In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Islamic Socialism

Author: Abdul Basir Sohaib Siddiqi

Translation by: Tahleel Team
Date of Publication: 27.11.2025

Afghanistan is the land of the freedom as well as a land of pain and suffering—a land whose orphans, deprived of their fathers, still shed warm tears on their pale faces; whose mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers carry sorrowful hearts for their slain loved ones and their disabled dear ones.

Despite all these pains and afflictions, they take pride in the fact that, in the arena of freedom and in the test of history, they have stood with dignity, their stature upright and their steps firm.

Yet, after every victory through which freedom was attained, plunderers lay in ambush. Through deception and treachery, they looted the hard-won freedom, laid the groundwork for corruption, bribery, embezzlement, betrayal, and treason, and in the chaotic marketplace of corruption and betrayal, they hanged freedom itself and plunged the freedom lovers into mourning.

At times, the spell of deviant interpretations of religion, like chains, bound freedom and slit its throat with the blade of cruelty, silencing the voice of freedom in this land of the freedom lovers, while celebrating joy over their mourning.

Even today, after many years have passed, countless pains and sufferings are still felt in our society. Concepts directly and indirectly linked to these pains have inflicted deep psychological and emotional wounds upon individuals, wounds whose continuous bleeding has gravely endangered the mental and emotional well-being of the people of this land.

Despite all these problems, pains, and sufferings—the plunder of traitors and the sorcery of deviant religious interpretations—the free rise against captivity to safeguard freedom. In their struggle against bondage and its manifestations, they give their blood to breathe new life into freedom. This is the blood-stained history of the land of the freedom lovers.

The uprising and struggle against the coup regime of 7 Sawr 1357 (April 1978), and the courageous continuation of resistance against the invasion of the Soviet Union, broke the chains of enslavement—chains directly linked to the coup regime, the Red Army invasion, and the terrifying realities associated with them, which had been wrapped around the limbs of the people of this land under the guise of decrees and laws so that plunderers could rule with ease. The heroic defense of freedom lovers in the test of history and in the bloody confrontation between the freedom lovers and enemies of freedom saw countless lives drenched in blood, yet the banner of freedom was raised high, and in the end, victory belonged to freedom and the freedom lovers.

Wars driven by vested interests once again targeted freedom with hostile arrows. The tangible reality of freedom was once more wrapped in blood-soaked shrouds alongside the corpses of those killed in interest-based wars and buried by the unclean hands of forces of enslavement. Yet freedom, as a mental and moral principle, always remained alive among the free. Once again, according to the struggles of freedom-seekers, it sought realization through the support of laws—until a period emerged in history that brought with it a twin: a semblance of freedom, a state that could be called false freedom. This false freedom never submitted to ethical and legal definitions and constraints, even though it outwardly acknowledged ethics and laws; in reality, it was lawless and ethically evasive.

The emergence of this semblance of freedom prevented the rise and rule of genuine, positive freedom. It appeared in every situation in countless deceptive forms.

It proclaimed freedom of expression, yet praised the deep pockets of bribe-takers. It glorified the shameful abundance of hoarding, embezzlement, and the illicit drug trade. In religious terms, it measured the sweetness of milk and honey, fruits and blessings in this world for the wealthy and populist, demagogic politicians, applauding and congratulating them—while directing ordinary people toward pleasures promised only in the hereafter.

Nevertheless, freedom of expression rooted in genuine positive freedom was visible at times in the conduct of the free, but negative factors prevented its continuity.

This semblance of freedom was a byproduct of artificial power that proclaimed democracy and pledged to protect human rights. Yet it was seen that during elections, openly and covertly, it facilitated fraud, and in the chaotic market of corruption, betrayal, and treachery, it auctioned off human rights values. The emergence of false freedom gave birth to countless new pains, and because the system was tied to electoral fraud, it lacked the stability required to serve the people. In this sense, our society in that period was also sick, weak, and suffering.

Widespread corruption, pervasive bribery, betrayal, and the dominance of false freedoms—intertwined with destructive civil wars based on coercive, deviant jurisprudence—were not unrelated. Thus, the artificial power ruling society, which relied on external powers and the international community for its survival, ultimately surrendered to coercion-based deviant jurisprudence, clothing illegitimate religious extremism with the mantle of governance. Once again, pains and sufferings arose in new and renewed forms.

This time, captivity and its associated phenomena presented a clear definition—a definition embodied in a codified, deviant jurisprudence rooted in extremism. This jurisprudence, in its pursuit of power, openly legitimized suicide attacks as a means to an end.

Such deviant jurisprudence, founded on distorted tastes and preferences, lacks internal coherence and is inherently contradictory, standing in direct opposition to the core teachings of Islam.

Within this deviant jurisprudence, freedom—understood as the possibility of diversity and plurality leading to legal and structural unity—is suppressed. An economy that guarantees public welfare has no place within it. Instead, the illicit drug trade flourishes, casting its dark shadow over agriculture, expanding narcotics cultivation, damaging public health, increasing addiction from individuals to families and society, and further crippling an already defective economy.

In short, Afghan society is a wounded and suffering society. The flames of wars rooted in extremism and the misinterpretation of Islamic teachings have inflicted deep wounds upon its body—wounds that bleed continuously, writing the story of the people’s pain and suffering on the pages of history. Reading this story wounds the human conscience and draws warm tears from the eyes of all who see with justice.

Under such chaotic conditions, Afghanistan moves toward an uncertain and dark future. Due to conflicting interpretations of Islam based on subjective opinion, the Afghan people may again experience destructive civil wars. The root of these miseries lies in the dominance of desires, greed, and vested interests within deviant religious jurisprudence—a jurisprudence that effectively organizes war.

Today, force—understood as the capacity of hostile organized groups—is regarded as the basis of legitimacy. Legal institutions are established without ethical authorization, rendering them inherently contradictory. Power, to be legitimate, must be bound by ethics, transforming capacity into authority and subjective morality into objective law—manifesting as legal frameworks that safeguard human freedom.

In our society, however, true power has not emerged to build a stable system. Instead, force without ethical legitimacy has imposed itself upon society, nullified justified pluralism, and claimed an artificial unity born of deviant jurisprudence.

Afghanistan is experiencing a deep moral and legal crisis, whose harmful effects have produced economic stagnation and widespread poverty. Addressing this crisis requires focusing on the moral condition of society.

Ethics, law, and politics are organically connected. Ethics manifests in individual and social life, shaping laws that regulate freedom grounded in moral obligation. Social order rests upon ethics, safeguarding human dignity and collective welfare.

Individual, society, state, and political institutions form a unified organism. Their harmony produces social solidarity, resolves political and economic crises, ensures security, and brings prosperity.

In Afghanistan, however, ethical, legal, and political relations are in conflict due to extremist deviant jurisprudence that suppresses ethical diversity and pluralism. As a result, national consensus remains distant, citizenship is undermined, and injustice prevails.

Justice and freedom—foundations of a healthy, pluralistic society—require clarification, particularly political freedom understood as democracy.

Justice (Gerechtigkeit, justice) is the full ethical realization of monotheistic belief, central to Islam. It manifests subjectively and objectively—in individuals, society, state, and institutions. Ethical values are timeless; laws are their historical realization.

In Afghan history, justice has been slaughtered by ambition, cruelty, and greed—openly and undeniably. Criminals still boast of their crimes while invoking false slogans of proletarian revolution or Islamic justice. Even under the artificial republican system, justice was commodified by NGOs and auctioned off.

Thus, justice remains an empty slogan, while organized crime persists under false justifications.

Islamic socialism has an inseparable relationship with democracy as the tangible expression of justice. Yet this concept has been misused by oppressive political actors—whether Marxist revolutionaries or dogmatic religious figures—who exploit democracy for power and self-interest.

Some also manipulate democracy for ethnic supremacy, exacerbating injustice and social imbalance.

A key dimension of restoring social health lies in economic justice—understood politically through federal democracy and economically through Islamic socialism, both rooted in Islamic teachings.

Islamic socialism is not a new concept. It was articulated centuries ago by Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (رحمه الله), later championed by Maulana Ubaidullah Sindhi, and affirmed by modern scholars such as Dr. Mustafa al-Siba‘i.

Islamic socialism stands in opposition to Platonic communism, Marxism, and “religious communism” that rejects Prophetic traditions. It is an ethical-legal economic system rooted in Islamic monotheism and historically precedes modern socialist schools.

Shah Waliullah’s theory of socio-economic development (al-Irtifaqat) outlines four stages of social-economic evolution, emphasizing justice, peace, and international relations. He viewed economic health as decisive in the rise and fall of states.

He identified causes of decline, including fiscal poverty, loss of state lands, feudalism, irregular payments, heavy taxation, and luxurious excess. These lead to moral decay, inequality, anarchy, and instability.

In Islamic socialism, true ownership belongs to Allah; private ownership is granted conditionally. Natural resources—water, fire (including energy), and pastures—are public property. Economic justice ensures collective welfare.

Labor is the primary source of wealth. Gambling and extravagance are prohibited. Workers, farmers, and intellectual contributors deserve priority. Fair wages, limited working hours, ethical trade, and equitable wealth distribution are mandatory.

Private and public ownership coexist in a mixed system governed by cooperation, free from usury, hoarding, and exploitation. The state ensures social welfare through zakat, inheritance laws, and support for orphans, widows, the poor, education, healthcare, employment, and disaster relief.

In essence, Islamic socialism preserves private property, guarantees social justice, and assigns the state a central role in ensuring collective welfare—rooted in the ethical and legal framework of Islam.

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