The Crisis of Modern Capitalism, Need for the Islamic Economic Framework and Responsibilities of our Ulema

 

Recently, public outrage boiled over in France following the tragic case of Maricarmen Abascal, an 87-year-old woman evicted from her home after an investment fund hiked her rent by a staggering 230%. She passed away in a hospital just a fortnight later. This heart-wrenching incident is not an isolated anomaly; it is a symptom of a systemic disease. People are increasingly fed-up with a capitalist system that prioritizes relentless financial extraction over human dignity. Yet, for many, the historical alternative of state-controlled socialism brings back apprehensive memories of the Soviet Union and the ultimate collapse of centralized command economies.

Caught between the crushing inequalities of unchecked global capitalism and the historical failures of state socialism, humanity stands at a crossroads. As Muslims, we hold the conviction that the ultimate solution lies in the economic framework ordained by Islam. However, presenting this alternative requires intellectual courage, deep scholarship, and a clear articulation of how Islamic principles dismantle the predatory structures of modern finance.

The Anatomy of Modern Exploitation: Rentier Capitalism and Techno-Feudalism

To understand why common citizens, feel strangled, one must examine the evolution of contemporary

capitalism. Traditional industrial capitalism, for all its flaws, at least centered around the production of goods and the employment of labor. Today, however, we have transitioned into a predatory phase defined by rentier capitalism and techno-feudalism.

In a rentier economy, wealth is generated not by creating value, but by capturing unearned income through ownership, monopoly control, and astronomical price hikes on basic human necessities like housing, land, and credit. Investment funds buy up residential properties, pricing out the elderly and the vulnerable, just as they did in the tragic case of Maricarmen Abascal.

Simultaneously, techno-feudalists—exemplified by modern digital monopolists like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk—reign over vast digital enclosures. They extract rents from every transaction, exploit labor under precarious gig-economy conditions, and centralize wealth on a scale that rivals feudal lords of the past. The common man works longer hours for diminishing purchasing power, trapped in a cycle of debt and inflation while corporate profits soar.

The Islamic Economic Alternative

Islamic teachings offer a robust, moral, and balanced alternative that avoids the extremes of unbridled capitalism and rigid socialism. The Quran and Hadith establish clear boundaries to protect human welfare and equity:

The Prohibition of Riba (Usury/Interest) is clear to every Muslim. Similarly, the requirement regarding circulation of wealth is explicitly stated in Quran in Surah Al-Hashr (59:7) that wealth should not merely circulate among the rich (Doolatam bayna al-aghibati minkum). Taxation systems, inheritance laws, and mandatory charity (Zakat) are designed to continuously redistribute capital back into the real economy, ensuring that wealth serves society rather than enslaving it.

The Condemnation of Monopoly and Exploitation (Ihtikar): Islamic jurisprudence strictly forbids hoarding, price manipulation, and exploitative trade practices. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) explicitly condemned those who artificially inflate prices or withhold essentials from the public market.

The Sanctity of Basic Needs: Islam recognizes housing, food, and basic security as fundamental human rights. The state and the community share a collective responsibility to ensure that no citizen is cast out onto the street for the sake of corporate profit.

The Responsibility of the Ulema

Given these clear foundational principles, a heavy burden rests upon the shoulders of the ulema (religious scholars). Unfortunately, a vast majority of the ulema, particularly in regions like Pakistan, have remained largely silent on the mechanics of global finance. Too often, religious discourse is confined strictly to ritualistic practices, ignoring the systemic economic injustices that crush the common man daily.

Recently, HSBC’s ‘sharia‑compliant’ fund reportedly spent over $100 million on 5 Israeli military‑linked firms. As of this writing (October 20, 2026) I have not come across a single statement from famous ulema regarding this incident.

The ulema must come out intellectually and challenge the global capitalist structure. It is not enough to simply lament moral decay while ignoring the structural roots of poverty and exploitation. Scholars must engage with modern economic realities—such as fiat monetary systems, digital monopolies, and speculative housing markets—and articulate how Islamic economic injunctions provide practical, viable solutions.

The ulema must reclaim this inheritance and apply it with intellectual seriousness. They must speak of rentier extraction as a form of riba in substance if not in name. They must address the techno-feudal monopolies as a modern form of the hoarding condemned in the Quran. They must articulate, in language accessible to the educated believer and the skeptical non-Muslim alike, why the Islamic system offers not a utopia but a morally coherent alternative to a dying order.

In conclusion the tragedy of Maricarmen Abascal and the rising discontent across the Western world signal the moral bankruptcy of a system built on greed and financial extraction. Humanity is desperately searching for justice, equity, and balance. It is the urgent duty of Islamic scholars and thinkers to decode the economic wisdom of the Quran and Sunnah, translating divine principles into a modern language of liberation. By confronting rentier capitalism and presenting the Islamic economic model with intellectual rigor, we can offer the world a genuine path away from exploitation and toward true human dignity.