Capitalism has been dominant in the
world to date, but is it sustainable in
its present form?
Tariq Mustafa
Retired Federal Secretary
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Under Shah Jehan, most prosperous region
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Under Aurangzeb, Mughals were at their
peak in territorial extent
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New York and Moscow were dots on the map
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London, Paris and Berlin were coming up
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Agra, Delhi and Lahore were thriving cities
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A message from the British Army Headquarter in
Madras flashes out to London saying:
Tippu has fallen, India is ours.
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Maharattas, Sikhs, Hyderabad, Kingdom of
Oudh were still in power, but the British knew
what they were talking about and India did
become theirs
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What happened around that time?
Europe was on the march
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Voyages of discovery, conquest of the seas
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Rise of spirit of enquiry, technology and science
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Rise of the mercantilist class and trading
companies
Hanseatic League, Dutch East Indies Co., East
India Co. of UK were flourishing
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Feudalism of sleepy Northern Europe had been
replaced by dynamic Capitalism
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A recent Indian film “Mangal Pande” shows the
hero asking his friendly English officer:
Sahib, can you explain to me just what is this “Company”?
(Sahib ye to batao ye company hai kya cheez?)
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It means that Indians were so blissfully ignorant
that having been thrashed by a trading firm such
as East India Company, they did not know what
the Company bahadur stood for and how it
worked.
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Capitalism around the world is at its peak
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Britannia rules the world
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The sun truly and literally does not set over
one or another part of the British Empire
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In barely a century or so, one of the richest,
most prosperous regions of the world that
was Mughal India, had been reduced to one
of the poorest regions of the world, via the
clutches of Capitalist Colonialism, because
capitalism dictated that the colonies should
only become the suppliers of raw materials
and consumers of finished products
manufactured in the home countries.
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Seeing the exploitation of labor in dungeon factories,
Karl Marx writes around 1850 his now famous Das
Kapital ,stating that:
It is economic factors which dictate political
developments.
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Class struggle lies at the bottom of every thing
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Religion is the opiate of the people.
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Their stirring slogan was:
Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to loose
but your chains.
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Two World wars are fought within the body of
Western Capitalism
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One side calling itself liberal and democratic
(the Allies) and the other was dubbed
authoritarian and fascist (Axis of Germany
and Italy)
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Soviet union under Stalin joins the Allies,
being the enemy of their enemy
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Fascism has fallen
 Hitler and Mussolini are dead, but authoritarianism
under Stalin in Russia and Mao in China are still
thriving
 The World becomes part of a modern 30 yrs “Cold
War” between the two blocks, kept cold only
because of the presence of the Mutually Assured
Destruction (MAD) factor
 The 1960 and 70’s see Stalinist Communism at its
peak with Khrushchev boasting that we shall bury
you and Capitalism
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Sees the unexpected sudden demise of Stalinist
Communism and the unraveling of the Soviet Empire
without a shot having been fired
 All political observers, analysts and Western pundits
are taken by total surprise
 Interestingly however, as early as 1960’s, an Islamic
journal Tolu-e-Islam published from Lahore, makes a
startling prediction:
In its article on Communism, it clearly identifies a basic
flaw in the very foundations of Communism and
predicts that the imposing structure of Communism
will never see completion because it was being
constructed on flawed sandy foundations that will
soon crumble
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Almost equally surprising was the meteoric
rise of China as the manufacturing hub of the
world, after practically abandoning
Communism
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In fact, if not in name, under the influence of
Deng Shiao Ping, it was called CapitalismChinese or Asian style
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So it seemed that by the end of the 20th century, it was
communism which got buried and capitalism fully prevailed
with nothing to oppose its further development via
globalization, World Trade Organization (WTO),
international financial institutions, etc.
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Francis Fukuyama, the US Political Analyst, put it this way:
"What we may be witnessing is not just the end of the Cold War, or
the passing of a particular period of post-war history, but the end of
history as such: that is, the end point of mankind's ideological
evolution and the universalization of Western liberal democracy as
the final form of human government.”
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But wait… what are these voices coming out of
the camp of Capitalism itself, warning of:
The non-sustainability of liberal, democratic,
capitalism in its current form because of
inherent contradictions between liberalism and
democracy on one hand, and unfettered
capitalism on the other
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Let us listen to what some acknowledged big
names of the West, philosophers and opinion
makers-- are saying on the subject:
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The very title of Spenglers monumental
“Decline of the West” published in 1926
underlines the thesis of my talk
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The 10 volume magnum opus by Toynbee, A
Study of History written around 1950’s at the
peak of Western dominance also highlights its
decline
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Zbignew Berzhinsky, who once predicted the downfall
of USSR, predicts the downfall of US in the near
future too
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He says that the US is passing through a similar path of
events once encountered by the USSR and surely US
would disintegrate soon
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Despite the prevalent belief that the market economy and
democracy combine to form a perpetual motion machine that
propels human progress, these two values on their own are in fact
incapable of sustaining any civilization. Both are riddled with
weaknesses and are increasingly likely to breakdown. Unless the
West, and increasingly its self appointed leader, the United States,
begins to recognize the short comings of the market economy and
democracy, western civilization will gradually disintegrate and
eventually self destruct.
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Attali further goes on to say:
The fact that the West may disagree with some aspects of Islam as
applied in some countries - the status of women, for example - does
not mean that there is nothing to learn from Islamic societies.
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“I now fear that laissez faire capitalism is endangering our
open and democratic society.”
“In social sciences, as distinct from natural sciences,
perceptions help to determine reality and facts do not
necessarily constitute reliable criteria for judging the truth of
statements.”
“I contend that open society may be threatened from
excessive individualism.”
“Market values served to undermine traditional values.”
“Unsure of what they stand for, people increasingly rely on
money as the criterion of value.”
“The cult of success has replaced a belief in principles.
Society has lost its anchor.”
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“Laissez-faire ideology has effectively banished income or wealth
redistribution - the inequities can become intolerable.”
“Social Darwinism - survival of the fittest - is one of the
misconceptions in human affairs. Cooperation is as much a part
of the system as competition.”
“With the end of the cold war - which was an extremely stable
arrangement - no new world order has taken its place. We have
entered a period of disorder.”
“As things stand, the global open society that prevails at present
is likely to prove a temporary phenomenon.”
“Laissez faire capitalism would lead to great instability and
eventual breakdown.”
“We now have 200 years of experience with the Age of Reason
and as reasonable people we ought to recognize that Reason has
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its limitations.”
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And now the Slovenian political Philosopher,
Slovaj Zizek, talking of the need to go back to
communism but of a variety different from
that practiced in the 20th century by Stalinists
and other authoritarians
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Problem lies within the frame of Capitalism,
and not any particular brand of it.
As Marx said any Capitalist mode of
Production is based on an exploitative
relationship.
Capitalism, Imperialism and exploitation are
linked in the very nature of things.
Capitalism promotes speculation and renter
profits which makes bubbles inevitable.
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Bottoms-up knowledge acquired by mankind using
its physical abilities and mental reasoning via science
and technology has been dazzlingly successful, but it
would be an error to treat it as all powerful.
 Top-down Knowledge emanates from the Creator of
the Universe VIA REVELATION, and tells us what we
cannot know and measure, answering the big
questions: Why are we here? What lies beyond death?
Matters which are beyond reach of the former.
There is no conflict amongst the two and we need to
make proper and full use of both resources.
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1. Ingrained biases and prejudices of Christian
Europe developed over past 1400 years
against Islam and its Prophet and Qur’an.
2. Despicable behavior displayed by today’s
nominal Muslims which has brought
unjustified disrepute to the Qur’an.
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Human thought (philosophy) is a very powerful tool, but it
needs to be recognized that unaided it will keep moving in
circles
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It is indeed a strength of the Western Civilization that
they are open enough to pick up signs of weakness in their
apparently dominant days, as was artfully done by the
Historian Prof. Arnold Toynbee in his Study of History
pointing out the decline of the West nearly 50 years ago
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Surely it is time that they see the writing on the wall and
accept, in fact welcome, the option that has been there all
along
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Mankind is in dire need of an “Instructions
Manual” from the “Designer of the
System” containing guidance from the
Conceiver, Maker, Sustainer and Creator of
the Universe – available only through
authentic and genuine revelation that
challenges man made religions, which indeed
are, as correctly pointed out by Marx, nothing
but an opiate for the people.
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We can now better see what the philosopher
poet Allama Iqbal meant when he said:
ISLAM = COMMUNISM+ GOD
Could this be what Slovaj Zizek is groping for?
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A book of guidance in which there is no doubt
Tells man what he knows not. A guidance for all times and all peoples
Comes straight from the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe - His literal word
Challenges jinn and men to produce even a part like it -they will not be able to
do so
Relation of wahhy with reason. Wahhy is like light while reason is the eye-- one
needs both to be able to see
Discerning men cried for help (Sura Fatiha). Qur’an is Creator’s response as the
culmination of guidance through a long line of Prophets
The Qur’an is free from discrepancy. It is divine - consistent
The Creator Himself is the guardian of this Book
While providing abundant evidence of Creator’s existence it still leaves man
with the final choice - in order not to take away man’s freedom
It says look especially in these three areas for evidence of Creator:
a) Orderliness in the Universe
b) History of people of old
c) Look within yourselves - study of human nature
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Control of war—when weapons of mass destruction exist
 Control of environmental pollution and destruction
 Alienation from society—loneliness in New York (salaat)
 Excesses of free sex, alcoholism, drugs, AIDS, etc.
 Preservation of the family unit
 Exploitation of the weak, women, poor and downtrodden
 Racism, meaning of chosen peoples
 Economic disparities, steep differentials
 Capitalism vs. Communism. Islam offers the middle way
 Private property, YES but as trustee and not as unbridled
ownership
 Need for rule of law
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The origins of capitalism and free markets can be traced back to the
Islamic Golden Age where the first market economy and earliest forms of
merchant capitalism took root between the 8th–12th centuries, which
some refer to as "Islamic capitalism”.
Innovative new business techniques and forms of business organization
were introduced by economists, merchants, and traders during this time.
Such innovations included the earliest trading companies, big
businesses, contracts, bills of exchange, long-distance international
trade, the first forms of partnerships such as limited partnerships
(mudaraba), and the earliest forms of credit, debt, profit, loss, capital,
capital accumulation, circulating capital, capital expenditure, revenue,
cheques, promissory notes, trusts, startup companies, savings accounts,
transactional accounts, pawning, loaning, exchange rates, bankers,
money changers, ledgers, deposits, assignments, the double-entry
bookkeeping system, and lawsuits.
Many of these early capitalist concepts were adopted and further
advanced in medieval Europe from the 13th century onwards.
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Supremacy of law, Magna Carta - Human Rights
Conduct of affairs through consultation – Democracy
Ability of effective teamwork
Market economy and human resource development
Widespread education/training
Efficient management of their resources
Dignity of labor
Development of intellect, science and technology
Military strength, desire for exploration and enquiry
Establishment of a welfare system
Increasing respect for the environment
Ability and flexibility to analyze experiences and learn from them
Rule of Law
Discipline
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Liberty, egality, fraternity
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Excessive reliance on human intellect (treat it as all
powerful) - even deny Creator
Break down of the family system
Materialism, licentiousness, hedonism
Drugs, alcoholism and preoccupation with sex and
lately devious sex
Alienation leading to wanton violence against society
and self (suicide)
Denial of equal rights to others - Indians, Aborigines,
and Blacks
Weak belief/disbelief in the Creator and the Hereafter
Advocacy of unbridled capitalism - riba (usury)
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We are entering the age of deception
Could it be the “Dajjal” phenomenon?
To be followed by the Mehdi Phenomenon!
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