Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

Top Menu

  • About US
  • Join US
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Comment
  • Question and Answer
  • Watch us Live

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Viewpoint
  • Islamic Culture
  • Da’wah
  • Media
  • People
    • Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabahani (Founder)
    • Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum (Successor)
    • Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta (Ameer)
    • Abdul Wahid
    • Abu Yusuf
    • Jamal Harwood
    • Taji Mustafa
  • Books
  • Youth
  • Covid-19
  • About US
  • Join US
  • Videos
  • Infographics
  • Comment
  • Question and Answer
  • Watch us Live

logo

Header Banner

Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain

  • Home
  • Viewpoint
    • Making Sense of Pakistan

      April 16, 2022
      0
    • How Should We View the War in Ukraine?

      March 30, 2022
      0
    • The India Hijab Issue from an Islamic Perspective

      March 24, 2022
      0
    • DEEP DIVE: The Weaponisation and Politicisation of British Citizenship Laws

      March 12, 2022
      0
    • Our Role in the Ukraine war is to Expose the Propaganda

      March 2, 2022
      0
    • Muslims Should Rejoice Over the Islamic Ruling System

      January 21, 2022
      0
    • Another Warmonger Honoured for Serving the British Elite

      January 2, 2022
      0
    • The Golden Jubilee of Bangladesh Victory Day (Bijoy Dibos): a cause for ...

      December 13, 2021
      0
    • Playing Politics with the Uygher Muslims

      December 2, 2021
      0
  • Islamic Culture
    • Reading Quran

      The story of the man who was told to “Enter Paradise” and ...

      January 24, 2022
      0
    • Significance of Rabi’ul-Awwal

      October 10, 2021
      0
    • Virtues of the Month of Muharram

      August 10, 2021
      0
    • The significance of first 10 days of Dhul Hijjah

      July 10, 2021
      0
    • The Honour of the Prophets

      April 30, 2021
      0
    • A to Z of Ramadan

      April 19, 2021
      0
    • The Dawah to Allah (swt)

      December 29, 2020
      0
    • Miracle of the Quran

      Q & A - Compilation of The Holy Quran During the Reign ...

      December 27, 2020
      0
    • Imam Bukhari: A Role Model for the ‘Ulema and Da’wah Carriers to ...

      November 17, 2020
      0
  • Da’wah
    • Public Demonstration - Independence Not Intervention

      April 22, 2022
      0
    • VIDEO : [LIVESTREAMED] Pakistan in Crisis: The Players, Politics, and People

      April 20, 2022
      0
    • Ramadan Message: The World Needs Islam - We Must Work for the ...

      April 1, 2022
      0
    • The India Hijab Issue from an Islamic Perspective

      March 24, 2022
      0
    • Ramadhan event: Kyiv to Kabul: The World Needs Islam

      March 20, 2022
      0
    • Obituary of a Dawah Carrier Dr. Youssef Haj Youssef

      December 30, 2021
      0
    • Open Letter to Imams and Muslim Leaders

      September 28, 2021
      0
    • Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain Sends Delegation to Chinese Embassy Condemning the Inhumane Treatment ...

      June 30, 2021
      0
    • Jahangir Raja: Obituary of a Da’wah Carrier

      June 28, 2021
      0
  • Media
  • People
    • Sheikh Taqiuddin an-Nabahani (Founder)
    • Sheikh Abdul Qadeem Zallum (Successor)
    • Sheikh Ata Abu Rashta (Ameer)
    • Abdul Wahid
    • Abu Yusuf
    • Jamal Harwood
    • Taji Mustafa
  • Books
  • Youth
  • Covid-19
Viewpoint
Home›Viewpoint›More than Charity, Solving Poverty

More than Charity, Solving Poverty

By Editor
May 31, 2019
2781
0
Share:

During the blessed month of Ramadan, the attention of Muslims turns to the wealth that they have accumulated during the previous year. An account is made and the obligatory alms (zakat) is calculated and paid to the deserving.  In addition to the obligatory alms Muslims will often pay voluntary contributions (sadaqah) to those that need help but don’t fall within those to whom zakat can be paid. Muslims realise that sadaqah and zakat are central to the ethos of Islam, making Muslims the most charitable nation on earth.

But this charitable spirit is contextualised in a capitalist world where no amount of charity is going to solve the problems of poverty because in this capitalist world the accumulation of wealth into the hands of the few is encouraged and abetted by the policies of state and ideology.

With the payment of a relatively insignificant sums of money, large corporations can register themselves in tax havens and avoid paying tax, so Amazon.com which has total revenues of £11b in the UK in the public records has only paid £1.7m in tax, and this according to the laws of the land is completely legal because sales are routed through Luxembourg.  Although this may seem benign, it gives the likes of Amazon, McDonalds, Starbucks, Costa Coffee etc an unfair advantage over their local competitors, who pay up to 40% of their profits in tax which inevitably means higher prices and ultimately leading to their closure and the accumulation of profit in the hands of major corporations and their institutional shareholders. Smaller businesses enrich their local communities as they earn and spend in their locality instead of whisking away profits into the accounts of distant shareholders. 

The largesse that capitalist states bestow upon the wealthy doesn’t stop at tax. In fact, corporations, especially financial institutions, benefit from handouts that far exceed those paid to the often maligned poor and needy. During the 2008 financial crisis, which was the result of excessive risk and profit taking by financial institutions, the UK government made £500b in loans and guarantees available to banks. Subsequently some of these loans and investments, via shareholdings, have since been sold back to the market at huge losses to the taxpayer, which in effect amounted to an astronomical subsidy to bank shareholders and officials and a decade of  austerity for the general public with the associated increase in poverty.

The situation internationally is even worse, poverty is not as we are told the inevitable result of over population and corruption, but rather it is a direct result of the capitalist system prevalent in the world today.

Whilst pretentious claims of charity and aid are made by Western nations, the reality is that $192b is siphoned off by Western companies and institutions from Sub-Saharan Africa alone: this dwarfs what is given in charity and aid, and although the received wisdom is that corruption is the main cause of poverty, in fact the tax avoidance, repatriation of profits, interest on debt and other “legal” means are the main culprits of capital flight from Africa and the rest of the third world.

The word legal is of course a loaded term, with the political interference of the Western capitalist world, via dictators, coups and the corrupt political elites of the developing world, corporations are free to manufacture whatever rules and regulations that provide them with the best opportunity to steal the resources of these nations.  Hence despite record levels of growth, poverty and desperation endure in these lands and no amount of charity will cover the hundreds of billions that leave these lands destined for Western banks.

Although Islam encourages the giving of charity it does not stipulate that charity is the main mechanism of poverty alleviation. Rather it recognises that the issue of poverty is not simply of charity, but is rather the result of the lack of distribution of wealth. Hence, Islam brings a plethora of societal and financial regulations that create a society which prevents the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few and ensures its circulation and distribution.

Where indirect taxes, like sales tax in the capitalist world, result in disproportionate amounts of the poor’s wealth to be taken as tax, zakat on the other hand is taken from accumulated wealth, even if that wealth is sitting in a foreign account. The notion of tax havens is alien to Islam as what is important is not the location of the wealth rather its ownership hence the wealthy cannot escape paying their dues.

From the prohibition of the joint stock company to the laws of inheritance, Islam discourages the formation of mega corporations, which by their very nature concentrate trade and wealth in the hands of the few. The company structure in Islam encourages small and medium enterprises and the personal and family ownerships.  Hence, nameless shareholders residing in far off places are not siphoning off wealth from local communities. Rather people work, earn and spend ensuring the distribution and circulation of wealth.

The administration of the Islamic state will also have the correct view of Western corporations. Instead of viewing them as magnanimous institutions that invest in poor countries, they will be viewed as tools of belligerent nations, which impoverish weaker nations.  Foreign companies will not be allowed to exploit the natural resources and basic utilities of the nation. Rather Islam stipulates that these are public ownership and their profits are for the bait-ul-mal not destined for foreign bank accounts.

Charity alone will never be enough to alleviate poverty,  as it is enshrined in the system’s rules and regulations of capitalism.  Rather the root and branch removal of capitalism and the imposition of Islam is the only solution.


https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-why-does-amazon-pay-so-little-tax

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/jul/15/aid-africa-west-looting-continent

https://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/world_economic_forum_wef.africa_rising_for_the_few.pdf

TagsPovertySadaqahzakat
Previous Article

Birmingham : The Muslim Ummah – Witnesses ...

Next Article

We must reject attempts to equate anti-Zionism ...

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0

Related articles More from author

  • Comment

    Grenfell Tower – A tragedy due to a systematic failure

    June 14, 2017
    By Editor
  • RamadanVideos

    Sadaqah: Eating the orphan’s wealth

    June 9, 2018
    By Taji Mustafa
  • Boy running sunrise
    RamadanVideos

    Poverty: an alternative vision

    June 7, 2017
    By Editor
  • Comment

    Capitalism causes the number of rough sleepers in the UK to increase every year

    January 31, 2018
    By Yahya Nisbet
  • Child hands bread to poor person
    Infographics

    Poverty – An Alternative Vision

    June 16, 2017
    By Editor
  • Grenfell Tower Burnt
    Viewpoint

    Grenfell Tower: Capitalism’s Inferno

    June 20, 2017
    By Editor

Liberate Al Aqsa

Join US on Telegram

Podcast

Latest Posts

Press Releases

Protest in London Says No To More Democracy, Yes to the Khilafah

Members of Hizb ut Tahrir in Britain, alongside supporters from the Muslim community, gathered on Saturday 7th May 2022 at the Pakistan High Commission in London to protest against US ...
  • Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain to Protest American Interference in Pakistan’s Politics

    By Yahya Nisbet
    May 1, 2022
  • Public Demonstration – Independence Not Intervention

    By Editor
    April 22, 2022
  • VIDEO : [LIVESTREAMED] Pakistan in Crisis: The Players, Politics, and People

    By Editor
    April 20, 2022
  • The Geopolitics of Badr

    By Editor
    April 17, 2022
  • Making Sense of Pakistan

    By Editor
    April 16, 2022
  • Muslims in Britain Should Speak Out Against the Pakistani Leadership’s Surrender of Kashmir

    By Yahya Nisbet
    April 15, 2022
  • Muslims in Britain should support the call for the Khilafah in Pakistan

    By Yahya Nisbet
    April 12, 2022
  • Press Centre