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 Islamic Economic Glossary

Straightness, justice, fairness, equitableness. Tech (consists of two elements): first, that a sort of balance and proportion should be maintained between the people with respect to their rights; second, that everyone's due share should be conscientiously rendered to that person. What justice (adl) really demands is balance and proportion, rather than equality in the rights of citizenship. In certain respects, equality is quite contrary to justice, such as in the moral and social equality between parents and their children or in the equality of remuneration between those doing higher services and those not so eminently engaged. What Allah has ordained is proportion and balance in the equality of rights. This order requires that to every person should be honestly rendered all moral, social, economic, legal, political and civil rights. Al-adl is a mother virtue in a Muslim society. Individuals and society as a whole have been exhorted to observe justice in all their dealings. Ant: al-zulm, which is to deprive one of one's rightful and just share.

 

An international bank registered in the Bahamas and entirely owned by private Muslim individuals, the bank claims to conduct its operations on the basis of the Shariah. It offers services in syndicated interest-free loans, international investment, technology transfer, trade, commodities and currency trade and development funding. Perhaps the most prestigious of the bank's recent (1984) involvements is the multimillion dollar monorail scheme linking Calgary to Edmonton (Canada). Similarly the bank is arranging financial and trading services for Powell Chemicals of the United States for Arabian Express Card-the first consumer discount and travel protection card in the Arab World-and for various other activities, such as gold and diamond mining in West Africa, wind-mill technology in Salt Lake city and tar-sand technology in Canada.

 

Surplus. Tech: The expression appears in the Quran (2:219), wherein people have been instructed to spend in the cause of Allah whatever is over and above their needs. Some people have also applied the concept of al-afw to the canons of taxation in the Islamic economy. According to them, the Islamic state should tax a person on the income or wealth which is over and above the basic needs of individuals.

 

Initiated by Saudi Arabia in 1981 to supplement and make firm the 1977 General Agreement among OIC countries, it primarily relates to liberalization of capital movements and protection of direct investments by member states.



 

Traditions of the Prophet relating to the Khaibar lands which he gave back to the Jews for cultivation on half share of the produce.

 

Relating to the law of zakat, originally meaning gold and silver, now also applicable to coins, currency notes, demand deposits, time deposits and any other form in which money may be held. The word has several other meanings in fiqh in general.

 

Specific worker. Tech: A full time worker who agrees to perform a certain duty for one employer exclusively; for example, a watchman, who sells his time exclusively to his employer.

 

Shared worker. Tech: A worker or craftsman who does not deserve his wage until he performs the duty assigned to him; for example, a washer man, a dyer or a carpenter. Such craftsmen do not sell the whole of their time; instead, they agree to perform certain functions for certain wages. They accept to perform these functions but not exclusively for any particular person. Their time is shared by all those persons who want them to perform these functions.

 

Wages prevalent in the market for a certain service.

 

Historically, peasants who held no fixed leases and were mostly landless day laborers.

 

Eating someone else's property unjustifiably. Tech: It is the Quranic expression for unlawful acquisition of wealth such as riba, bribery and usurpation of orphan's we etc.

 

Acquiring illegal property. Tech: Quranic term for bribery, especially to accept gifts for distorting divine guidance.

 

Reliability, trustworthiness, loyalty, honesty. Tech: An important value of Islamic society in mutual dealings. It also refers to deposits in trust. A person may hold a property in trust for another, sometimes by express contract and sometimes by implication of a contract.

 

Incorporated on 12 April 1984 in Karnatak (India), it has four branches, authorized capital of Rs.10 million. Paid-up capital, Rs.O.5 million.

 

In a contract of mudarabah, the person who acts as entrepreneur. Also used for a collector of zakat.

 

The official appointed to collect jizyah and kharaj, to lease fai land and superintend its cultivation. The amil would receive payment for his services from out of the revenue collected by him. He was not authorized to spend the revenue collected by him without permission.

 

Used in the law of zakat for tax-collectors, it includes all such officials as collectors, clerks, scribes, distributors, store-keepers, accountants, etc.

 

A person who holds in trust property of another person, possession of which has been passed on to the trustee by the owner himself, but the principal objective of transfer is not safe custody. For example a tenant who hires a house or a mudarib in a contract of mudarabah, etc.

 

A person who holds in trust property of another person with the principal objective of safe-custody.

 

Inhabited or cultivated land. Tech: A land belonged to a people collectively, such as a path, a canal or a river. Nobody can claim ownership of these lands except with the express permission of these people. See al-mawat.

 

See al-mal

 

Miscellaneous receipts. Tech: Miscellaneous receipts of the bait al-mal. It was a regular head of account in the bait ai-mal of the caliph and consisted of such receipts as luqatah, property of the heirless or properties of persons who had fled from the Islamic state.

 

It connotes six items on which riba al-fadl arises: gold, silver, dates, wheat, salt and barley. Their exchange has been conditional with equality in weight and measure and simultaneous transfer of possession, failing which it would involve riba a-lfadl. It has been held by some jurists that riba al-fadl arises only in respect of these six articles, but others have included such other articles as well which could be accepted as being similar to these six.

 

An accretion or addition received beyond one's due. Tech: Spoils of war, signifying that they are incidental accessions above and beyond anything that a mujahid is entitled to expect. A mujahid fights to uphold the cause of righteousness and for the supremacy of Islam; if in this fight he gets a share in the spoils of war, it is an extra favour to him. See also khumus.

 

Immovable property. Tech: Relating to the law of kharaj and ushr, it includes immovable property and all other allied forms of property such as minerals, treasure trove and fruits on trees, etc.

 

Legal contract implying an enforceable act involving a bilateral declaration, namely, the offer (ijab) and the acceptance (qabul).

 

One who contracts. Tech: In the law of inan partnership, the partner who enters into a transaction with a third party. The other partners are known as muwakkil. The jurisdiction of al-aqid has been defined specifically for different types of transactions. The aqid acts as the agent (wakil) of the remaining partners but not as surety (kafil) for them.

 

That group of people who share the blood-money liability of anyone among them.

 

Abandoned or dead lands without any traceable owners. See al-ard al-mawat.

 

A category of sulh lands, the owners of which have left it and which Muslims have taken without fighting.

 

Land conquered by force of arms without any agreement.

 

Bare or uncultivated land, especially land without fruit trees.

 

According to some, it consists of areas where the level of underground water stands so high that it brings moisture to deeply sunk plant roots, while others think it is the land that is watered by a sufficient supply of rainfall. Historically, these lands were . also treated as ones which did not involve human labors for irrigation. Therefore, the taxation on them was the heaviest.

 

Lands irrigated by water dammed up in reservoirs or from underground canals. Taxation of them was ushr or half-ushr, depending upon the investment involved in irrigation.

 

Land, the owner of which died without leaving an heir, which reverts to bait al-mal. It also applies as a general term to the land annexed to the bait al-mal by way of ghanimah.

 

Those lands which have been declared as public property.

 

Those lands which are owned by non-Muslims but have been conquered by Muslims either by force or by truce and have been left with the previous owners by the Islamic state. A land tax agreed to in the treaty or fixed by the state is levied on such lands.

 

The class of conquered lands whereby the rights of ownership have been vested in the state. In case of such lands, the cultivator is a state tenant and does not possess right of alienation or transfer. It is also known as al-ard al hawz, al-ard al-sultaniyah or al-ard li-bait al mal. 'Main sources of this type of land are (a) conquest of foreign lands not occupied by anyone at the time of conquest; (b) state accession of lands left by the heirless; (c) khumus of the conquered lands if distributed among soldiers; (d)lands conquered by storm and appropriated by the head of the. state to the bait al-mal. These types of land are meant for the benefit of those who have the right to receive benefit from the bait al-mal.

 

Those lands located away from habitation whose owners are not traceable or were never occupied by anybody. Such land becomes the property of the person who develops and tills it. Al-Mawat do not include (a) those lands which serve a community, such as meadows, woods for fuel, etc.; (b) those lands which are known to have such deposits of minerals as salt, coal tar and petroleum and are required for the people at large; (c) those lands declared as state pastures (hima). According to some of the jurists, in order to avoid disputes possession of such lands must be preceded by permission from the state.

 

Lands not owned or occupied by any identifiable person. Also known as al-ard ghair al-mamlukah. They are of three types: (a) those lands which provide common convenience to the inhabitants, such as streets, roads, drains, graveyards, mosques, grazing fields, etc., which cannot be owned by any particular person and even the state cannot impose proprietary restrictions on their use, known as al-ard fana li baladah; (b) those lands, consisting of jungles, barren fields, mountains, etc., which do not provide any common convenience, are not arable and are not owned by anyone, also known as al-mawat; (c) those arable lands not owned by anyone, also known as al-ard li-bait al-mal.

 

The most fertile lands of fourteenth century A.D. Spain procured by the sultan. The agricultural proceeds were the property of the ruler.

 

Land watered from underground canals. Tax on this land was lower than ushr, since they involved investment in irrigation.

 

Lands irrigated by running water (of rivers and valleys). Tech: A category of land taxed most heavily since it involved the least human effort.

 

Lands irrigation by rain-flooding.Tech: A category of land taxed most heavily (like ard al-saih) because it involves the least human effort for irrigation.

 

Lands of conquered country for which there exists a provision in the agreement of the truce.

 

A piece of land donated by the state to a person from out of heirless lands accessed to the bait al-mal. The done gets the right to the produce of the land after praying for the subsistence of the tillers of the land. The ownership remains with the bait al-mal.

 

It refers to all land owned by Muslim who pay ushr on it; the land, the owners of which accept Islam; the land of Africa; and the land of those areas which were conquered by fighting and the land distributed among soldiers of the Muslim army.

 

The land which Muslim assign to the welfare of the community. See also hima

 

Borrowed. Tech: To authorize someone to receive benefit from one's property without any consideration. It is one of the customs of Muslim society. People borrow quite frequently small articles of household goods from neighbors and relatives, which is considered as a custom to promote love and cooperation among citizens (Quran 107:7). The difference between ariyah and qard is that in the former case, the thing borrowed (which is always other than money) is to be returned in its original form, whereas in the case of qard, the loan can be, and is usually, returned in money of equivalent value.

 

A loan supported by a surety, guarantee or warranty.

 

Daily ration of wheat, barley and other food grains (including cloth) periodically distributed free among the people in the early days of Islam.

 

Relating to the law of inheritance, those relatives in whose line of relationship no female enters. There is no fixed share of the sabah prescribed in the Quran. If the deceased is not survived by any dhawul1araid, the whole of the property falls to the asabah, otherwise the residue of the dhawul1araid. The asabat are the following relatives: (a) sons and daughters (grandsons/ daughters in the absence of sons and daughters); (b) father, grandfather and great-grand-father, if there is no son, grandson, daughters and grand daughters); (c) in the absence of son, grandson, daughter, grand-daughter, father, grand-father, brother is an asabah including sons and daughters of the brother if the brother is not alive;(d) consanguine brother; if there is no consanguine brother.

 

An institution of eighth century A.D., Egypt. Guilds which worked in close collaboration with the official mint (dar al-sikkah) to uncover hoarded wealth of tombs and funerary. One-fifth of such discoveries was credited to the bait at-mal as khumus. The hoarded gold from the tombs of Pharaohs was largely brought to circulation by the efforts of such guilds.

 

Collectors of custom duties and akat stationed by the state on the public roads.

 

Annual pensions distributed among the people from out of bait al-mal during the early days of Islam.

 

Relating to the law of ushr, land irrigated by ainfall exclusively.

 

Relating to the law of zakat, animals employed for work or for tilling of land.