2. Society is looking to increase its wealth through investing, the financial sector exists today primarily to bring those with money, and those who need it together. 

Finance: Past and present

Capitalism has dominated the financial scene for over 300 hundred years, the initial development of the stock markets took place in Europe to fund expeditions to Latin America, where merchants went to gain riches. Most of the developments in finance have taken place in the post WW2 era.

The purpose of finance is to bring those with money and those that need it together in the market place. The first time the worlds largest economies got together to discuss global finance was at the Bretton Woods conference in 1944, this was the first attempt at unifying the terms of global finance. There were two important outcomes from the conference:

The pegging of the worlds currencies to the dollar which in turn was pegged to Gold and the blueprint to remove all barriers to finance so financial transactions could take place freely. Financial dealings increased twenty fold and reached astronomical proportions. When the US abandoned the dollar peg to Gold, this brought even more money into the financial markets. The explosion in finance meant more and more money was being invested in the financial markets, the need to keep pace with such a development required ever more money to fund such investments and with the absence of a peg to Gold this period witnessed an astronomical rise in the printing of money.

The deregulation drive during the Thatcher-Reagan era brought even more participants into the financial markets including individual investors looking for riches. This also saw the development of the derivative markets in the 1990’s where money was speculated on the movement in the shares of companies, currencies and interest rates. For the first time traders were allowed to speculate in a commodity without actually buying or selling the actual commodity. 

Over a period of 300 hundred years the emergence of fiat currencies (i.e. currency without an intrinsic value), the role of compound interest and the development of limited liability company structures have shaped western finance.

Such developments have also been the sole reason why the West has come to be characterised with regular financial crises. The developments in finance since WW2 brought to an end industrial dominance and created duel economies. This is because the financial sector moved away from raising finance to fund business start-ups and projects to speculating on company share prices and the movement of currencies. In this way trading in the financial sector ceased to be about purchasing currency or buying shares in the hope of receiving a dividend to purchasing financial commodities in the hope they could be sold for a higher price.

Due to this it became possible for a company to be in financial difficulties but have a rising share price, or as was seen during the dot.com bubble, new start-up’s witnessed astronomical rises in their share prices even though they were forecasted not to make a profit for 20 years.

The financial sector dominated by the financial markets actually does not produce anything real. Speculators trade in shares, bonds, and currencies that move around from trader to trader, in the hope that slight price changes will yield profits. This process has led to speculation reaching levels unheralded in history, it also means the price of commodities could be moving in the complete opposite direction to the supply and demand situation of a commodity. A good example of this was the rise in oil prices in 2008. Oil prices in less than a year reached $150 a barrel. Throughout history Oil prices rarely went above $35 a barrel, this huge surge in price completely contradicted the fundamentals. No new oil fields were discovered, no new technology was invented that could extract or refine oil quicker. Mark Lewis from Energy Market Consultants explained at the time in a BBC interview “We really don’t know what the fundamentals are doing at any point in time; the markets are looking for signals from the fundamentals. Some of them are irrelevant, some of them are wrong, some of them are meaningless, but they affect prices nevertheless.” Sean Cronin, editor of Argus Global Markets explained at the time “When the New York oil price broke through $100 a barrel for the first time at the start of 2008, one of the factors cited as being behind it was the assassination of Benazir Bhutto in Pakistan on 27 December 2007, that didn’t strike us as making any sense at the time.”
        
The financial economy that doesn’t produce anything has become so sophisticated that various products have been created which allow an investment in a paper with no real asset represented. This side of the economy is valued more then the real economy, the size of the worldwide bond market is estimated at $45 trillion. The size of the world’s stock markets is estimated at $51 trillion. The world derivatives market has been estimated at $1000 trillion, more then 60 times the size of the US economy and 24 times the size of the entire world economy.

Disaster Capitalism

Western theories on finance have dominated the discipline of economics for over a century. Economic textbooks argue the ‘time value of money’ theory which states that the value of money (the quantity of goods that can be bought) is falling hence a mechanism is needed to fill the difference. Hence £100 will purchase a fixed amount of goods today, however a year later £100 will not get you the same amount of goods, interest rates in theory are equal to the difference. The ability to invest in investment products and financial markets allows one to hedge his/her wealth.

The fundamental problem with such Capitalist theory is that on many issues there is a wide discrepancy between theory and practice. Interest rates in today’s global economy in no way represent the change in the value of money. Interest rates in many economies across the world outstrip prices changes enormously. Such views of money have in fact created an economy which is not real. The global financial economy has turned into one big casino where traders bet on what will happen in the real economy.

Islam and the Financial Economy
 
The Islamic economy is built upon the real economy this is where the process of production of tangible goods and services, Islam has designated a role for finance in the economy - due to Islam’s focus on the real economy which is the wealth creating aspect of any economy finance in Islam is not an end in itself as there is no interest (Riba). Wealth in Islam is created through each stage of industry i.e. mining, refining, manufacturing and sales’ All of this adds value at each stage and creates wealth for the economy
“That is because they say: “Trading is only like Riba,” whereas Allah has permitted trading and forbidden Riba” [Surah al-Baqarah]

Finance in Islam is intrinsically tied to the real economy and is not an industry in itself. Due to this finance takes a shape in an Islamic economy very different to what is seen in Capitalist economies.

1. Money in Islam was designated by Prophet Muhammed (saw) as representative money, this
is where the notes and coins in the economy are representing a commodity. Through the actions of Prophet Muhammed (saw) in terms of collating tax, penalties and prices in the economy, money represents gold and silver. By restricting the legal tender to such metals inflation is contained as any increase in the supply of money requires additional metal, in this way the Islamic economy has restricted the central government from freely printing currency (paper money must be 100% backed by gold or silver). This brings the much needed stability to money which in turn brings stability to the overall economy.

2. The Bait-ul Mal - the central treasury plays a key role in an Islamic economy. It regulates Money supply by monitoring production and ensuring sufficient currency exists in the economy so that trade and transactions can take place. The role of the state has been clearly defined in the Islamic texts. It has been designated with the responsibility of ensuring the circulation of wealth and supervising the public properties.

3. The removal of interest has a huge impact in the economy. For many it is difficult to envisage economic life outside the capitalist framework which relies so much on interest. The absence of interest actually allows for more wealth creation. To appreciate this we need to understand the role played by interest in investment decisions. This is because the challenge all people face is one of investment. Simply put, people will only invest their money if the rate of return of a business venture measured against the risk of the venture is offset by the interest that can be gained from leaving the money in a bank account to accrue interest. Thus, if the risk of the rate of return on an investment is less than the rate of interest, then one would leave their wealth in a bank account rather then actually invest it. Hence the incentive would be to save the money rather then to use (invest) it. Interest in other words restricts investment and hence is an impediment to the distribution of wealth. By removing interest from the economy it incentivises wealth circulation in the economy through investing in real goods and business ventures. This brings added stability as all participants participate in the same sphere - the real economy.

4. Any individual wanting to begin a business venture needs finance. One could wait for years to accumulate the necessary profits to expand or start a new business or borrow the money today. For this purpose banks were created. Islam has permitted the creation of banks and views them as institutions that aid wealth circulation. This is because banks collect the population’s deposits and then invest the money across the economy in new business ventures. In this way banks become like venture capital bodies who invest in real business. With the absence of speculative financial markets banks only have one sphere to invest customer wealth, the real economy. The absence of interest in the Islamic banking industry as well as speculative and dubious financial markets is the discerning line between modern banks and Islamic banking. This means Islamic banks can only make money from investing wealth across the economy in projects and new start ups, the impact on the wider economy is huge as banks will stimulate the economy through such acts. Modern banking wealth finds its way primarily into the financial markets creating a speculative bubble if investments do not materialise.

5. Although Islam is built upon the real economy and the financial sector is based upon providing finance for the real economy, Islam has allowed a few purely financial transactions. Islam has permitted currency exchange as this was a common practice amongst the people of Mecca and Madina and Muhammed (saw) did not object to it. Islam permitted some forward contracts - this is where payment is taken before the actual delivery of goods or before the final transfer of ownership of the goods. However the items that can be sold before ownership is undertaken must be of a defined nature where they can be counted, measured or weighed, this is due to what is established in the hadith of ibn Abbas, that the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “Whoever pays in advance in dates, let him pay in advance for a known price and a known weight for a known period.” And in another narration of ibn Abbas who said: The Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “Whoever pays in advance in something then (it should be) in a known measure and a known weight for a known period” (narrated by Al-Bukhari). Islam has categorically prohibited purely financial transactions where one lends money in the hope of receiving more in repayment. All trade and transactions are linked to the real economy as they are built upon construction, manufacture, services, or the production of goods and so on.

6. The Islamic company structure also complements an economy without interest. This is because Islamic law does not allow companies to operate on the basis of limited liability, which allows one to only have a financial stake in a company which is restricted to the amount invested. In the event of bankruptcy a shareholder would only lose the initial capital of the company no matter how large the debts. The key feature in an Islamic company is all shareholders are responsible for company debts in proportion to their investment, rather than just their monetary amount. Islamic company shareholders also partake in the running of the business not merely just remain a shareholder in the hope that share prices rise. Stock markets exist primarily to cater for such investors, who do not directly participate in running or management of the company.

7. Whilst the Capitalist finance industry offers investors an array of products and many opportunities, it also brings much harm to the wider economy. This is because such debt based products are betting on the future and reliant upon a certain outcome, when this doesn’t occur the inevitable bust occurs. The Global, credit crunch was built upon future real estate prices continuing to rise, when this was not forthcoming it brought the global economy down, as many had invested in debt based products which themselves were dependent on rising house prices.

8. Western theorists have always argued that an economy without interest removes the incentive to invest. They argue there would be no investment unless there was a guaranteed rate of return. The Islamic economy however is dynamic enough to encourage investment without the need for interest. The prohibition of hoarding wealth has been addressed directly by Allah (swt), the Islamic creed has forbidden the hoarding of wealth. Hence spending is seen as an act of worship alongside the fulfilment of ones needs. At the same time the Islamic economy has designated a 2.5% tax (Zakat) on any wealth held for a year above a fixed threshold. Hence holding onto wealth aside from being rebuked by the Islamic texts faces taxation at the of the Islamic tax year - all this gives citizens in the Islamic economy the incentive to spend and invest, stimulating the economy.
 
Conclusions

The Islamic economy is intrinsically tied to the real economy, this means wealth is created at each stage of the production line, be it mining, refining, manufacturing, marketing or sales. Each of these sectors will need companies and finance to contribute towards the economy and it is here Islamic finance plays a role. Due to finance being tied to the real economy participants engage only in the real economy which creates stability as there is no way for national income to leave the economy - as such a parallel economy does not exist. The aim of the Islamic economy is to remove barriers to wealth circulation, Islam achieved this through the removal of the barriers that act as obstacles such as interest, speculative financial markets, income based taxation and fiat currency. Boom and bust will not exist in an Islamic economy as the Islamic economy is about ensuring wealth continually changes hands so all can profit from it, the aim of the Islamic economy is not perpetual economic growth, which has proven to be mission impossible.

The UK has long suffered from the Capitalist disease of greed and consumption and living beyond ones means. This in turn contributed to the artificial economic boom and subsequent bust we now find ourselves in.

The problem that the UK finds itself in is that a large chunk of the economy is driven by the service sector as opposed to industry. The service sector itself is driven by finance.

Since decolonisation of its empire, the UK moved away from its industry based economy which at one time had a 60% share of world production and moved towards a service based economy, which led to increased manufactured imports and gave rise to the financial sector that we know is largely to blame for the economic situation at present.

Bailouts as we have seen are not the solution as they haven’t achieved their main aim of stimulating production nor is quantitative easing as this has merely devalued the pound further and reduced peoples real wealth and spending ability.

Investment in industry would stimulate the real recovery as it would lead to increased production and creation of jobs in the process, however the problem the UK faces is that whilst its financial sector dominates the economy this has led to the creation of hyper finance products where no real trade takes place but where money is circulating in a virtual world where the aim is to make money from money.

The Islamic economic model views the financial sector in a completely different way.

Rather that seeing it as a sector in itself Islam views it as an outlet supplying money into the real economy stimulating real production and growth.

This leads to a true circulation of wealth and would prevent boom and bust cycles as growth would be real and not artificially created via greed and an over debt products.

Britain must save and rebuild to prosper

It has been reported today by the BBC that the way banks were regulated needed to change in light of the failure of Northern Rock and other institutions.

The House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee said the so-called tripartite system had failed and must be reformed.

The report said the problem was that it was not clear who would be in charge in a crisis. It said the Bank of England should get a clear executive role.

What must be made clear is that until the credit crisis blossomed there was no questioning of the existent rules and regulations of conduct by banks.

In fact it was Gordon Brown who encouraged less regulation to enable the banking sector and financial institutions to make more money which ultimately contributed to the fiasco that we are currently in.

In the Capitalist mode of thinking rules and regulations are hindrances and obstacles in the way of the main goal of profit hence the super rich pay thousands of pounds to tax accountants to hide their earnings from the tax man.

Creating more stringent regulations of banking practices will never eradicate the philosophy of greed and profit from the minds of those who are part of the system and will ultimately continue the same practices and profit making tactics albeit with a new regulated face.

This comment is in response to the following news story

Bank regulation system ‘failed’

The stricken firm whose fate is the biggest industrial failure in US history had been given a deadline of 1^st June to come up with a viable recovery plan in order to secure emergency government funding.

GM’s sales have been hit hard by the financial crisis and the firm has already received $20 billion in state aid.

This most epic of catastrophes highlights the fact that bailouts are not the solution and only lead to a brief pause in the inevitability of failure.

We have seen many examples of how the so called boom years were fuelled by greed and excess and the concept of spending beyond ones means, with the motor industry benefiting from consumers taking out car loans to maintain the latest models on their driveways.

 The credit crunch has exposed the reality of the growth of the motor industry of the past decade as a myth created by the debt culture that was promoted by capitalism.

This comment is in response to the following news story:

GM ready to file for bankruptcy

“No wonder there is so much anger at a political system that has seen the super-rich soar away, while too many MPs look to be more interested in joining the wealthy rather than standing up to them.”

Despite being in a boom for the last decade it is the super wealthy that have prospered and taken the vast majority of generated wealth from these years which is highlighted by the fact that the top 25% of the UK population own around 75% of total UK wealth.

 This report has highlighted the fact that under Capitalism wealth creation doesn’t mean more for all but rather more for the few who manipulate the system and maintain the status quo ensuring the rich get richer and everyone else runs after the carrot that is the capitalist dream.

 This comment is in response to the following news:

Many Muslim nations are characterised with economies geared around single commodities therefore lacking the diversification that would lead to a wide skills base. The oil rich Middle East and the mineral rich African nations are characterised with such economies.

The Muslim world has attempted export led growth strategies with disastrous consequences. The concentration on exports through single commodities has led to most of the population remaining unemployed and in poverty.

Muslim history and industrial development

Contrast this with Islamic economic history which is steeped in industrial development. The dominance of the desert and scant water resources in the Middle East led to many agricultural developments. The early industrial use of tidal power, wind power and petroleum led to the earliest large factory complexes (tiraz).# Water came to be an important commodity due to the climatic conditions and this created the motive to make the best use of the few rivers and streams that straddled the Middle East.

Muslim engineers perfected the use of watermills and invented horizontal-wheeled and vertical-wheeled water mills. This led to the emergence of a variety of industrial mills including gristmills, hullers, paper mills, sawmills, shipmills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, tide mills, and windmills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia.

Muslim engineer’s perfected water turbines and made an earth shattering break through in the 12th century. Al-Jazari through his works managed to invent the crankshaft, and created rotary motion through the use of rods and cylinders. He was the first to incorporate it into a machine. The British Empire used this understanding and utilized steam and then coal to drive pistons and then eventually to generate rotary (motion) to move machines. This eventually led to the development of automobiles due primarily to the development of the combustion engine; this is where the burning of fuel in an engine acts on the pistons causing the movement of the solid parts, eventually moving the automobile.

As many lands came under the fold of the Islamic civilisation, urbanisation led to a number of developments. The Arabian desert had scant water springs making most of the region uninhabitable; this was overcome by Muslim engineers developing canals from the Euphrates and Tigris. The swamps around Baghdad were drained, freeing the city of Malaria. Muslim engineers perfected the waterwheel and constructed elaborate underground water channels called qanats. This led to the development of advanced domestic water systems with sewers, public baths, drinking fountains, piped drinking water supplies and widespread private and public toilets and bathing facilities.

Such advances made it possible for many industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in the ancient Islamic world to be mechanized and be driven by machines instead. This shows Islam is not at odds with science as presented by some. Historically Islam was the catalyst that drove Muslim interest in science.

Islam and the motivation for industrial development

Allah (swt) very clearly outlined the aims of the Khilafah state. Internally Allah (swt) obliged the implementation of the Shari’ah rules of Islam, whilst externally dawah and the propagation of Islam is the aim. Islam obliged the Ameer to take care of the affairs of the Ummah as he would be held accountable.

“Each one of you is a Shepard and will be held accountable for his flock.” (Bukhari)

Throughout numerous ayah’s of the Qur’an Allah (swt) obliged the Ummah to propagate Islam to the wider world, take mankind from the darkness to the light while in other verses Allah (swt) characterised the Muslim Ummah as the best Ummah due to having such characteristics.

“This is a book which we have revealed to you, [O Muhammad], that you might bring mankind out of darkness into the light by the permission of their Lord - to the path of the Exalted in Might, the Praiseworthy” [14:1]

The propagation of Islam is achieved through projecting an image of strength globally, so that those who have designs on the Ummah should consider the existence of its deterrent force so powerful as to render success in an attack too doubtful to be worthwhile. Also Allah (swt) mentioned in the Qur’an.

“And prepare for them power, and tether your horses so you may strike fear into the heart of the enemy those who are visible to you and those that are not visible…” [TMQ Al Anfal: 60].

All of this makes it essential for the Khilafah to field an advanced military and have a strong manufacturing base which not only acts as a deterrent but generates economic activity.

Industrialisation and economic growth

The Industrial revolution is considered by historians as a major turning point in global history, rapid change at the time to almost every aspect of European society was influenced in some way by the industrial revolution. Industry on its own became an important pillar of economic life. Until the mid 1700’s industry was limited to manual labour in factories. Then the British Empire began using steam to drive pistons up and down and then eventually to generate rotary (motion) to move machines, which sparked the industrial revolution, as mechanical factories started to gradually replace the manual ones. Production increased twenty fold and the mechanised factory became one of the pillars of economic life.

Industrialisation allowed previously labour intensive tasks to be replaced by machines that could mass produce at a rapid rate compared to manual labourer. The need to fuel industry led to the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. The need to transport coal from the mining fields to refining plants led to the development of railways. The development of railways eventually led to the development of the combustion engine. In this way the European landscape changed from being driven by agriculture to manufacturing, the aristocracy found their influence wane and replaced by the merchants and industrialists.

Whilst the initial development and rise of Europe was driven by the industrial revolution, today the consumption driven models of economic growth dominate the economic scene and have proven to be unsustainable. The consumption driven economies of the Western world driven by debt and the need to live and spend beyond ones means has created a situation where the economic crash has become the normal state of affairs. Since the first depression of the 1870’s Western economies have experienced the regular crash, depression, recession, bust and disaster. The Western world has moved away from industrial led development and is today driven by large service sectors - which itself are dominated by finance. The global credit crunch crisis has proven to all that capitalist economic growth is unsustainable.

An industrial vision for the Muslim world

Industrial development has 3 common characteristics and some geographic specific characteristics.

1. To industrialise, raw materials and minerals are necessary. It is primarily heavy industry that will convert minerals into useful materials. The need to refine, coke and extract the right minerals from crude oil, coal and iron leads to the development of refineries and heavy industries.

2. The refineries, complexes and plants are then needed that convert raw materials into steel and cement as well as materials that will be turned into finished products.

3. Technical knowledge is then needed with regards to the processes to achieve this. For this the Western world invests billions into research and development to ensure they remain on the cutting edge of technological development.

There is a fourth issue and most probably the most important that allows all of the above to occur - namely the motive. Industrialisation requires the masses to contribute extensively to the process, it needs to be funded and may require great sacrifice to kick start the process. Colonialism and superiority is what drove the British Empire to industrialise, whilst civil war and independence led to US industrialisation, whilst the aims of communism allowed the Soviet Union to become a super power.

The Muslim world attempted socialism in the 1950’s, aside from a few large projects the Islamic world remained where it was prior to the experiment. The export led strategies of South East Asia were attempted in Indonesia, the Sub Continent and many of the African nations and further indebted these nations causing much misery and poverty. Today the Muslim economies are largely commodity and service based without hardly any established industry. We see that whilst the Western Capitalist world has predominantly service based economies, this was achieved after the establishment of an industrial base.

The Muslim world today does not lack the mineral resources necessary to industrialise, in fact the Muslim world has been blessed with large reserves of some of the world’s most important minerals. The Muslim world today possesses 74% of the worlds oil reserves, more than the rest of the world combined, it pumps out 42% of the worlds oil, has 54% of the worlds natural gas reserves, pumps 30% of the worlds gas and possesses the worlds largest oil and gas field.

The Muslim lands in no way lack the raw materials necessary to industrialise. Across the Muslim world there has been some industrial development however the lack of a comprehensive direction for the Muslim economies has resulted in very little in the way of industrial development relative to the raw materials.

Today the path to industrialise is not monopolized by the West, in the last 100 years a number of nations have been able to industrialise very rapidly due to the blueprint to industrialise being available for all. It took Britain nearly 100 years to industrialise, it took Germany and the US nearly 60 years to industrialise. It took Japan nearly 50 years, whilst today China has managed to industrialise in less than 30 years, India is still industrialising.

The Islamic world can very easily catch up with the technological developments of the developed world by making better use of the resources present in the Islamic lands. Any lack of technical knowledge can be overcome by purchasing the technology from abroad rather than waiting years to attain the technical expertise.

The Islamic model of economic development creates a stable economy and economic growth as Islamic economic development is built upon the real economy through the production of goods and services. By removing the role of dubious financial asset markets in the economy, there remains the real economy where trade, investment, salaries and wealth is generated and circulated. This creates the much needed stability absent in free market economies as speculation has been effectively removed.

The importance of industrial development

The capitalist models of industrial development via the exploitation of comparative advantage, export led growth and consumption driven economies have all been shown to be unsustainable, They have been discredited and are in decline.

The development of industry is critical for a number of reasons. A manufacturing industry is critical for ones global standing as it deters any foreign aggressor who may have designs on a nation. For this reason all of the world’s powers developed military industries in order to achieve such aims. A nations defence capabilities also give global power projection capabilities. Military industries are also important because they are at the heart of technological innovation. Common items such as the internet, the Teflon non-stick frying pan, plasma TV, Radio, personal computers and aeroplanes were all developed from military industries.

Hence having an industrial base allows a nation to have an independent economy as it is able to produce most of its key goods, it also stimulates the economy and economic activity. Having an industrially driven economy does not mean having a closed economy, however industrial development allows for independent domestic development.

Industrial development provides a strong foundation for wealth creation and has a number of much wider impacts absent with other models. Industrial development:

Allows for the development of national infrastructure, the need for roads, transport and big projects such as the creation of dams creates employment and stimulates other developments such as the construction of housing and offices, retail complexes and railways, trams, motorways and canals.

Industrial development stimulates wealth creation. Each stage of industry, mining, refining, manufacturing and sales adds value and creates wealth for the economy.

Industrial development allows for the creation of consumer industries. Technology from heavy industry generally trickles down to industries which are considered the lower end of the industrial ladder such as textiles, plastics and food production. The creation of such sectors means more jobs are created.

Industrial development allows for the development of military industries which are at the cutting edge of technological development. An industrial base allows for the mass production of arms, missiles, ships and weapons of mass destruction,. thereby creating a strong deterrent for any nation that has designs on domination of another nation. Military industries also require a large labour force.

Industrial development allows a nation to become self sufficient whereby wealth is generated domestically with little or no reliance from abroad. It also means jobs generally are not lost as jobs will always be created as goods are all made domestically.

Industrial development allows for the export of goods which bring in additional revenue for any state.

Industrial development fundamentally leads to scientific and technological development as engineers, scientists and specialists look for better, and more efficient ways to refine, extract and manufacture goods.

Conclusions

Islam has very clearly laid out the path the Islamic world needs to tread. It made the dawah - propagation of Islam the basis of the Islamic foreign policy. The Muslim world needs to abandon models of development advocated by the West who themselves never developed upon such models. The Muslim world has all the resources necessary and a large population to achieve such aims. Whilst the American century is coming to the end, the 21st century may very likely be a new Islamic century inshallah.

Standard and Poor’s statement is more a political statement than an economic assessment because it has long been known that the British economy has been living beyond its means.

Britain’s total debt exploded during the economic boom. The total debt owed by government, businesses and individuals – commonly known as gross external debt – rose from 1.7 trillion in 1997 to £5.7 trillion in 2007, an increase of 238%.

It was this astounding growth in debt from all sections of society that propelled continuous economic growth over the last decade. At the end of 2007, Britain’s total external debt stood at over 400% of GDP (the total value of goods and services produced by the UK) of approximately £1.5 trillion per annum. That’s equivalent to a debt of £94,000 for every man, woman and child in the UK.

Indeed, this was in 2007 before the onset of the financial crisis and the bank bail-outs which have been largely funded by government borrowing. Given the estimated £1.5 trillion in new government debt to prop up banks during 2008, UK debt per capita is estimated to comfortably exceed £100,000.

Much of the recent government debt has been used to buy dis-functional financial assets which are worth less than the printed paper they represent – for if they were worth more than this there would be a market for them and the UK government would not have needed to bail-out the financial sector.

Having taken on the dubious ‘assets’ of the banks is it little wonder the UK government itself is now more vulnerable and risks bankruptcy. The warning by Standard & Poor about the increased risks of UK government default state the obvious. It is sad that it’s come at least decade too late.

The western capitalist economic model of debt propelled growth was unsustainable and has been proved a failure. This capitalist economic model only served the interests of the rich few yet due to the actions of the government it is the poor masses and future generations that have ended up indebted without any recourse.

The world needs the Islamic economic system, based on Shariah law implemented by the Khaleefah, to demonstrate an economic alternative in the Muslim world and to lift people out from the misery of capitalism.

Bukhari narrated from Ibn Umar: The Prophet (saw) said: “The Imam is in charge (ra’i) and he is responsible for his citizens.”

“Output in the world’s second largest economy contracted by 4% during the period, or by 15.2% on an annual basis.”

The current downturn has in fact exposed the very weak nature of Japans economy as it highlights the vulnerability of having an export led economy which depends on exports as a primary source of growth.

 We have come to realise that during the boom period the Western world consumed much of what come of the production lines of South East Asia, now that spending is being cut back – as many spent beyond their means during the bubble, Japan is finding that a problem that started on the other side of the world has dragged it down too.  

 Whilst Japan continues to be cited as a model to imitate, the fact that will never change is Japan will always be reliant upon the greed and consumption of the West to drive its economy.

 This article is in response to the following news:

Japan’s economy in record plunge