(Pak Affairs)


Q: The four principles of economics are outstanding achievements of Shah Wali Ullah. However, with the passage of time, these principles have lost their significance and could not be applied today. What is your opinion?

Ans:

Introduction of Shah Wali Ullah:

Shah Wali Ullah was born in 1703 AD four years before the death of Aurangzeb; he received his early education from his illustrious father, who was his teacher as well as his spiritual guide. Being an intelligent child with a retentive memory he memorized the whole Quran at an early age of 7 years. On the death of his father in 1131 AH, when he was hardly 17 years old, he started teaching in his father's `Madrassa-i-Rahimiya' and carried the work for 12 years till he left for Arabia for higher studies. During fourteen months' stay in Makah and Medina, he came into contact with the renowned scholars of Hejaz (Mecca).He, returned to Delhi on July 9th, 1732 and started his work in real earnest. On his arrival in Delhi, he started training pupils in diverse branches of Islamic learning and entrusted them with the missionary work of enlightening people with the true nature of Islam. He embarked upon the task of producing standard works on Islamic learning and, before his death in 1762, completed a large number of outstanding works on Islam.

THE Economical Vision of SHAH WALLI ULLAH:

Shah Walli Ullah contributed in every major aspect of the society; whether political, social, religious or economical.
Here we will take in consideration the major role; he played in the economic development of an Islamic society. Shah Wali-Ullah directed his teachings towards reorienting the Muslim society with the concepts of basic social justice, removing social inequalities, and balancing the unjust distribution of wealth. In his book "Hujjat-ullah-il-Balighah", he pinpointed the causes of chaos and disintegration of Muslim society. These were:
• Pressure on public treasury, the emoluments given to various people who render no service to the state.
• Heavy taxation on peasants, merchants and workers, with the result that tax evasion was rampant. According to Shah Wali-Ullah, a state can prosper only if there were light and reasonable taxes.
He came up with four basic principles for any economic system, and concluded those four to serve as a base for a balanced and developed economic system for a nation.
Shah Walli Ullah’s Basic Four Principles of Economics
Shah Waliullah discussed four basic principles of economics; such as Production of wealth, consumption of wealth, distribution of wealth, exchange of wealth.
The whole nation is participant in the production of wealth, so it should be distributed in the whole nation. He established the principles for distribution of wealth among people as well as the values that how the wealth should be consumed. That economic system is successful which establishes the principles for these four Principles.

• FIRST PRINCIPLE

The first principle is that people living in specific geographic boundaries have the right over the resources of that area. That economic system in which all the people are equal, no single person or specific class can get hold of the resources. He has narrated Hazrat Abu Bakkar Siddique in Aizaalatul Khifa “Equality is better in economics than giving priority to one group over other.”

Critical Analysis:

The very first principle of Shah Walli Ullah states a very important need for any economic system of a country; the system of “Equality”. He clearly defines the concept of equality to be there in an economic system rather than prioritizing different sections of a society, on others and creating an imbalance.
Analysing, the principle in modern day perspective would lead us to the idea of “centralism “in nations these days. According to the working idea of centralism, every power centralizes and the concept of resources belonging to a specific area comes under the power of a central governance or control.
The autonomy that the people belonging to areas, rich in resources used to enjoy, are fading as now it’s the matter of a slight share or just a small percentage in profit from the area resources. This modern day system, typically followed in Asian countries has led to provincial discrimination of natural resources. This has also led to the scarcity of resources in certain areas, as a result of an imbalanced economy.
In such a central system of today’s world, it has been difficult to apply the principle of “equality”. The absence of this principle has led to major Class divisions and lack of autonomous powers, which are much needed to be there for economic security of any country.

• SECOND PRINCIPLE

Second principle is that everybody has the right to have limited owner ship as the abilities of every individual are different. Not that the whole nation should have same clothing, food and houses.

Critical Analysis

This principle points at the existence of “Limited ownership leading to a diversified economy”. Every individual carry their own set of abilities and thus their output abilities differ as well.
The principle focuses on the provision of limited ownership to all, as every individual contributes to the economic set up of a country. In this way the people who are more skilled will contribute more and enjoy a high set of facilities, else the one with less skill will have a different set.
Modern system doesn’t follow the set up and goes for “specific class ownerships and the provision of basic facilities to all “restricting the scope of diversification in an economy and a limiting the sphere of highly skilled people.

• THIRD PRINCIPLE

Third principle is that any practice which concentrates wealth in certain hands should not be tolerated and the system should oppose it.

Critical Analysis

The principle third on count signifies the importance of “Class Balance” in an economic system. Class division for any economy serves as an evil root.
Concentration of wealth in certain hands creates an imbalance in a nation’s economy and thus leading to the availability of resources and basic facilities to just a small portion of population.
The problem with modern economy is that it is cursed by many factors that lead to an imbalance in the system. Monopoly is one of the factors, which talk greatly about the concentration and distribution of wealth to certain people from certain people, leaving all other left out and empty hand.
Applying the principle of Class Balance is a difficult task, as the nature of modern economic system is that of “Gaining” rather than “Distributing”. Today’s economy follows the pattern of providing to certain classes and earning from them, thus having very little space for the principle of Class Balance in modern economic system.

• FOURTH PRINCIPLE

Fourth principle is that such a balance should be maintained in these factors that society develop as a whole.

Critical Analysis

The last of all the four principles, focus on the “Balance of Factors” in an economic system. The factors of Equality, Class Balance and limited ownership in an economic system lead to the road of prosperity, but if kept in balance.
If all these factors are fragile, then a strong base of an economic system would be weak forever. A weak economic pattern snubs the social and political values as well, causing an overall imbalance, leading to complete failure.
Unfortunately, the modern system carries all the modern aspects for an economic system, but with passage of time, they have fallen into the trap of complications.

Conclusion

Shah Waliullah stressed on the creation of a system on such principles which will end the out-modeled system and built a new system which ensures the development of society as a whole.
Modern Day economy is criticized mainly on the ground of weak implementations of policies. Having all the modern technology, diversified range of products in various sectors, it has failed to separate the problem of; scarce resources, market imperfections, economical class divisions, unequal distribution and exchange of wealth etc.
These Four basic economic principles provided by Shah Walli Ullah are the pillars of a strong economic system. The prevalence of equality, balance, limited ownership and a balance among them would form firm bases for any economic system. But time has faded the significance of these basic principles and thus they have just a limited scope only.

good answer i would say .

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First they ignore you,then they laugh at you,then they fight you and then you WIN!

a piece of advice would be to work on your introduction . introduction is the first things that catches readers attention so polish it more and more.

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First they ignore you,then they laugh at you,then they fight you and then you WIN!