If you ask a typical Pakistani about the geographic distribution of global wealth, the most probable answer you will get is that the West is the wealthiest part of the world. Similarly, if you ask him in which part of the world, maximum individual freedoms are guaranteed, you are almost sure to receive the same answer. Do access to large riches and substantial individual and social freedoms make a nation developed? Not really.

Considering economic development as synonymous with the West is one of the most fundamental myths about economic development. Mad pursuit of wealth is considered as a symptom of moral decay across nearly all civilizations, cultures, and religions of the world. The Bible states that the “love of money is the root of all evil” and that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” Lao Tzu said, “Do not race after riches … or you will let slip the Heaven within you.” Similarly, Islamic teachings condemn greed, selfishness, and hoarding of money and praise generosity and spending for the sake of Allah.

In nearly all societies, people are praised and honored for character, spirituality, wisdom, heroism, literary, artistic, and many other accomplishments, but not for the acquisition of wealth by loot and plunder. However, in modern society, wealth trumps all other accomplishments. There are no moral bars to the most powerful country in the world, making a naked unprovoked attack on a weaker country, killing one million civilians, and destroying the lives of forty million to secure oil supplies and making profits for the military-industrial complex.

It is only recently that many spectacular failures have led to a questioning of these assumptions. Stiglitz, Sen, and Fitoussi (2009) believe that GNP measures production but not destruction or depletion, such as using up exhaustible resources, damaging the environment beyond repair, and destroying species of plants and animals. Many intangible social costs are ignored. Worse, if environmental hazards lead to sickness, expenses on medical care add to the GNP. Other intangible assets such as stability of families, high moral standards are very important to human welfare, but not accounted for in GNP.

Like material wealth, freedom is highly prized in the West. The French Revolution pro­voked Hegel to believe that “the History of the World is none other than the progress of the consciousness of Freedom.”  There is no doubt that certain types of freedom are extremely valuable. However, freedom is a plastic word and can be reshaped to have many different meanings. Should the poor be free to sell their organs to the rich? Pedophiles are currently demanding the freedom to practice their perversion. This is not what Hegel or other principled advocates of freedom, had in mind.

The use of freedom as a defense of capitalism is one of the most egregious abuses of the word. On the surface, laissez-faire, or let everyone do as they please, appears to be a most egalitarian philosophy. All are to be given freedom. The laborers are free to sell their labor for the market wage, and the capitalists are free to earn suitable returns on their wealth. The grossly inequitable nature of this freedom is not immediately apparent. Millions were given the freedom to starve in Irish and Bengal famines to preserve the freedom of the markets. Grains guarded by the military against hungry mobs were shipped out of Bengal at the height of the famine because higher prices were available elsewhere.

Economic freedom is ideal if the playing field is level, but when a few are enormously advantaged, then “freedom” is equivalent to freedom of the rich to enslave the poor. The poor have no choices, and cannot take any advantage of their supposed freedom.

The truth is that both wealth and freedom could be double-edged swords. As Aristotle noted: “wealth is not the good we are seeking, and is merely useful for the sake of something else.” This knowledge was lost in the West. In a secular society, goals of life were left to be determined by individuals, since common social goals could not be agreed upon. In the absence of common goals, the social agreement was only possible by providing freedom and wealth as the means to all possible goals.  Gradually, failure to prescribe realistic and meaningful life goals at the social level led to these instruments and means becoming prized and valuable goals.  This has led to a social disaster. This apparent paradox is expressed in the Quran as follows:

They who hoard up gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah, unto them give tidings (O Muhammad) of a painful doom (Quran 9:34).

This is in direct contrast with the wisdom of Keynes, currently being pursued with vigor all over the world:

The love of money as a possession (… is …) somewhat disgusting morbidity … But beware! The time for all this is not yet. For at least another hundred years, we must pretend to ourselves and to everyone that fair is foul and foul is fair; for foul is useful and fair is not” (Keynes, 1930 cited in Skidelsky, 2001).

Exactly as wealth has a dual nature, so freedom has a dual nature. If used wisely in the pursuit of good ends, it is extremely valuable. If used unwisely to pursue bad goals, it can cause tremendous damage to all. The Quran contains a clear message:

Verily, We did offer the trust [of reason and volition] to the heavens, and the earth, and the mountains:  but they refused to bear it because they were afraid of it. Yet man took it up –  verily, he has proven to be most wicked, most foolish (Quran 33:72).

Freedom places a tremendous responsibility on our shoulders – the heavens and the earth shrank from bearing it. This is our responsibility to be wise (have knowledge of the good), and to be virtuous (to act on this knowledge).  In general, human beings have failed on both counts. They have been foolish, in failing to learn what is the best course of action, and they have been wicked, in failing to act on the knowledge of the good, even when they had it.  Thus, instead of being a blessing, freedom has been the bane of humanity. Those with wealth and power have abused their freedom by using these to exploit the poor and powerless:

Corruption has appeared on land and in the sea as an outcome of what men’s hands have wrought (Quran 30:41).

It is certainly possible to use our freedom for the benefit of humanity, but this requires wisdom and virtue.

Development: Myths and Truths describes 12 myths about development.  Materialism Versus Idealism –  covers the first 3 myths: Central Myths of Eurocentric History: Covers myths 4,5,6 regarding the Rise of the West. The seventh myth is covered in Myth 7: Racial Superiority of Whites.  Myth 8 states that governance systems in Europe in infinitely superior to those of the East – this is discussed in The Myth of Oriental Despotism. Myth 9, “blaming the victims” highlights well-orchestrated propaganda of the imperial powers to blame the masses in the colonies for their underdevelopment.

Zaman, Asad (2013) “Is Development Accumulation of Wealth? Islamic Views,” Afro Eurasian Studies, Vol. 2, Issues 1&2, Spring & Fall 2013, 144-203.

This blog is based on Dr. Asad Zaman’s work “Is Development Accumulation of Wealth? Islamic Views” published in “Afro Eurasian Studies” in 2013.  This work challenges the existing development paradigm and highlights the superiority of the Islamic concept of development in which the moral and spiritual development takes the center stage.

It is widely believed that development is synonymous with the accumulation of wealth. The Islamic concept of development is antithetical to the prevailing concept of development. Islam focuses on the spiritual and moral development with a view to creating a society with distinctive institutions and ideology. Islam seeks to actualize this worldview through the inner revolution. Western concept of development is more mundane. Western development trajectory is inextricably linked with their colonization of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The colonization agenda was fulfilled at the cost of uncountable human lives, the destruction of major civilizations, loot and plunder of the resources of the local people. A range of myths was meticulously made up to justify Western colonization. Myth 9 relates to blaming the victim.

MYTH 9. BLAMING THE VICTIM.

Suppose a person hits another person’s skull with a hammer and crushes it. A team of renowned doctors does the post-mortem and concludes that there was some serious manufacturing issue because of which the deceased could not withstand the hammer blow and his skull cracked. Ridiculous as this story may look like, the fact is that even more ridiculous myths of this nature have been made up and perpetuated to justify the colonization by the Western powers.

In his book “The Wealth and Poverty of Nations,” Professor David S. Landes (1999) contrasts the characteristics of successfully industrialized nations–work, thrift, honesty, patience, and tenacity–with those of nonindustrial countries. Thus the failure of the East to develop is attributed to the fact that the people in the East are lazy, dishonest, extravagant spendthrifts, and lack the strength of character to persevere in face of difficulties. The matter of the fact is that the successfully industrialized nations have created such conditions (political and economic instability and wars, to name a few)  in large parts of the world which have systematically blocked the process of industrialization in these regions. When the culture of violence necessary for global domination led an unstable youngster, Adam Lanza, to murder 20 children in a USA school in cold blood, the nation mourned. No compassion or sympathy was expressed in the press for the death of over a million civilians, and damage to the life, limb, and property of over 40 million people in Iraq.

Hernando de Soto (2003) propounds the influential thesis that secure property rights in the west led to the development, and lack of them in the East led to its failure to develop. The fact is that property rights were largely secure in India before the onslaught of colonization. Secure and accurate systems for demarcating and settling property rights had functioned for centuries in India. In a land grab typical of imperialists everywhere, “Resumption” officers demanded documents of ownership, and declared them invalid at the slightest pretext, seizing all undocumented property for the British. This led to closure of schools, hospitals, and indigenous social welfare organizations funded by trusts, throughout India.

Different authors have attributed our current poverty to our lack of creativity, inability to think rationally, authoritarian traditions, which led to our failure to have an industrial revolution. Kennedy (1989) provides evidence for the strong industrial manufacturing sectors of India on the eve of colonization. In textiles, shipbuilding, steel industry, and glass blowing, among others, India was second to none. The Indian manufacturing sector was creative and efficient, and many technologies flowed from India to England. However, the adoption of power looms in India posed a threat to British textiles and was banned. When muslin weavers shifted to hand production, their thumbs were cut off to prevent the production of competitive muslins.

In a confidential note, William Bentinck, Viceroy of India stated that “the bones of the cotton weavers are bleaching the plains of India. The misery hardly finds a parallel in the history of commerce” (see Ghosh & Ghosh, 2011, p 26). It was not that we failed to industrialize – rather, we were de-industrialized in the process of colonization.

Slavery remained a thorny issue for a very long time in the United States, which led to a bloody Civil War between the white-dominated United States of America and black dominated the Confederate States of America from 1861 to 1865. Negroes were not taught how to read and write since they were not considered capable of learning these skills. At the same time, their general inability to read and write was cited as proof of their poor learning skills and as a justification for their continued enslavement.

TRUTH 9: OPPOSITE SIDES OF THE SAME COIN

More baffling than what is being said about the cause of the development is what is NOT being said. In early twentieth century, European powers had direct or indirect economic control of about 90% of global resources, which they ruthlessly exploited to the hilt, not being constrained by moral considerations. The imperialists became rich, and the colonies became poor in the process. Is this such a mystery? None of the authors listed above mentioned this as a possible explanation of why rich countries are rich and why the poor countries are poor.  This is such a simple explanation that it is a mystery why no one refers to it, and the solitary text which provides detailed documentation validating this thesis has been out of print for decades. We quote from Stavrianos (1981):

The “backwardness” of colonial peoples was taken for granted. The “natives” were viewed as inherently different from and inferior to, their European rulers. … Colonial rule generally was considered to be not the cause, but the only feasible solution for the prevailing backwardness.

…it is beginning to be realized that the underdevelopment of the Third World and the development of the First World are not isolated and discrete phenomena. Rather they are organically and functionally interrelated.

LESSON 9: POWER AND KNOWLEDGE

The truth is very damaging to the colonizing powers, who are still very much in control of the world. This truth has been ignored or suppressed, and myths have been developed to distract attention. It is thus that structures of knowledge support existing structures of power. Dangerous knowledge, of the type being discussed here, is a threat to the status quo.

POSTSCRIPT:

Development: Myths and Truths describes 12 myths about development.  Materialism Versus Idealism –  covers the first 3 myths: Central Myths of Eurocentric History: Covers myths 4,5,6 regarding the Rise of the West. The seventh myth is covered in Myth 7: Racial Superiority of Whites.  Myth 8 states that governance systems in Europe in infinitely superior to those of the East – this is discussed in The Myth of Oriental Despotism.

Zaman, Asad (2013) “Is Development Accumulation of Wealth? Islamic Views,” Afro Eurasian Studies, Vol. 2, Issues 1&2, Spring & Fall 2013, 144-203.