بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Will Coronavirus Signal the End of Capitalism?
News:
Today, Capitalism faces its own plague nightmare. Though the COVID-19 virus may kill between 1 percent and 4 percent of those who catch it, it is about to have an impact on a much more complex economy than the one that existed back in the 1340s - one with a much more fragile geopolitical order, and on a society already gripped with foreboding over climate change. (Source: Aljazeera.com)
Comment:
Bukhari narrated from Aisha (ra), the Prophet’s wife (saw), that she said “I asked Allah’s Messenger (saw) about the plague. He told me that:
«أَنَّهُ عَذَابٌ يَبْعَثُهُ اللَّهُ عَلَى مَنْ يَشَاءُ وَأَنَّ اللَّهَ جَعَلَهُ رَحْمَةً لِلْمُؤْمِنِينَ لَيْسَ مِنْ أَحَدٍ يَقَعُ الطَّاعُونُ فَيَمْكُثُ فِي بَلَدِهِ صَابِرًا مُحْتَسِبًا يَعْلَمُ أَنَّهُ لَا يُصِيبُهُ إِلَّا مَا كَتَبَ اللَّهُ لَهُ إِلَّاكَانَ لَهُ مِثْلُ أَجْرِ شَهِيدٍ»
‘it was a Punishment sent by Allah on whom He wished, and Allah made it a source of mercy for the believers, for if one in the time of an epidemic plague stays in his country patiently hoping for Allah’s Reward and believing that nothing will befall him except what Allah has written for him, he will get the reward of a martyr.’”
The world population is approximately 7.65 billion. Experts believe the death rate of COVID-19 is around 1-3%. Not only has this pandemic paralysed the world, it has decimated any pretence of legitimacy Capitalism had as a ‘system’ of economy fit for humankind.
Governments at near war-footing, are late, scrambling for solutions whilst brave and selfless health workers step into the breech to purchase time to gear up for the deluge. Major capitalist governments, struggling between protecting the economy, (or wealth and interests of the few) or the lives of the many, have in the end, abandoned Capitalism in favour of patchwork solutions in an attempt to keep society from totally falling apart.
Rasulullah (saw) implemented the system of Islam, that for over a thousand years, protected its citizens, especially the weak through various episodes of plagues, invasions and crises. It supported communities outside the Khilafah including the Great Famine of Ireland. Its robust real economy does not suffer the fragility and wild, speculative fluctuations of Capitalism. Sadly, there is no Ameer al-Mu’mineen, to look after us presently, in particular our brothers and sisters who are displaced or being oppressed, in Idlib, in Palestine, in Myanmar, in Kashmir, India, Sri Lanka, and East Turkistan - all defenceless.
And still, even in the midst of this global tribulation and reminder from Allah, some detractors and distractors are hard at work, secularising Islam. They want us to forget, that Islam has a unique, robust and powerful system that can unite and protect us. Instead, they want us to retreat into our caves and focus on individualistic rituals. They bewail the (temporary) loss of the masajids, the possibility of performing taraweeh at home. But, they do not cry, about the loss of Islam as a system and way of life and turn their backs on the commands of Allah Subhanahu wa ta'ala and the structures of governance, justice and statehood implemented by Rasulullah (saw).
This plague should be a reminder and a warning,
[يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا ادْخُلُوا فِي السِّلْمِ كَافَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا خُطُوَاتِ الشَّيْطَانِ إِنَّهُ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ]
“O you who have believed, enter into Islam completely [and perfectly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.”[Al-Baqarah: 208]
That it is binding upon the sincere Believer, to take the whole of Islam, the complete Deen, brought to us by Rasulullah (saw) from the ‘ibadat, laws, mu’amalat and tareeqah of Islam, the true Khilafah upon the method of the Prophethood. Only this will return the Islamic way of life and protect this Ummah and bring justice to the world.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Muhammad Hamzah
#Covid19 #Korona كورونا#