the blood feuds of the days of ignorance. Islam says:

If you must take a life for a life, at least there should be some measure of equality in it; the killing of the slave of a tribe should not involve a blood feud where many free men would be killed; but the law of mercy, when it can be obtained by consent, with reasonable compensation, would be better.

Our law of equality takes account of three equations in civil society; free for free, slave for slave, and woman for woman. Among free men or women, all are equal. Also you cannot claim that because a wealthy, high born, or influential man is killed, his life is equal to two or three lives among the poor or the lowly. Nor in case of murder, can you go into the value or abilities of a slave. A woman is mentioned separately because her position as a mother or an economic worker is different. She does not form a third class, but a division in the other two classes. One life having been lost, do not waste many lives in retaliation; at most let the law take one life under strictly prescribed conditions, and shut the door to private vengeance or tribal retaliation. But if the aggrieved party consents (and this condition of consent is laid down to prevent worse evils), forgiveness and brotherly love is better, and the door of mercy is kept open. In Western law, no felony can be compounded.
2. The jurists have carefully laid down that the law of Qisas refers to murder only. Qisas is not applicable to manslaughter, which is due to a mistake or an accident. In that case there would be no capital punishment.
3. The term “brother” is perfectly general. All men are brothers in Islam. In this and in all questions of inheritance, females have similar rights to males, and therefore the masculine gender refers to both sexes. We consider the rights of the heirs in the light of the larger brotherhood. In 2:178–179 we have the rights of the heirs to life (as it were), while 2:180–182 proceed to the heirs to property.
4. The demand should be such as can be met by the party concerned, that is, within his means and reasonable according to justice and good conscience. For example, a demand could not be made affecting the honor of a woman or man. The whole penalty can be remitted if the aggrieved party agrees out of brotherly love. In meeting that demand the culprit or his friends should be equally generous and recognize the good will of the other side. There should be no subterfuges, no bribes, no unseemly byplay: otherwise the whole intention of mercy and peace is lost.

22. Mahadev H. Desai, Day-to-Day With Gandhi, p. 166.
23.

To establish a firm place
For them in the land,
And show Pharaoh, Haman,
And their hosts, at their hands,
The very things against which
They were taking precautions. (28:6)

24.

Ye are the best
Of Peoples, evolved
For mankind,
Enjoining what is right,
Forbidding what is wrong,
And believing in Allah. (3:110)

25. Syed Abul Maududi, Islamic Way of Life (Beirut: The Holy Koran Publishing House, 1977), p. 1.
26. R. A. Nicholson, A Literary History of the Arabs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969), p. 173.
27. Sayed Qutb, Islam: The Religion of the Future (Beirut: The Holy Koran Publishing House, 1978), p. 5.
28.

It is those who believe
And confuse not their beliefs
With wrong—that are
(Truly) in security, for they
Are on (right) guidance. (6:82)

29. Show us the straight way. (1:6)
30. Maududi, Islamic Way of Life, pp. 16–17.
31. D. G. Tendulkar, Mahatma Vol. 7, Rev. Ed. (New Delhi: Publication Division, Government of India, 1962), pp. 83, 280, 409.
32. Maududi, Islamic Way of Life, p. 17.
33.

And consult them
In affairs (of moment).
Then when thou hast
Taken a decision,
Put thy trust in Allah.
For Allah loves those
Who put their trust (in Him). (3:159)

34. Syed Abul Maududi, Islamic Law and Constitution, trans. and ed. Khurshid Ahmed (Lahore: Islamic Publications,1983), pp. 139–40.
35. Also refer to 2:107, 3:189, 5:43, 7:128, 7:111, 7:128, 20:6, 21:89, 23:88, 24:42, 25:2, 36:83, 62:5, 59:23, and many other similar verses.
36. 24:55.
37. Charis Waddy, The Muslim Mind (London and New York: Longman, 1983), pp. 109-110.
38. Maududi, Islamic Law and Constitution, p. 149.
39. Selected Messages and Speeches of Imam Khomeini, Tehran, 1980, pp. 2–9.
40.

The Believers, men
And women, are protectors,
One of another: they enjoin
What is just, and forbid
What is evil: they observe
Regular prayers, practice
Regular charity, and obey
Allah and His Messenger. (9:71)

41. A. Yusuf ‘Ali, The Holy Qur‘an: New Edition with Revised Translation and Commentary (Brentwood, MD: Amamna, 1983), p. 179, footnote 511. Also see 4:5.
42. See also 5:100, 10:25, and 24:55.
43. Sayyid Manazir Ahsan Gilani, Islami Ma‘ashiyat (Hyderabad, India: Idara Isha‘at-e-Urdu, 1947), pp. 138-140.
44. Sayed Qutb, Social Justice in Islam (New York: American Council of Learned Societies, 1970).
45. Kaukab Siddiqui, Islam and Revolution (American Society for Religion and Education, 1981), p. 75.
46. Edward Mortimer, Faith and Power (New York: Random House, 1982).
47. I. H. Quraishi, “Land Tenure in Islam,” International Islamic Colloquium Papers (Punjab: University Press, 1960), pp. 149-150.
48. Abdul Hamid Ahmad Abu-Sulayman, “The Theory of the Economics of Islam,” Contemporary Aspect of Economic Thinking in Islam (American Trust Publications, 1978).
49. Syed Abul Maududi, The Economic Problem of Man and Its Islamic Solution (Lahore: Islamic Publications, 1975), p. 34.
50. Taha Hussain, Al-Fitnah al-Kubrad, Vol. I, Urdu trans. by Abdul Hamid Nomani (Bombay: Ajmal Press), p. 21. Also referred to in Al-Muhallah, Abu Ubayd, Kitab al-Amwal (Cairo, 1958).
51. Kaukab Siddiqui, Islam and Revolution, p. 110.
52. A term very gratefully borrowed from Dr. M. A. Mannan, Islamic Development Bank, Jeddah.

Originally published on The Center for Global Nonviolence site at http://www.globalnonviolence.org/islam.htm as Chapter 7 of the book Islam and Nonviolence containing essays from a 1986 conference in Bali co-sponsored by Nahdatul Ulama and the United Nations University with participants from Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, and Thailand.  Reprinted in TAM with permission of Glenn D. Paige, President, Center for Global Nonviolence http://www.globalnonviolence.org/