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In: Economics

Discuss the factors that you would consider in designing an Islamic tax structure.Describe your answer in...

  1. Discuss the factors that you would consider in designing an Islamic tax structure.Describe your answer in the form of an essay ( 20 mark)
  2. What is the normative framework that governs the allocation of resources in Islam?.Describe your answer in the form of an essay ( 20 mark)
  3. Explain the concept of man and nature in the Islamic worldview. How does these concepts determine the concept of rationality and property rights in Islamic economics?.Describe your answer in the form of an essay ( 20 mark)

Solutions

Expert Solution

1.

Islamic taxes are taxes sanctioned by Islamic law. They are based on both "the legal status of taxable land" and on "the communal or religious status of the taxpayer".

Islamic taxes include

  • zakat - one of the five pillars of Islam. Only imposed on Muslims, it is generally described as a 2.5% tax on savings to be donated to the Muslim poor and needy. It was a tax collected by the Islamic state.
  • jizya - a per capita yearly tax historically levied by Islamic states on certain non-Muslim subjects—dhimmis—permanently residing in Muslim lands under Islamic law, the tax excluded the poor, women, children and the elderly.
  • kharaj - a land tax initially imposed only on non-Muslims but soon after mandated for Muslims as well.
  • ushr - a 10% tax on the harvests of irrigated land and 10% tax on harvest from rain-watered land and 5% on Land dependent on well water. The term has also been used for a 10% tax on merchandise imported from states that taxed the Muslims on their products. Caliph `Umar ibn Al-Khattāb was the first Muslim ruler to levy ushr.

The taxes stipulated by Islamic law generally did not generate enough revenue even for the limited expenditures made by pre-modern governments, and rulers were forced to impose additional taxes, which were condemned by the ulema.

2. The normative describes the ‘what ought to be’ and hence deals with the ‘rules of the game’ according to which technical decisions are made. The answers to how things ought to be, are derived from a vision , which sets the boundaries and parameters that will limit or guide the decision making process. Under the Islamic economic system the normative framework is derived from the Quran and the Sunnah which limits and guides the choices that we make. Among the important concepts that form the normative framework are the concepts of halal and haram. In Islam all things which are not considered unlawful (haram) are considered lawful (halal), and should be used and not refrained from.

Thus there is a order from Allah to use the good things that He has provided, and at the same time not transgress the boundaries that have been set for man. In the following Quranic ayah, Allah specifically relating to food and clothes, orders man not to deny himself the comforts and good things that have been made for him.

Thus we see that Islam enjoins people to use the good things that Allah has provided for them, and at the same time sets the condition that those who believe will continue to get the good things in the hereafter, where the disbelievers will denied these things. A Muslim is ordered to use the things in such a way that he doesn’t transgress the boundaries that Allah has set

3. Physical and biological nature of man is, although, not the main concern of the Holy Qur’an, it does provide significant insight about man and his nature. A brief description of Islamic thought on the subject is mentioned below:

Islam does not presuppose any inherent wickedness of human nature. Any negative representation of man’s basic nature as a source of evil and wickedness is clearly rejected. According to Islam, the human being is born in the state of fitrah, the original inherent nature of the human being. At birth, the baby is totally innocent and is not responsible for the sin of his parents or any of his ancestors. Environmental and other external influences keep on modifying his blueprint.

Islam is the first religion to declare man as the most superior of the creatures and the masterpiece of the Creator. According to Islam, man is potentially capable of rising higher than the angels, that is why Allah has commanded angels to bow down before Adam. But, at the same time, he is equally capable of sinking lower than the animals.

To sum up the point, man comes into the world with a pure and wholesome nature. Whereas sin and corruption in human being are merely accidental and violation of his original nature. The role of prophets and the scriptures is just to help human nature to flow in its true channel and to guide human nature to its ultimate goal of eternal felicity. This Qur’anic theory of human nature also implies the fact that if man consciously decides to submit himself to the will of Allah, he experiences no conflict in his personality. while, on the other hand, if he misuses his freedom of choice by denying God and not submitting to His will, would be in a state of inner conflict and his personality gets disintegrated.

Economic rationalism is economic policy without social moral consideration, or "the view that commercial activity ... represents a sphere of activity in which moral considerations, beyond the rule of business probity dictated by enlightened self-interest, have no role to play. Islamic rationalism is suggested as a alternative which is consistent with the Islamic values. Wright says, what is rational for you to choose will depend upon your aims, your values, or your desires where values include social, moral and religious values. More precisely, the more one‟s behavior is in accord with moral standards and the higher the level of his goodness, the more successful he is throughout his life, in each and every phase of existence, at every step, the Islamic individual is endeavouring to act in harmony with moral values.Among other religions, Islam furnishes a complete code of social, moral and economic life. it considers the Al-Quran, the unchanged and unchangeable, revealed and divine book of ALLAH, as the sources of knowledge. In addition, it is highly respectful to other religious values. for example, Islam encourages private property, Zakat ( obligatory Islamic Tax), Usher, Khairat, Inheritance law, Infaq Fi Sabillah, Sadqah, Mudarbah, law of will,concept of lawful and unlawful, equitable distribution of wealth etc and prohibits exploitative gears such asusury, gambling, and imbalanced society to ensure utmost economic welfare.


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