Have you ever wondered why it seems that the whole world is thriving with wealth, yet you are stuck in a space/time wormhole of economic hardship? I sometimes do…What is even more intriguing is that I’m not facing actual economic hardship. Yet I find myself worrying about my kids & their financial future. As I believe any father should (within reason). So, I ask myself why do I think about that when the reality is contrary to that mode of thinking?

In Chapter 2 of the Quran verse 268, Allah (swt) says:

Satan threatens you with poverty and orders you to immorality, while Allah promises you forgiveness from Him and bounty. And Allah is all-Encompassing and Knowing.

I read this verse, and I can’t help but feel duped. Duped by evil into thinking that “poverty” is imminent. Certainly – he who must not be named – incites this fear with Muslims and non-Muslims alike. His defiance to obedience is rooted in hostility towards mankind.

Zooming out and looking at the economic systems and dynasties present in our world today, it is easy to understand how such a plentiful and abundant life force, such as earth, and everything that is in it seems to be not enough. Every system put in place is founded on the principle of creating scarcity to achieve market dominance. This in turn creates an unevenly distributed scale that tips value creation towards the strong and away from the weak.

The Gini coefficient (an economic measure of inequality…YAWN) may not necessarily explain away many of the factors that lead to wealth concentration in the hands of the few, and less in the hands of the many, but it is telling of the human phenomenon explained earlier. Because as wealth aggregates in the hands of the few, economic dynasties grow bigger, stronger, and expand further.

Ibn Khaldun talks about dynastic rule in his timeless book “Al Muqqadimah” and explains that “Dynasties nearing their end take on followers as they grow disconnected from other group members they previously know as of common descent, social intercourse, friendly association, or long familiarity.”  As dynasties grow in size, their authority disconnects them from the roots that enabled them, gave them power and supported their rise to prominence.

We see this everywhere around us…how many dynasties can you count in Education? Finance? Politics? Food? Sports? Religion? Media? You can keep going but you get the picture. These clusters of power do not relinquish control, because the actors participating in this real word conquest are human. They all suffer from being threatened with poverty.

I’m sorry, yes, I painted a bleak picture…So how do we break away from this cycle of self-induced and perpetuating fear and poverty? How can we as Islamic finance practitioners create and model a system that does not repeat the same mistakes? As it stands, we have institutional capacity that work to create standards and modalities of operation. Facilities allow Muslims live according to their principles while simultaneously participate in an open market economy.

I don’t have a clear-cut answer to this, but what I do believe is that regulatory compliance and its associated costs should not come at the cost of economic empowerment. If we allow system inefficiencies to persist, people in need of empowerment will need us to create affordable products. Products that are competitively priced so as to ensure or at the very least encourage all to tip the scales towards a system that can potentially alleviate hardship through equitable wealth accumulation, and distribution.