That the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) became rich after marriage and success of trade the income obtained was used on the welfare of people. When the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) migrated to Yasrab he had no worldly assets. He was even given a house to stay by Hazrat Abu Ayub Ansari (RA). This was a difficult time. However it is now important to see the difference between the economic life of Mecca and Madina, the new name of Yasrab. The description of Madinan economic life is as under:
The way in which Medina is favoured by nature forms a striking contrast to Mecca. Its noteworthy feature is richness in water, unusual in Arabia. The soil is of salty sand, lime and loamy clay and is everywhere fertile, particularly in the South. It was, therefore, called the city of farmers.
The people of Medina were highly skilled cultivators… . There is a tradition in the Sahih of al-Bukhari, narrated on the authority of Abu Huraira (RA), which sheds a good deal of light on the occupations of the people of Mecca and Medina during the time of the Holy Prophet. He observes: “My brethren muhajirin (after their migration to Medina) were occupied in buying and selling goods in the market, whereas my brethren Ansar remained busy in cultivation and gardening.”
The Jews of Medina were, however, interested in trade and industry besides cultivation.1
It is highly important to identify the sources of income of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) after his arrival in Madina in 622-623 till his departure from the world. There is no evidence of any agricultural activity by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) during that period. However, almost all the histories reveal that Hazrat Ali (RA) was engaged in contract agriculture. It was his profession to develop land and gardens by planting date trees. According to some books that trace the history of that period, the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) was a shareholder in that contract business, which was the profession of Hazrat Ali (RA). The general perception that the livelihoods of people were wholly based on ‘Bounties of War’ (Maal-e-Ghanimat) is not correct. This was an additional income, not the main source of income. It is an established fact that there was a reasonably large sum under this head after the Battle of Khaybar. According to reliable histories, the concept of Trust for public welfare was introduced. The history of Trusts is revealed as under:
The waqf in Islamic law, which developed in the medieval Islamic world from the 7th to 9th centuries, bears a notable resemblance to the English trust law. Every waqf was required to have a waqif (founder), mutawillis (trustees), qadi (judge) and beneficiaries. Under both a waqf and a trust, “property is reserved, and its usufruct appropriated, for the benefit of specific individuals, or for a general charitable purpose; the corpus becomes inalienable; estates for life in favor of successive beneficiaries can be created” and “without regard to the law of inheritance or the rights of the heirs; and continuity is secured by the successive appointment of trustees or mutawillis.”
The only significant distinction between the Islamic waqf and English trust was “the express or implied reversion of the waqf to charitable purposes when its specific object has ceased to exist”, though this difference only applied to the waqf ahli (Islamic family trust) rather than the waqf khairi (devoted to a charitable purpose from its inception). Another difference was the English vesting of “legal estate” over the trust property in the trustee, though the “trustee was still bound to administer that property for the benefit of the beneficiaries.” In this sense, the “role of the English trustee, therefore, does not differ significantly from that of the mutually.”
The trust law developed in England at the time of the Crusades, during the 12th and 13th centuries was introduced by Crusaders who may have been influenced by the waqf institutions they came across in the Middle East.
After the Islamic waqf law and madrassah foundations were firmly established by the 10th century, the number of Bimaristan hospitals multiplied throughout Islamic lands. In the 11th century, every Islamic city had at least several hospitals. The waqf trust institutions funded the hospitals for various expenses, including the wages of doctors, ophthalmologists.2
It is an established fact that the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) never had a bed to sleep. He did not make a house. It was not because he did not have the resources. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) created Trusts for welfare activities to demonstrate that there is an obligation to earn as much as possible within the prescribed norms; however, it is better to voluntarily spend it on the welfare of people. Zakat is the minimum tax. Such a trust existed in Yanbuh near Madina till the time the Ottomans reached the Arabia.
The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) departed this world on 12 Rabiul Awwal, 632 AD. His wives (Ummahatul Momineen) were not self-employed. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) had made provisions for their future livelihoods. Each spouse was given two camels at the time of marriage. The milk of one camel was used as food and the other’s for other provisions of life. This was the economic planning of the founder of Riyasat-e-Madina.
It is considered that unless there is a clear understanding of the manner in which the founder of Riyasat-e-Madina lived and conducted his economic life there cannot be complete and proper understanding of the system.
(Concluded)
Bukhari, Kitab al-Muzara’
Wikipedia
Copyright Business Recorder, 2021
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