The Supreme Leader’s View of Generation of Wealth

The Supreme Leader’s View of Generation of Wealth
10/09/2009

Generation of wealth in Islam
Prerequisites for increasing national wealth
Theoretical tenets of Islamic economics
The importance of generation and distribution of wealth
Generation of wealth
Production of wealth in the absence of justice
Distribution of wealth
Criterion for distribution of wealth
Distribution of wealth in the Islamic Republic
The International Monetary Fund

Generation of wealth in Islamic economics

Generation of wealth in Islam

From an Islamic point of view, there is nothing wrong with becoming rich as long as it is done through legally and religiously sanctioned channels. Government officials must clarify the ways in which the public can play a role in economic activities. These policies ensure the generation of wealth for all the people in society. From an Islamic perspective, generation of wealth is legitimate. Generation of wealth is different from plundering other people's wealth. Sometimes an individual may encroach on public properties or achieve financial success through illegal channels. This is prohibited. However, legal generation of wealth is allowed and encouraged in Islam and Islamic sharia. People are allowed to generate wealth, but they should not be wasteful. Islam encourages us to generate wealth but advises us against extravagance. Extravagant consumerism is not allowed by Islam. The wealth you generate should be used to generate more wealth. You should not let your wealth lie dormant and unproductive, nor should you extravagantly spend your wealth on things that you do not need. One should generate wealth for oneself by keeping these factors in mind. Public wealth belongs to the entire nation, and everybody should benefit from it.

Prerequisites for increasing national wealth

In order to help the country accumulate vast national wealth, all economically active citizens of the country must be provided with the opportunity to engage in investment, economic activities, and creation of wealth. That is to say, all people should be able to engage in these activities. The law and the government must support this engagement.

Theoretical tenets of Islamic economics

Islamic economics is based on two basic tenets. From an Islamic point of view, any economic theory or paradigm that is based on these two requirements is valid. Likewise, any economic paradigm that does not fulfill these minimum requirements is not Islamic no matter how much it appears to be based on outwardly religious sources. Increasing national wealth is one principle. An Islamic country must be wealthy. It must not be poor. An Islamic country must be able to further its lofty goals on international fronts through its wealth and economic power. The second tenet of Islamic economics is fair distribution of wealth and uplifting deprived people. These two requirements must be met. The second tenet is more important than the first. However, if wealth is not generated and if there is no value added, it will not be possible to deal with deprivation and poverty. Therefore, both requirements are necessary.

The importance of generation and distribution of wealth

Generation of wealth and how it is done are two separate issues that must not be mixed up. Someone may engage in legal economic activities and generate wealth. Generation of wealth is by itself something good. That is because generation of wealth in society will benefit the entire society. The way wealth is generated is more important than wealth itself. Generation of wealth should not be done through illegal channels. The wealth that is generated should not be used in religiously inappropriate ways. This wealth should circulate in society the way blood circulates in the veins. It should not be spent to promote corruption.

Generation of wealth

Large-scale generation of wealth must be a national goal. Providing job opportunities, generating knowledge, introducing new technologies, generating wealth, creating opportunities, production of goods, and training efficient manpower are all instances of production and generation.

Investment and its importance as well as generation of wealth by domestic investors are all considered to be positive by the Islamic Republic. These things are sanctioned by the Islamic Republic because they can contribute to our progress, economic development, and efforts to create job opportunities in the country. It is the government that should plan its policies in a way that generation of wealth in production sectors is accompanied by social justice. In the absence of economic prosperity, job opportunities, and wealth, the lower classes of society and underprivileged people, especially the working class, will be among those who suffer most. That is what the enemy wants.

Government officials are the ones in charge. As generation of wealth is not prohibited in Islam, government officials should allow people to engage in legal and healthy economic activities. However, they should prevent illegal methods of gaining wealth, deception, and misuse of public wealth. These are prohibited.

Production of wealth in the absence of justice

In wealthy, developed industrial countries poverty has not been uprooted. In these countries, justice has not been administered and moral principles have also been disregarded. Although wealth is produced in great amounts in these countries, the standards of morality have been lowered and are in decline. In the world of capitalism, the main purpose behind working and economic endeavor is to generate wealth. The major goal of capitalist systems is economic growth and producing wealth. In these systems, those who produce more wealth and are better at producing wealth are given precedence over others. Discrimination and class distinctions are not major issues in capitalist systems. In capitalist systems, they would not be concerned if a large number of people do not live in comfort. They are not concerned about the difference in people’s income. In such systems, even the policies on the basis of which wealth is distributed are incorrect policies. According to capitalist systems, asking people to accumulate wealth and then distributing that wealth among other people is meaningless because this, from their point of view, will not lead to economic growth.

Distribution of wealth

Those who say that administering justice is the same as distributing poverty actually mean that no one should seek to administer justice. They believe that everyone should seek to produce wealth so that what is distributed is wealth and not poverty. Seeking to produce wealth without taking justice into account will result in what is happening in capitalist countries at the moment. In the wealthiest country of the world – the US – there are people who die of hunger and cold. These are not claims. These are realities which are being observed.

What is of primary importance to the Islamic Republic is that everyone should be equal. No one should be deprived of anything. There should be no poverty, discrimination, or inequality between people in using opportunities. Everyone should be equally treated by the law.

Criterion for distribution of wealth

If production of wealth is not on the basis of justice, those who are cleverer than others in society acquire considerable wealth overnight. There are a group of people who are very wealthy, another group who lead an ordinary life, and some others who live in very difficult conditions. Therefore, it is not correct to say that justice is of secondary importance to generation of wealth. Administering justice means that the country’s resources should be fairly and reasonably distributed among people. Of course such distribution should not be done in an illogical manner. Efforts should be made to increase these resources so that everyone will benefit more from the country’s resources.

Distribution of wealth in the Islamic Republic

Islamic systems believe in a wealthy society, not a poor and backward one. Islamic systems believe in economic growth. But economic growth is not the main prerequisite for social justice and public welfare. What is of primary importance is that there should be no poor or underprivileged people in society. There should be no discrimination in using public resources. The facilities which everyone provides for himself belong to that person only. But public opportunities and facilities belong to all the people and there should be no discrimination in benefiting from these opportunities and facilities. Of course it should not be thought that the Islamic Republic is seeking to achieve quantitative increase in wealth. A particular group of people may acquire wealth through different ways and double the country’s per capita income or increase its GDP. These indices show in certain cases that the country is moving towards administration of justice, but this is not always the case.

The International Monetary Fund

Those who are active in scientific, research, and decision-making centers and deal with international political matters and vital issues of the country should not seek to imitate western formulas – that is, the economic formulas of the west, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund. Their theories will not be useful for a country like Iran. Of course we should make use of their experience and achievements. Wherever they have gained some experience or made some progress, we could learn from those achievements. But we should develop a plan ourselves on the basis of our national needs.

Mahatir bin Mohamad, the former Malaysian Prime Minister, who was a very precise, serious, and hardworking person once came to Tehran and met with me too. At that time, several developments had taken place in East Asia. An economic earthquake had taken place in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. The Zionist capitalists and other capitalist powers caused some countries to go bankrupt through their banking and financial policies. At that time, the Malaysian Prime Minister told me, “I can only tell you this much that we went bankrupt overnight.” Of course when a country becomes economically dependant and tries to follow the financial prescriptions of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, such a thing is expected to happen to that country.

The World Bank itself and the International Monetary Fund are also parts of this great puzzle. It will be very dangerous if global financial developments are controlled by international superpowers, which is the case today.

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