For those of you trying to understand the causes of economic crises, such as the current on-going global financial crisis, we would recommend this booklet written by Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta, who since April 2003 has been global Ameer (leader) of Hizb ut-Tahrir.
Sheikh Ata is a very rare Islamic scholar – he has written books on Usool al Fiqh and a tafsir of Surah Baqarah, as one might expect from Islamic scholars.
However, as the booklet below illustrates, he has a deep understanding of economics – both as it is practiced in today’s capitalist world – and as it ought to be according to Islam.
He is also distinguished by having written on the subject of the practical implementation of Islamic solutions to many of today’s problems, such as industrialisation and education in the Muslim world.
He graduated from Cairo University in engineering, working as a civil engineer for many years and his first published work was in the field of engineering – on road construction.
As a politician during his time with Hizb ut-Tahrir, he has carried da’wah across the Muslim world – being pursued by the regime in Saudi Arabia and Iraq and imprisoned in Libya and Jordan.
As spokesman for Hizb ut-Tahrir in Jordan in the 1990s he led the opposition to the Jordanian regime’s support for the West in the Gulf War 1991 in debates, seminars and television appearances – and was imprisoned for his frank accounting and criticism of the regime.
During his time as Ameer (leader) of Hizb ut-Tahrir he has addressed conferences in Indonesia, Pakistan and Yemen – and also the brave Muslims in Syria who oppose the regime.
Most recently, he addressed Muslims in Syria in January 2013, when he outlined the plans of global powers supporting the Assad regime with one hand, whilst working to install a client regime with the other; and motivated the people from Quran & Sunnah to maintain their struggle against the regime and to hold fast to Islam.
Sheikh Ata regularly addresses matters of global political importance, economic matters and matters of Islamic Jurisprudence.