1

After reciting tashahhud, ta‘awwudh and Surah al-Fatihah, Huzur(ra) said:

My sermon today deals with the economic system of Islam. This is a vast subject that is hard to address thoroughly within the limited time available. Discussion can at times become ambiguous and its import difficult to grasp if, for the sake of brevity, the core elements and context of the subject are not properly explained. Nonetheless, I shall endeavour — as far as possible — to present a succinct account of the Islamic economic system in a way that is easy to understand, and to explain its fundamental principles and the broader environment in which they have been placed.

Since Islamic economic system has certain features that appear to be in common with the so-called Communist system, my discourse would be incomplete if I did not describe the Islamic viewpoint regarding Communism and did not elucidate the differences between the two economic systems.

It should be remembered that just as branches grow out of the stem of a tree, important issues sprout out of the established prior fundamentals. Without an understanding of these fundamentals, the significance of those issues cannot be fully appreciated. I therefore deem it necessary that, before describing the Islamic economic system, I should briefly explain the foundation on which it rests.