Wealth is not how much power and credit one has, but the extent to which we all have access by our own means to an array of goods and services ever better matched to our changing needs and wants. Wealth does accumulate to a person at times to an extraordinary degree, which causes others to be envious. The Koran cautions:
And a commentary offers this counsel among many to people experiencing envy of those who are exceptionally blessed:
Fear and Love of authority: Also, the envious man is fearful of some hindrance on the part of the person enjoying an advantage or talent or merit that may frustrate his cherished objectives.
Just so. That person has the power to frustrate my hopes and dreams and schemes. Christianity has plenty to say on this topic, but I like this particular note struck by the commentator.
Such a line of thinking is destructive in many ways. It misunderstands wealth and gifts. Christians say "to whom much is given, much is expected" and "be happy with the portion God gave you." Jesus expects us to develop our talents, but that does not mean we will be successful in all of our hopes and dreams.
If God blesses someone with some abundance, the envy is over the abundance. In essence, the envious one is saying "I want what already is, what that person has. Well, objectively, what the blessed has is enough for the world. What is missing in the mind of the envious is to conceive of "what else is missing?"
We all to some creative degree have a creative mind. That means we can take various ideas and pull them together into something good. There is even a scientific process to assist in this creativity: observation, hypothesis, test, theory, test, proof. That is also basic product development sequence in business.
And so to my point. He who is envious of another wants a short cut to wealth. He simply wants what God gave to someone else (without knowing what conditions God required of the one blessed when He bestowed the gift... an unseen aspect of which one should be wary.) We know when we feel envy. Envy needs to be acknowledged as evil (lacking good) when we feel it, and as an opportunity to reflect.
Clearly God has the power to bless. Even if you were to somehow "get" what the other has, then the world is no better off for our existence. We do not need another person wealthy in the way that particular person is wealthy or blessed, we need the envious person to be blessed in a way that is yet unseen.
If you seek take another's wealth for yourself, then the world is no better off, plus the world is denied the good of your creativity and initiative. "But but but, I am not creative... I am not talented!" Is not most of the reason you are envious is because that person God blessed is particularly untalented?
We can look at a Bruce Lee or a Van Cliburn and say "Well, that person is a genius, so they deserve their blessings." We have no envy there. But is it not precisely the untalented, the idiotic, the socially backward who God has blessed that so excites envy in us? "Why him, and not me?" Well, that question will never be answered satisfactorily, but you will allow that if God can yield good results from an idiot, how much more so will the blessing be from your efforts?
To say you "cannot" is an argument you will always win. In fact, any one can go through the process of product development outlined above.
But how does one start a process of discovery of what is unseen now but is needed? We all hear that success in business takes "passion." What few realize is the word passion means "to suffer." We all suffer for some lack, something we wish was there, but is not. A medicine. A tool. A food. A new kind of house, who knows. If you experiencing the pain of envy of something that is already there, make an act of will to move over to a different pain, the suffering you feel over something NOT being there. A medicine. A tool. A food. A new kind of house, who knows.
Yet, we all suffer over many things, like no cab available when a rainstorm hits. So how can we tell when that over which we in particular suffer is what we should be working on? This is the key that is left out of every discussion of success and passion: Passion is necessary, but not sufficient. That project you are working on, that lack over which you suffer, if, when you are working on a solution you find joy, then that is the dead giveaway you are working on the right project for you. If and when you find passion (suffering) and joy at the same time, then you have been enlightened as to you purpose. To use your creativity to bring something out of nothing, insh'Allah. To offer the world something good that was not there before. As a practical mater the process is simply the observation, hypothesis, test, theory, test, proof mentioned above.
In the West, when one has a good idea for a business, the first concern is often "how will I get finance?" As capitalism has demonstrated, usury-based financial structures are limited to the wealthy in spite of the fact that the poor have as many good ideas and all the talent necessary to succeed. A risk adjusted premium for a start-up is say gross 8%, well, that is exactly the margin necessary and sufficient for the entrepreneur to live on in this particular project. The poor in capitalism are limited to working for others, where their talents will never be developed. Capitalism denies the rest of us the good of what the poor might have offered.
Wealth also accumulates to a remarkable degree in terms of the extent to which we all have access by our own means to an array of goods and services ever better matched to our changing needs and wants. This occurs in what we call the free market. Free to pursue creating what is missing, free from force or fraud. That is the free market.
Usury is both force and fraud. Usury unjustly concentrates power in ever fewer hands. The results of usury is very clear in the capitalist economies.
So usury-free economies have an advantage. When the envious behold those blessed by God with material advantages, the envious need to take that feeling, that signal, and turn it into a reflection on what is missing, instead of what is already there. In non-capitalist economies, the poor are not trapped by usury, so innovation and creativity, product development know no hindrance from usury.
Shariah-based finance has a built in advantage, or is at least free of the hindrance of usury. Islam once was the envy of the world with countless innovations in every field. Self-satisfied China sent a fleet to converse with Islam, and returned unrequited. What need did golden-age Islam have for China?
So the proof is in the results. Capitalist dominated economies are no indication of the power of avoiding usury. They prove its destructiveness.
Properly defined, free markets will demonstrate the proof of the good of usury-free economics. Free from the force and fraud of usury is necessary, but not sufficient. The point of usury-free is to allow for innovation. Free to innovate. Free from force of fraud.
Hong Kong comes to mind as the closest example of this working today. Although it is a world financial center, most businesses are based on sharing risk, not on earning interest. All those who sincerely seek a proof of the benefits of usury free have the neutral example of Hong Kong to draw on.
The leaders of Tunisia saw this, and were working towards it, but too late. This brings up another question: how to transition to an economy that is free?
Abu `Abd Allah (al‑Imam al‑Sadiq) (a) said that the Apostle of God (s) said that God Almighty addressed Musa ibn `Imran (a) as follows:
"O son of `Imran, never be envious of people concerning the favours I have conferred on them by My grace;
And a commentary offers this counsel among many to people experiencing envy of those who are exceptionally blessed:
Fear and Love of authority: Also, the envious man is fearful of some hindrance on the part of the person enjoying an advantage or talent or merit that may frustrate his cherished objectives.
Just so. That person has the power to frustrate my hopes and dreams and schemes. Christianity has plenty to say on this topic, but I like this particular note struck by the commentator.
Such a line of thinking is destructive in many ways. It misunderstands wealth and gifts. Christians say "to whom much is given, much is expected" and "be happy with the portion God gave you." Jesus expects us to develop our talents, but that does not mean we will be successful in all of our hopes and dreams.
If God blesses someone with some abundance, the envy is over the abundance. In essence, the envious one is saying "I want what already is, what that person has. Well, objectively, what the blessed has is enough for the world. What is missing in the mind of the envious is to conceive of "what else is missing?"
We all to some creative degree have a creative mind. That means we can take various ideas and pull them together into something good. There is even a scientific process to assist in this creativity: observation, hypothesis, test, theory, test, proof. That is also basic product development sequence in business.
And so to my point. He who is envious of another wants a short cut to wealth. He simply wants what God gave to someone else (without knowing what conditions God required of the one blessed when He bestowed the gift... an unseen aspect of which one should be wary.) We know when we feel envy. Envy needs to be acknowledged as evil (lacking good) when we feel it, and as an opportunity to reflect.
Clearly God has the power to bless. Even if you were to somehow "get" what the other has, then the world is no better off for our existence. We do not need another person wealthy in the way that particular person is wealthy or blessed, we need the envious person to be blessed in a way that is yet unseen.
If you seek take another's wealth for yourself, then the world is no better off, plus the world is denied the good of your creativity and initiative. "But but but, I am not creative... I am not talented!" Is not most of the reason you are envious is because that person God blessed is particularly untalented?
We can look at a Bruce Lee or a Van Cliburn and say "Well, that person is a genius, so they deserve their blessings." We have no envy there. But is it not precisely the untalented, the idiotic, the socially backward who God has blessed that so excites envy in us? "Why him, and not me?" Well, that question will never be answered satisfactorily, but you will allow that if God can yield good results from an idiot, how much more so will the blessing be from your efforts?
To say you "cannot" is an argument you will always win. In fact, any one can go through the process of product development outlined above.
But how does one start a process of discovery of what is unseen now but is needed? We all hear that success in business takes "passion." What few realize is the word passion means "to suffer." We all suffer for some lack, something we wish was there, but is not. A medicine. A tool. A food. A new kind of house, who knows. If you experiencing the pain of envy of something that is already there, make an act of will to move over to a different pain, the suffering you feel over something NOT being there. A medicine. A tool. A food. A new kind of house, who knows.
Yet, we all suffer over many things, like no cab available when a rainstorm hits. So how can we tell when that over which we in particular suffer is what we should be working on? This is the key that is left out of every discussion of success and passion: Passion is necessary, but not sufficient. That project you are working on, that lack over which you suffer, if, when you are working on a solution you find joy, then that is the dead giveaway you are working on the right project for you. If and when you find passion (suffering) and joy at the same time, then you have been enlightened as to you purpose. To use your creativity to bring something out of nothing, insh'Allah. To offer the world something good that was not there before. As a practical mater the process is simply the observation, hypothesis, test, theory, test, proof mentioned above.
In the West, when one has a good idea for a business, the first concern is often "how will I get finance?" As capitalism has demonstrated, usury-based financial structures are limited to the wealthy in spite of the fact that the poor have as many good ideas and all the talent necessary to succeed. A risk adjusted premium for a start-up is say gross 8%, well, that is exactly the margin necessary and sufficient for the entrepreneur to live on in this particular project. The poor in capitalism are limited to working for others, where their talents will never be developed. Capitalism denies the rest of us the good of what the poor might have offered.
Wealth also accumulates to a remarkable degree in terms of the extent to which we all have access by our own means to an array of goods and services ever better matched to our changing needs and wants. This occurs in what we call the free market. Free to pursue creating what is missing, free from force or fraud. That is the free market.
Usury is both force and fraud. Usury unjustly concentrates power in ever fewer hands. The results of usury is very clear in the capitalist economies.
So usury-free economies have an advantage. When the envious behold those blessed by God with material advantages, the envious need to take that feeling, that signal, and turn it into a reflection on what is missing, instead of what is already there. In non-capitalist economies, the poor are not trapped by usury, so innovation and creativity, product development know no hindrance from usury.
Shariah-based finance has a built in advantage, or is at least free of the hindrance of usury. Islam once was the envy of the world with countless innovations in every field. Self-satisfied China sent a fleet to converse with Islam, and returned unrequited. What need did golden-age Islam have for China?
So the proof is in the results. Capitalist dominated economies are no indication of the power of avoiding usury. They prove its destructiveness.
Properly defined, free markets will demonstrate the proof of the good of usury-free economics. Free from the force and fraud of usury is necessary, but not sufficient. The point of usury-free is to allow for innovation. Free to innovate. Free from force of fraud.
Hong Kong comes to mind as the closest example of this working today. Although it is a world financial center, most businesses are based on sharing risk, not on earning interest. All those who sincerely seek a proof of the benefits of usury free have the neutral example of Hong Kong to draw on.
The leaders of Tunisia saw this, and were working towards it, but too late. This brings up another question: how to transition to an economy that is free?
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