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General Meaning
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Islamic Concept of Social Security
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Social Security in Practice
I- General Meaning
The term social
security has recently come into common usage. However, this term
has not been exactly defined. So every individual and community
assigns to it meanings of his or her own liking.
Social security
laws, according to a jurists, are “those legal mechanisms
primarily concerned to ensure the provision for the individual of
a cash income adequate, when taken along with the benefits in kind
provided by other social services, to ensure for him a culturally
acceptable minimum standard of living when the normal means of
doing so fail.”
Broadly speaking,
social security embraces in its fold social assistance, provision
of basic necessities of life, social insurance against risks of
hazards (such as sickness, old age, unemployment), public
maintenance, etc.
The idea of social
security originated in realisation by the state of its
responsibility to provide its citizens adequately against certain
contingencies like want, poverty, disease, illiteracy,
unemployment and old age. Formerly social security benefits were
confined merely to workers, but lately the same have been extended
to all citizens. Thus in the modern world, almost, all the
countries are maintaining some sort of social security schemes for
providing monetary benefit to persons suffering economic hardship.
Such schemes embrace in their fold insurance against sickness and
unemployment; pensions to old people, windows and disabled;
compensation to workers who have met with some accident; maternity
benefits; family allowances etc.
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II- Islamic Concept of Social Security
The Islamic concept
of social security originates from the following verses of the
Qur’an and the Ahadith which enjoin upon the believers of Islam to
help their poor and needy brothers-in-faith who are unable to
fulfil their basic human needs:
1.
They ask thee, (O Muhammad), What they shall spend. Say: That
which ye spend for good (must go) to parents and near kindred and
orphans and the needy and the wayfarer. And whatsoever good ye do;
Lo! Allah is Aware of it.
-(2 : 215)
2.
And serve Allah. Ascribe nothing as partner unto
Him. (Show) kindness unto parents, and unto near kindred, and
orphans, and the needy, and unto the neighbour who is of kin (unto
you) and the neighbour who is not of kin, and the fellow-traveller
and the wayfarer and (the slaves) whom your right hands possess.
Lo! Allah loveth not such as are proud and boastful.
-(4 : 36)
3.
The alms are only for the poor and the needy, and
those who collect them, and those whose hearts are to be
reconciled and to free the captives and the debtors, and for the
cause of Allah, and (for) the wayfarers; a duty imposed by Allah.
Allah is Knower, Wise.
-(9 : 60)
4.
And in their wealth the beggar and the outcast had
due share.
-(51 : 19)
5.
That which Allah giveth as spoil unto His messenger
from the people of the townships, it is for Allah and His
messenger and for the near of kin and the orphans and the needy
and the wayfarer, that it become not a commodity between the rich
among you….
-(59 : 7)
6.
And in whose wealth there is a right acknowledged.
For the beggar and the destitute.
-(70 : 24-25)
7.
The Holy Prophet is reported to have said: The
government is the guardian of anyone who has no other guardian.
-(Abu Daud, Tirmizi)
8.
Miqdam reported that the Messenger of Allah said:
“I am nearer to every believer than his own self; so whoever
leaves behind a debt or children to support, it shall be our
charge; and whoever leaves property, it is for his heirs, and I am
the heir of the person who has no heir. – I inherit his property
and pay his debt.”
-(Muslim)
9.
It is reported from Abu Hurairah that the Messenger
of Allah said: “I am, according to the Book of Allah, nearest to
the believers of all human beings. So whoever amongst you dies in
debt or leaves behind destitute children, you should call me for
help, for I am his guardian. And who amongst you leaves property,
that is for his inheritor, whoever he is.”
-(Muslim)
10.
Abu Hurairah reported that the Messenger of Allah
said: One who strives for the widows and the poor is like one who
fights in the way of Allah. He said: I shall regard him as one who
stands up (for prayer) without rest and as one who fasts without
break.
-(Bukhari and Muslim)
11.
Ibn Umar reported that the Messenger of Allah said:
There is a key for everything and the key of Paradise is love for
the poor.
-(Darqutni)
12.
Anas reported that the Messenger of Allah said: The
best charity is to satisfy a hungry belly.
-(Baihaqi)
13.
If anyone spent a night in a town and he remained
hungry till morning, the promise of God’s protection for that town
came to an end.
-(Musnad Ahmad)
14.
Abu Saeed Khudri reports that the Apostle of Allah
said: Anyone who possesses goods more than his needs, should give
the surplus wealth to the weak (poor) and whosoever possesses food
more than his needs should give the surplus food to the needy and
the destitute…….
-(Quoted by Ibn Hazm)
15.
Ali is reported to have said: God has made it
obligatory on the rich to meet the economic needs of the poor upto
the extent of their absolute necessities. If they are hungry or
naked or in financial hardship, it is because the rich are not
doing their duty. God will question them about it on the Day of
Judgement.
-(Quoted by Ibn Hazm)
From the above
mentioned verses of the Qur’an and Ahadith of the Holy Prophet, it
is clear that Islamic state being guardian of the poor and
helpless is responsible for providing the barest necessities of
life to its poor and needy citizens. In the income of the state
from Zakat, spoils of war and fai, the Qur’an has especially
mentioned the share of the poor and the needy. Besides making the
Islamic state responsible to provide for the poor, Islam also
enjoins upon its rich followers to help their poor relatives,
friends and neighbours.
Basic human needs
or the barest necessities of life have been defined by the
following verse of the Qur’an and Hadith of the Holy Prophet:
1.
There is therein (enough provision) for thee not to
go hungry nor to go naked; nor to suffer from thirst, nor from the
sun’s heat.
-(Al-Quran 20 : 118-119)
2.
The son of Adam has no better right than that he
would have a house wherein he may live, and a piece of cloth
whereby he may hide his nakedness, and a piece of bread and some
water.
-(Tirmizi)
Thus the basic
human needs, according to the Qur’an and the Sunnah, include food,
clothes and a house.
Every person living
in the Islamic state is entitled to these basic needs. But if he
is unable to procure them for himself and for his family due to
unemployment, sickness, disability, old age or due to any other
reason, then the Islamic state is duty-bound to provide him with
the same. In case of lack of resources, the state must find out
means to make arrangements to help its needy citizens. For this
purpose, the state has been allowed to levy taxes in addition to
Zakat on the authority of the following Hadith of the Prophet :
“In one’s wealth there are rights other than Zakat also”.
Many Muslim jurists
of classical age have taken the notion of state responsibility for
meeting the basic human needs of every eligible citizen so
seriously that they have ruled that the allegiance of the Islamic
state depends upon this condition. If the state fails to provide
these needs to its citizens, it forfeits its right to their
obedience.
An eminent
economist of Islam, Mr. Afzal-ur-Rahman calls Zakat (which is
collected by the Islamic state) an insurance fund of the Islam
state. He says :
“It is an insurance
fund to which only the wealthy make contributions. If you are rich
today, you contribute to this fund. The needy and the poor benefit
from this fund today, but if you (or your children) are rendered
poor tomorrow by the vicissitudes of this world, you (or your
children) will also benefit from it. Thus no member of the Muslim
community need ever feel financially insecure for himself, his
wife or his children after him because the social insurance fund (Zakat)
will always look after the interests of the needy and the poor. A
Muslim should, therefore, never worry himself even about
unforeseeable catastrophes, such as diseases, fire, accidents,
floods, bank-ruptcies, death etc., which might wreck his career,
destroy his property or business and render his descendants
penniless, for the Zakat fund is his permanent insurance
against all types of risks. Even when one is on a journey and
becomes penniless through theft, sickness or other reasons, this
fund will meet all one’s needs”.
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III- Social Security in Practice
From its very
inception at Al-Madinah in the early seventh century, the Islamic
state accepted its responsibility towards the poor and the
destitutes. The Prophet of Islam as the first head of this state
initiated the policy of providing economic assistance to the needy
and the poor from the state treasury although this tiny state
during his time had meagre resources which were always under
pressure due to constant wars. He utilized the limited revenues of
the state collected from Zakat, Khums and Fai to meet the needs of
the poor, orphans, widows, the disabled, debtors, slaves,
prisoners of war and those who were unemployed.
Prophet’s policy
was followed by Abu Bakr, his successor, who continued helping the
poor and the needy. It was, however, during the time of Umar, Abu
Bakr’s successor and second caliph of Islamic state, that the
scheme of social security for all was established on permanent
footing as the state had expanded to include in its fold many rich
countries like Iraq, Syria and Egypt and its revenues had
substantially increased.
In the year 20
A.H., Umar established a government department called Divan for
the purpose of holding census of population at regular intervals.
On the basis of this census annual pensions were fixed for (I)
widows and orphans, (ii) all disabled, sick and old people, (iii)
widows of the prophet, (iv) survivors of the battle of Badr and
all others who had been in the forefront of the struggle for Islam
and (v) early muhajirs and Ansars. Encyclopedia of Seerah gives
the following account of rates of grants fixed for each category
by Umar. “He fixed an allowance of 5,000 dirhams per annum for
anyone who had fought in the Battle of Badr, and for all others
whose Islam was of the same degree as those who had fought at Badr,
e.g., who had migrated to Abbyssinia, or fought at the battle of
Uhud, were given 4,000 dirhams per annum; the children of those
who had fought at Badr received 1,000 dirhams, but Hassan and
Hussain, for their relation with the Holy Prophet, received the
same amount of allowance as their father, i.e., 5,000 dirhams
each. Everyone who had migrated before the conquest of Makkah was
given an annual allowance of 3,000 dirhams : and those who
embraced Islam at the conquest of Makkah were given 2,000 dirham
each, and young children of the Muhajirin and Ansar also received
some amount. Wives of the Holy Prophet were paid 12000 dirhams
each.
The caliph also
established a special department for maintenance of record of
pension. Pensions and allowances were paid to all deserving
persons, and even the destitute and needy among the Zimmis
received financial assistance. With a view to find out the minimum
amount of food an average person needed to maintain proper health,
Umar is reported to have made experiment with a group of thirty
people of good appetite. He kept them for two meals and on the
basis of this experiment he ordered that every citizen should
receive a monthly amount of wheat sufficient for two square meals
a day in addition to monetary pension which he was already
receiving.
The department
maintained separate registers for each category of grant. The
purpose of this department was that nobody in the Islamic state
should remain hungry or naked. All those who were poor, needy,
disabled, orphans or widows and were unable to earn their
livelihood for one reason or the other were enrolled by this
department and were paid regular grants by the Bait-ul-Mal (public
treasury).
The disabled, old
and destitute among the non-Muslims were also provided financial
assistance from public treasury and their taxes like Jizyah were
remitted. Caliph Umar once saw an old man begging and he asked him
why he was doing so. The old man replied that he was a non-Muslim
and he had to beg in order to pay his Jizyah tax to the state.
Umar took him home, gave him some money and sent him to the
incharge of Bait-ul-Mal with the order that such people should be
helped financially and should be exempted from Jizyah. He also
issued a general order, based on his own ijtihad (interpretation)
of verse 60 of chapter 9 of the Holy Qur’an, that destitute among
the non-Muslims should also be provided financial assistance from
the Sadaqat Fund of the public treasury.
Guest houses were
built in most of the cities to provide free meals and
accommodation to the travellers. Arrangements were made for the
care and nursing of children who were left on roadside by their
mothers. Allowances were paid to children, family allowances were
provided, allowances to the old and widows were paid, debtors and
prisoners were helped and slaves were assisted in their
manumission. During a famine in Madinah, the cash and food stores
of public treasury were all spent on the sufferers. Even the
provinces were directed to dispatch foodgrains to Madinah.
The caliph was so
conscious of his responsibilities towards have-nots that he is
reported to have once remarked that he would be held responsible
on the Day of Judgement if a camel dies of thirst near a bank of
river Tegris (Dajala).
After Umar,
the system of social security continued to be maintained with
almost same zeal by his successors Usman and Ali, the third and
fourth right-guided caliphs. However, with the dismemberment of
pious caliphate, this noble system of helping the poor also
deteriorated. Umar-bin-Abdul Aziz, another pious caliph, revived
it for a shorter period during his brief reign. But unfortunately,
during the later period, the system gradually disappeared due to
lack of personal interest of the Muslim rulers.
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