Ibn Al Qayim Al-Jawzeeia (Shams ud Din Ibn Abdullah) 691-751 Hijri, 1293-1350 A.D. |
Ibn Al Qayim was a student of Ibn
Taimia.
He defined the competitive market as the one in which a seller or a buyer
cannot be harmed in a transaction. None of them is capable of determining
the price himself. He distinguished between two types of
prices-"natural price" and "made price". The natural
price prevails under competitive conditions. In the made price there are
elements of monopoly.
In a natural price, there is competition. He wrote a book called "Al-Turq Al Hakamia". He followed Ibn Taimia in his discussion, but at the same time he also said that if the market is competitive and natural price is prevailing than pricing is wrong. If prices are made by merchants in the market (monopoly power) than pricing will be necessary. But this is a short-term policy and not a structural policy. Ibn Al-Qayim applied the same argument to the labour market. If there is a natural wage prevailing than it is fair. But if the employer is determining the wages than there is an element of imperfection. Al-Hisba was first introduced in the Islamic society. It later went into Europe. Hisba was meant to control the scales in the market, and to supervise the quality of goods. Ibn Al Qayim said that Hisba should be extended to trade in money. For example, Hisba could be used to prevent transactions involving Riba in trading. For example, A common form of transaction in which something is bought from a person and then sold to him again at a lower price (a form of Riba/interest). He also talked about counterfeiting of money. At that time there was counterfeiting of money by the rulers and some people. Gold and silver coins were melted and mixed with cheap metals. In this way money in the form coins was being increased and at the same time pure gold and silver was being mixed with other metals. Ibn Al-Qayim thought that this was a great disaster and sin. A century later, there was hyper inflation. Therefore Ibn Al-Qayim had reached the conclusion that bad money replaces good money (Gresham's Law). Besides discussing the state intervention in protecting the rights of people and Zakah, Ibn Al Qayim also discussed about "fair price". It is interesting to note how Ibn Al-Qayim at that time discussed wage of the equivalent. Ibn Al-Qayim believed that land rental is less fair than "Muzara'a". "Muzara'a" is when someone does not cultivate but asks someone else to do so. The owner of the land later has a share in the final output. Thus the share is distributed according to the produce. This is fairer than land rent which is in advance. An important duty of the ruler is to ensure subsistence level for everyone. According to Ibn Taimia, this is the duty of the whole society, but the final responsibility rests on the rulers. Ensuring the subsistence level is also very important because if somebody dies of hunger, on the day of Qiyamah, the whole society will be responsible. The state also has to look after the welfare of the general public. The ruler has to take care of defence and for this reason it has to divert resources towards achieving the aim of protrecting the people. With respect to pollution, Ibn Taimia, said that the industrial activity should be outside the city. For example, iron work needs fire which results in pollution. Some believe that he had socialist ideas. Islam presents us with the best ideas. In reality he advised people to do good. He was a man who talked about social welfare. Besides being a revolutionary Faqih (Jurist) he was a great scholar. For his teachings he was imprisoned many times. He used to say that "my prison is a private privacy. Being exiled would be tourism for me and killing would be martyrdom." |