News:

The Citizen Newspaper reported on recent spate of violence in Mtwara, the southern part of Tanzania, against the gas pipeline project to Dar es Salaam. The paper said this is a sign of growing public distrust in the government. Also it showed a concern that investments are no longer safe in Tanzania, since people are fed up with empty promises, rising anger against a lopsided development map as well as shocking inequitable distribution of national wealth.   [Source: The Citizen, 08 February 2013]

Comment:

The conflict (protest) of the public against the taking of natural gas from the Mtwara area started in the last part of 2012. This is one of the shameful indicators of the failure of Capitalism in serving the public with justice to the extent that the public has lost hope in the political and economic system of Capitalism. Furthermore, it is an explicit demonstration of a lack of justice in the system. The lack of justice is now a time-bomb waiting to explode anytime leaving the country in pieces.

This conflict is a result of neglecting this strip which is a historical and continuous issue since colonial times by the Germans. Later on, the British in their strategy deliberately neglected the area to make it a factory for cheap labor. Contempt and neglect of the area was inherited and continued even after independence under Capitalism with religious feelings and discrimination of the area by making favors to ‘Christian north' against ‘Muslim south'.

Islam takes natural gas as a resource among public property whereby its benefits are for all and not for specific people or area where it is located. Abi Kharasha narrated from some Sahabas that the Prophet (saw) said, "Muslims are partners in three things; water, pasture and fire."

In another narration, the Prophet (saw) said, "People are partners in three things: water pasture and fire" and in another narration from Abu Hurairah, the Prophet (saw) said: "Three are not withheld: water, pasture and fire."

Natural gas resource and anything that generates fire as stated in the Hadiths like petrol and others enters the category of ‘fire'. The Prophet (saw) has clearly stated that those are things owned by the public. It is Haram to be owned by an individual, a state or private companies as we see western companies struggling over the matter. Instead, the benefits from such public property are supposed to be used for public services e.g. provision of water, electricity, health, etc. Never should such property be owned by an individual or a local or foreign company.

Capitalism under its economic policy of ‘free market' naturally can never manage such property and make it available to the owners. It is only when the Khilafah "Caliphate" state that has the qualities, ability and motivation to act accordingly. Only then will human beings taste justice and good life.

Masoud Msellem

Deputy Media Representative, Hizb ut Tahrir/ East Africa