Islamic socialism is a term coined by various
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
leaders to meet the demand for a more
spiritualSpiritualism is a monotheistic belief system or religion, postulating a belief in God, but the distinguishing feature is belief that spirits of the dead can be contacted, either by individuals or by gifted or trained "mediums", who can provide information about the afterlife.Spiritualism developed...
form of
socialismSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
. Muslim socialists believe that the teachings of the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
and
MuhammadMuhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh , is the founder of the religion of Islam [ إِسْلامْ ] and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets as taught by the...
are compatible with principles of
equalitySocial equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect. At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, such as security, voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, and the...
and the redistribution of wealth. Some orthodox Islamic scholars declare various socialist practices, such as the confiscation of private property, to be oppressive and against Islamic teachings.
The first experimental Islamic commune was established during the
Russian Revolution of 1917The Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In the first revolution of February 1917 the Czar was deposed and replaced by a Provisional government...
as part of the
Wäisi movementThe Wäisi movement was a religious, social and political movement in Tatarstan and other Tatar-populated parts of Russia which took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It also incorporated elements of class struggle and nationalism...
, an early supporter of the Soviet government.
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Islamic socialism is a term coined by various
Muslim:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits ". Muslim is the participle of the same verb of which Islam is the infinitive. Muslims believe that there is only one God, translated in Arabic as Allah...
leaders to meet the demand for a more
spiritualSpiritualism is a monotheistic belief system or religion, postulating a belief in God, but the distinguishing feature is belief that spirits of the dead can be contacted, either by individuals or by gifted or trained "mediums", who can provide information about the afterlife.Spiritualism developed...
form of
socialismSocialism refers to various theories of economic organization advocating public or direct worker ownership and administration of the means of production and allocation of resources, and a society characterized by equal access to resources for all individuals with a method of compensation based on...
. Muslim socialists believe that the teachings of the
Qur'anThe Qur’an is the central religious text of Islam...
and
MuhammadMuhammad ibn ‘Abdullāh , is the founder of the religion of Islam [ إِسْلامْ ] and is regarded by Muslims as a messenger and prophet of , the last and the greatest law-bearer in a series of Islamic prophets as taught by the...
are compatible with principles of
equalitySocial equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect. At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, such as security, voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, and the...
and the redistribution of wealth. Some orthodox Islamic scholars declare various socialist practices, such as the confiscation of private property, to be oppressive and against Islamic teachings.
History
The first experimental Islamic commune was established during the
Russian Revolution of 1917The Russian Revolution is the collective term for the series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. In the first revolution of February 1917 the Czar was deposed and replaced by a Provisional government...
as part of the
Wäisi movementThe Wäisi movement was a religious, social and political movement in Tatarstan and other Tatar-populated parts of Russia which took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It also incorporated elements of class struggle and nationalism...
, an early supporter of the Soviet government. The
Muslim Socialist Committee of KazanMuslim Socialist Committee of Kazan was an organization which existed briefly in Kazan during the Russian Revolution.It was the best known of a number of Muslim Socialist Committees set up between February and April 1917...
was also active at this time also.
Muammar al-GaddafiMuammar Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi
1 has been the de facto leader of Libya since a coup in 1969....
, who seized power in
LibyaLibya , officially the Great Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya , is a country located in North Africa...
with a military coup in 1969, called his ruling ideology "Islamic socialism". However, the extent to which Gaddafi's regime fulfils the socialist mandate is highly questionable.
Other notable Muslim socialists include:
- Rafi Ahmed Kidwai
Rafi Ahmed Kidwai , was an Indian independence activist and a socialist, sometimes described as an Islamic socialist...
, Indian politician and cabinet minister from 1947-1954
- Haji Misbach, Indonesian nationalist and anti-Dutch preacher of "Islamic Communism"
- Gamal Abdel Nasser
Gamal Abdel Nasser was the second President of Egypt from 1956 until his death in 1970. He led the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, which removed King Farouk I and heralded a new period of industrialization in Egypt, together with a profound advancement of Arab nationalism, including a short-lived...
- Siad Barre
Mohamed Siad Barre was the President of Somalia from 1969 to 1991, and has been described as a dictator. Prior to his presidency, he was an army commander under the then young democratic government of Somalia...
Islamic Marxism
Islamic Marxism is a term that has been used to describe
Ali ShariatiAli Shariati was a highly influential Iranian revolutionary and sociologist, who focused on the sociology of religion...
(in
Shariati and Marx: A Critique of an "Islamic" Critique of Marxism by Assef Bayat). It is also sometimes used in discussions of the 1979
Iranian revolutionThe Iranian Revolution of 1979 or 1979 Islamic Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the revolution...
, including parties such as the Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization.
External links
- Pakistan: Impact of Islamic Socialism, Bidanda M. Chengappa * , Senior Research Fellow, IDSA, in Strategic Analysis: A Monthly Journal of the IDSA Jan-Mar 2002 (Vol. XXVI No. 1). Reproduced by the Columbia International Affairs Online (CIAO). (subscription needed)
- Iqbal and the Concept of Islamic Socialism, Kazi Publications
- Islam & socialism, SocialismToday - Socialist Party magazine
- Islam and the Moral Economy - The Challenge of Capitalism, Catalogue, Cambridge University Press
- The Revolutionary Surge and the Quiet Demise of Islamic Economics in Iran, Sohrab Behdad
- The Bolsheviks and Islam, Workers Liberty, 25 February, 2004 - 01:27
- Libya - THE MILITARY LEADERSHIP
- Imamate - Part I - General Meaning, islam.org
- http://www.hizmetbooks.org/Proof_of_Prophethood/prcomism.htm