THE ECONOMIC DILEMMA OF THE MUSLIM WORLD

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ASMA RASHID~T~~ Economic Dilemma of the Muslim World was able to survive at least in the first year of the Second World War in a closed economy, that is, autarky, on the basis of Dr Schacht's plan. The only Muslim country which can face internal and external imperatives within its frontiers is, doubtlessly, Indonesia. Nevertheless, it failed to implement the Schacht plan because, as we have shown, it was applied on non-objective bases, rhat is, on bases present in Germany but missing in Indonesia. We must go a step further in clarifying the logic of the issue. Each country, Muslim or non-Muslim, can solve some of its problems within its frontiers, for example, all that concerns justice, administration and law and order. Likewise, other problems can be solved within the framework of a regional organisation; Ibr examplc, in the case of Arab countries, those relating to production and niarkcting of pctrol if an agreement could be reached in this respect. Finally, thcre are problenls which can only be solved on a global level, like peace and postal coordination. etc. Thc drift of thc Europcan nations towards the idea of founding a European common market is merely the confirmation of a reality dictated by the evolution of economic relations in the world following the liquidation of colonisation. That is to say, after European countries like France, England and Holland lost colonics in Africa and Asia which complemented their economy. So these countries havc moved towards autarky to confront new internal and external imperatives. If we analyse the factors which prompted the European heads of states, like de Gaulle," to embrace the idea of a common market sacrificing for its sake certain values like national chauvinism, regarded as sacrosanct a century earlier, we would find that Europe found this inspiration first and foremost in its old heritage - when Charlemagne," a contemporary of Hariin al-Rashid," created on the basis of the unifying Christian creed what came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire. Hence, we see how the materialist, secular Europe is not afraid, for the sake of organising its economy anew, to return to its old era, to the realm of the sacred and the holy, in order to consolidate the universe of its material interests. Thus we find that the advanced countries are not afraid of taking a step backwards, at times, to correct an error or redress an extravagance. While we see that the leaders ilnd intellectuals in backward countries are afflicted with a sense of shame on hcaring a word about the need to put to right a negligence or an excess. As if they were thc people the Qur'w points our: ". . . They forbade not one another the inequity which they wrought!" (5:79). We find today many of our brerhren in Muslim-Arab countries dubbing reappraisal as reactionaryism, without realising that their progressiveness has grown old, decrepit and time-worn, since people have lost faith in it even in its very cradle in the Western countries. Whereas the Muslim-Arab countries are in greater need than any other to review their economy so that they do not follow models of 19th century Europe and discover their error a century later
Islamic Studies 3 5 : 3 ( 1 9 9 6 I 303 to return once again, after another century, to the European models of the 20th century. It is incumbent on the Arab countries in particular to review the organisation of their economic life according to the conditions that would ensure the realisation of autarky within their frontiers and on the basis of the conditions of social investment we have presented in the form of the two postulates. Their implementation within the frontiers of one country alone might encounter a degree of difficulty but would decrease in proportion to the expansion of the area of implementation. Supposing it lost certain of its states, America would not be able to realise the conditions of a complete economic circle. For, any change in the physical-demographic map decidedly changes the conditions of the two postulates: (I) each mouth eats, and (2) each hand works. If the change, (according to our supposition with regard to America), is for worse, it would be far better if we reversed its application, - e.g., with reference to the Arab world if it united and in proportion to what this area unified, that is, in proportion to its collective capabilities and needs. However such an issue cannot be decided off-hand but through a study of the map. To take an example: Libya has a large expanse of empty lavel, Egypt has human surplus, while Kuwait possesses a surplus of idle capital. If these three factors were united in an experimental project, the entire Arab world would perceivc that the conditions of take-off and self-sufficiency lie in its own hands whenever it wished to bring about an economic revival. It could do so by universalising the tripartite experiment indicated above till it becomes an Arab bloc in the foundation of the new Muslim civilisation. The Arab world enjoys neglected economic capabilities, such as those lands where the first human civilisation emerged on the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Here too tlourished the first Islamic civilisation since the caliphate of 'Umar, thanks to the resources provided by a soil fed with thousands of years' alluvial deposits. This al-Sawiid14 which has once again turned into.swamps. breeding fever where once nourishing food grew.'= The Muslim world has the power to restore to the soil its function even from today and with the means presently in hand. It would not face any problem on the technical side either, if it decided to bring back the Arab brains which have migrated for various reasons. Among them are cultural reasons related to a lack of justifications to ensure that resolve is strengthened and ambitions raised to the level of the responsibilities entrusted to scientists and intellectuals within the framework of a comprehensive plan. According to this plan, Arab hands, brains and capital will unite on the Arab soil or on the largest possible portion thereof, corresponding to the conditions of econonlic autarky. Thus the people and in particular the leaders would finally perceive that the countries which cannot face the global economic conditions all alone can withstand them and make progress if their brains, hands and capital support each other in a workshop of common action, for the sake of an independent economy which would not bow to foreign pressure.
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THE ECONOMIC DILEMMA OF THE MUSLIM WORLD

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