Who Benefits from Free

Trade?
By the noble Shaikh Sa’ad Al
Husain

This question was answered by an American

author P.J. O’Rourke with no lack humor or of
day to day wisdom. His answer: Everybody
benefits. He said in his book (whose title is
“Eat the Rich”): The reason for part of the
world being rich and other parts being poor
is not intelligence. There cannot be found on
the face of the earth anywhere dumber than
Hollywood, the wealthiest place on earth,
while in Russia, where chess is considered a
national sport, the majority of its citizens live
in poverty. The reason isn’t the availability
of natural resources. Impoverished Africa
possesses treasures of gold, uranium and oil
whereas wealthy Holland doesn’t have any of
 that while half of its surface is below sea
level. The cause is clear if the people were
to open their eyes to it: Free trade, meaning
recognizing the individual right to own the
fruit of his labor and use it in any way he
chooses without transgressing against the
rights of others.

However the majority of people don’t

understand this reality, don’t restrict their
selves or recognize the boundaries
separating between their rights and those of
others. Some steal private or public property
or wrongfully appropriate their neighbor’s
land, have an affair with their neighbor’s wife
or wrongfully enjoy some of their rights.
Some betray their trust in their job or their
responsibility over an orphan, or relative,
child or wife. Some hide spite and jealousy
for their wealthy brother behaving as though
they want to spread wealth.

The Socialists and those who invite to

economic equality reject free enterprise with
the argument that it doesn’t actualize justice
and that it is the cause for this abyssal gap
between the rich minority and poor majority,
and they think that the correct way to
demolish this gap is to take the wealth of the
rich and give it to the poor. Experience
however, has affirmed the futility of this
theory in the core socialist countries and the
nations that blindly imitate them and the
result in every situation has been:
Congesting the work of trade and loss of
work incentives and even more so a loss of
products in the market if the dream of the
majority owning the wealth of the minority
became a reality. This would cause poverty
to be nationalized.

The problem is poverty itself, not the

difference between rich and poor. The
opposite of this reality gives rise to other
problems no less evil: Spite, jealousy,
arguing, fighting and oppression.”

Despite that this opinion is based on human

thought, historical deduction and the results
of the current state of affairs, the writer has
drawn attention to the fact that from the
greatest of the ten commandments in the
 torah after the prohibition of worshipping
other than Allah is the prohibition of stealing
and transgression against personal
ownership and jealousy against others over
what they own and being desirous of it.

The Muslim is without need of employing

opinion for judgment no matter what it’s
source or description is, or to employing
judgment by texts that mix the revelation
with human thinking to the extent that fact
cannot be distinguished from theory while
having in front of him Allah’s book and the
Sunnah of His Messenger by which alone he
worships Allah, not being enlivened or
guided by other than it or accepting other
than it.
Allah mentioned regarding what He forbade
his servants from mankind from of
polytheism in worshipping Allah and ill
treatment of parents:

{َ‫َولَا َت ْقتُلُوا أَ ْولَادَكُمْ مِنْ ِإمْلَاقٍ نَحْنُ نَرْزُ ُقكُمْ َوإِيّا ُهمْ َولَا َتقْ َربُوا اْلفَوَا ِحش‬
ْ‫مَا َظ َهرَ ِمنْهَا َومَا بَطَنَ َولَا َت ْقتُلُوا الّن ْفسَ اّلتِي حَ ّرمَ ال ّلهُ إِلّا بِالْحَقّ ذَِلكُم‬
 ُ‫َوصّاكُمْ ِبهِ َلعَ ّلكُمْ َتعْقِلُونَ * َولَا َتقْ َربُوا مَالَ اْليَتِيمِ ِإلّا بِالّتِي ِهيَ َأحْسَن‬
ِ‫} َحتّى َيبْلُغَ أَشُدّهُ َوأَوْفُوا اْلكَيْلَ وَالْمِيزَانَ بِاْلقِسْط‬
“Say (O Muhammad): "Come, I will recite
what your Lord has prohibited you from: Join
not anything in worship with Him; be good
and dutiful to your parents; kill not your
children because of poverty - We provide
sustenance for you and for them; come not
near to Al-Fawâhish (shameful sins, illegal
sexual intercourse, etc.) whether committed
openly or secretly, and kill not anyone whom
Allâh has forbidden, except for a just cause
(according to Islâmic law). This He has
commanded you that you may understand.
152. And come not near to the orphan's
property, except to improve it, until he (or
she) attains the age of full strength; and give
full measure and full weight with justice.’

What came after these verses in Surah Al

An’aam was:
:{ِ‫سبُلَ َفَت َفرّقَ ِبكُمْ عَنْ َسبِي ِله‬
ّ ‫صرَاطِي ُمسَْتقِيمًا فَاّتِبعُوهُ وَلَا َتّتِبعُوا ال‬
ِ ‫}وَأَنّ هَذَا‬
"And verily, this is my Straight Path, so follow
it, and follow not (other) paths, for they will
separate you away from His Path. This He
has ordained for you that you may become
Al-Muttaqûn (the pious)."
The order was repeated in the same
sequence in Surah Al Israa’.
And Allah, the Most High, said:
{ْ‫وَلَا َتأْ ُكلُوا َأ ْموَالَ ُكمْ َب ْيَنكُمْ بِاْلبَا ِطلِ وَتُدْلُوا ِبهَا ِإلَى الْحُكّامِ ِلتَ ْأكُلُوا َفرِيقًا مِن‬
َ‫}َأ ْموَالِ النّاسِ بِالِْإثْمِ وَأَْنُتمْ َت ْع َلمُون‬

And eat up not one another's property

unjustly (in any illegal way e.g. stealing,
robbing, deceiving, etc.), nor give bribery to
the rulers (judges before presenting your
cases) that you may knowingly eat up a part
of the property of others sinfully. (Al-Baqarah
2:188)
Allah did not create his human servants
equal in outer appearance, behavior or in
their sustenance, bodies, intellects, religious
practice or worldly affairs. Making their be
equal- especially in sustenance- in an
attempt to escape the decreed way of Allah
with His creation is bound to end in disaster.
Allah the most high said:
{ ‫حيَاةِ الدّْنيَا َورَ َف ْعنَا‬
َ ْ‫شتَهُمْ فِي ال‬
َ ‫س ْمنَا َب ْيَنهُمْ َمعِي‬
َ ‫سمُونَ رَ ْح َمةَ رَبّكَ نَحْنُ َق‬
ِ ‫َأ ُهمْ َي ْق‬
‫خرِيّا َورَ ْح َمةُ رَبّكَ َخ ْيرٌ ِممّا‬
ْ ُ‫ضهُمْ َبعْضًا س‬
ُ ْ‫ضهُمْ َفوْقَ َبعْضٍ َدرَجَاتٍ ِلَيتّخِذَ َبع‬
َ ْ‫َبع‬
َ‫ج َمعُون‬
ْ َ‫}ي‬

Is it they who would portion out the

Mercy of your Lord? It is We Who
portion out between them their
livelihood in this world, and We raised
some of them above others in ranks, so
that some may employ others in their
work. But the Mercy (Paradise) of your
Lord (O Muhammad) is better than the
(wealth of this world) which they
amass. (Az-Zukhruf 43:32)
So a lot of wealth, an exuberant lifestyle and
the beauty of the world does not equate to
goodness, virtue and success according to
the religion or the intellect. Allah the most
high said:
{ ْ‫جعَ ْلنَا لِمَنْ َي ْكفُرُ بِال ّرحْمَنِ ِلُبيُوتِهِم‬
َ َ‫َولَ ْولَا أَنْ يَكُونَ النّاسُ ُأمّةً وَاحِدَةً ل‬
‫ضةٍ َو َمعَارِجَ عَ َل ْيهَا َيظْ َهرُونَ َوِلُبيُوتِهِمْ أَبْوَابًا َو ُسرُرًا عَ َل ْيهَا‬
ّ َ‫ُس ُقفًا مِنْ ف‬
‫}َيّتكِئُونَ وَ ُز ْخرُفًا‬.
And were it not that all mankind would have
become of one community (all disbelievers,
desiring worldly life only), We would have
provided for those who disbelieve in the Most
Beneficent (Allâh), silver roofs for their
houses, and elevators (and stair-ways, etc. of
silver) whereby they ascend,
34. And for their houses, doors (of silver),
and thrones (of silver) on which they could
recline, (Az-Zukhruf 43:33-34)
The cure of poverty will not come to fruition
by an imagined idea of spreading wealth and
there is no need of limiting ownership or
restricting by other than what Allah
legislated. It can only come into fruition by
the poor striving to earn permissible
sustenance and seeking true guidance and
blessing from Allah.
May prayers of peace and salutations be
upon Muhammad and his family.