بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
What is the World’s Problem Today?
(Translated)
Al-Rayah Newspaper - Issue 587 - 18/02/2026
By: Ustadh Muhammad Abdul Malik – Wilayah Yemen
Allah (swt) created humankind and guaranteed their sustenance and provisions from the time of Adam, peace be upon him, until the Day of Judgment. He (swt) said,
[قُلْ أَئِنَّكُمْ لَتَكْفُرُونَ بِالَّذِي خَلَقَ الْأَرْضَ فِي يَوْمَيْنِ وَتَجْعَلُونَ لَهُ أَندَاداً ذَلِكَ رَبُّ الْعَالَمِينَ * وَجَعَلَ فِيهَا رَوَاسِيَ مِن فَوْقِهَا وَبَارَكَ فِيهَا وَقَدَّرَ فِيهَا أَقْوَاتَهَا فِي أَرْبَعَةِ أَيَّامٍ سَوَاء لِّلسَّائِلِينَ]
“Say, “Do you indeed disbelieve in He who created the earth in two days and attribute to Him equals? That is the Lord of the worlds. * And He placed on the earth firmly set mountains over its surface, and He blessed it and determined therein its creatures sustenance in four days without distinction - for the information of] those who ask.” [TMQ Surah Al-Fussilat: 9-10]. He (swt) deposited for them bounties and riches in the earth’s interior and surface, and in the seas and oceans, and made them subservient to them. He (swt), the Glorified, said,
[أَلَمْ تَرَوْا أَنَّ اللَّهَ سَخَّرَ لَكُم مَّا فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَمَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَأَسْبَغَ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعَمَهُ ظَاهِرَةً وَبَاطِنَةً]
“Do you not see that Allah has made subject to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth and amply bestowed upon you His favors, both apparent and unapparent?” [TMQ Surah Luqman: 20]. Allah (swt) guided humankind to access and extract these resources from the earth’s depths through means and methods Allah (swt) inspired and enabled them to use. This would not have been possible without Allah’s help and guidance.
It is from Allah (swt) justice, mercy, and care for His (swt) servants that He (swt) revealed to them a Book brought by a Messenger (saw) that He (swt) chose from among them, a confirmed evidence against them, explaining and clarifying their Lord’s Book, which is replete with a unique Islamic economic system that guarantees the distribution of the wealth, and blessings, that Allah (swt) has bestowed upon His servants. This system ensures that every individual, in the east and west of the earth, receives his bounty, no one goes hungry, no one is left without its benefits, and no one is destitute without receiving their share in wealth. He (swt) is the One who created all of creation and their sustenance, and He is the One Who revealed what He distributes among them. Allah (swt) says in His clear Book,
[أَلَا يَعْلَمُ مَنْ خَلَقَ وَهُوَ اللَّطِيفُ الْخَبِيرُ]
“Does He who created not know, while He is the Subtle, the Aware?” [TMQ Surah Al-Mulk: 14].
The problem of humanity, or the world today, is not a lack of wealth, for it is abundant. Instead, the problem lies with those who have deviated from the path that Allah (swt) mandated, and the system He revealed to them, following their desires without knowledge. They have gone astray and led others astray by establishing a man-made system devised by their limited minds, minds that have strayed from the light of Revelation. They have followed their whims and succumbed to their instincts, resulting in this capitalist system that separated Deen from life the source of all evil on earth. The world has been scorched by the flames of its ideas, and even animals and birds have been affected by its corruption and depravity. People have suffered greatly, especially Muslims, who lost their source of strength when the Ottoman Caliphate Uthmani Khilafah, which protected and unified them, fell. They followed the Jews and Christians step by step, inch by inch, exchanging what they had of good for something inferior. They replaced Allah’s (swt) Shariah and the system of Islam with a capitalist democracy under whose rule poverty, hunger, injustice, migration, corruption, infighting, and colonialism have spread, destroying crops and livestock and bringing only misery, wretchedness, wars, and ruin. The destruction, especially in Muslim countries, stems from several reasons, including:
1. The dollar, a product of the Bretton Woods Agreement after World War II, enabled America to establish its monetary and economic dominance over the world. The dollar was initially pegged to gold, where one ounce of gold was equivalent to $35, and then other currencies were pegged to it. This led countries to hold dollars in their banks as a reserve until 1971, when Nixon announced the dollar's decoupling from gold. This was the biggest deception the world has ever experienced, and since then, America has been plundering the world with the dollar, continuously eroding people’s money, within their own vaults and pockets.
2. International financial institutions, foremost among them the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank, have tied the global economy, particularly that of Muslim countries, to the economies of major powers through loans on interest (riba). These loans plunge countries into a cycle of debt, making them vulnerable to their adversaries. The institutions impose conditions on these loans, gaining open access to borrowing countries, understanding their resources, and imposing financial reforms under the guise of economic reform. In reality, these reforms are tools for economic destruction and countrywide ruin. They involve currency devaluation, increased taxes, free trade, and the removal of subsidies on goods and services, leading to complete dependence on major powers. This results in economic stagnation, inflation, deteriorating living conditions, increased poverty and inflation, greater hardship for the people, increased state revenue, and reduced public services.
3. The abolition of public property and the confinement of ownership to individual and state ownership, while at the same time the capitalist ideology unleashes the freedom of ownership, which has allowed capitalists to seize public resources, energy and minerals, and properties, thus increasing the wealth of the rich and concentrating money in their hands, while the rest of the people grow poorer. Furthermore, public property represents the core of the fierce struggle between major colonialist powers seeking to plunder resources, especially in Muslim countries, under various pretexts such as economic partnership or economic cooperation, among others. As for the people, they remain powerless, receiving only what they can earn through their own labor and sweat.
This is the quagmire of capitalism under whose yoke this world, and especially Muslim countries, languishes, and under whose shadow life has become a living hell.
Therefore, Muslims must strive to eradicate this system and replace it with the Islamic system, which came as a mercy to all mankind. This system solves all economic problems and eliminates all difficulties by distributing wealth according to Islamic Shariah Law, ensuring its benefits reach every individual and preventing its concentration in the hands of a few who control people's destinies. It restores public ownership to its rightful place, as the Prophet Muhammad (saw) said, «النَّاسُ شُرَكَاءُ فِي ثَلَاثٍ: الْمَاءِ وَالْكَلَأِ وَالنَّارِ»“People are partners in three things: water, pasture, and fire.” The state oversees these resources, ensuring that all people benefit from the services provided, and the state works to prevent any unjust appropriation of them.
Furthermore, Islam's stance on usury is clear. Allah (swt) says,
[وَأَحَلَّ اللهُ الْبَيْعَ وَحَرَّمَ الرِّبَا]
“Allah has permitted trade and forbidden interest (riba).” Allah (swt) has categorically prohibited riba and eradicated it completely. Dealing with international institutions that promote and spread riba throughout the world is also forbidden.
The Islamic monetary system is entirely independent of the dollar and is based on the gold and silver standard, which stabilizes prices and safeguards people’s wealth.
The best evidence of Islam’s goodness, justice, and mercy towards humanity is the state of the Ummah of Islam under the Khilafah (Caliphate). During the reign of Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz, the state treasury overflowed, prosperity spread throughout the Muslim lands, and the Khaleefah (Caliph) proclaimed that anyone in debt or wishing to marry should go to the treasury. Grain was even scattered on mountaintops so that no bird would go hungry in the Muslim lands, despite their wealth at that time being less than a tenth of what it is today.
The world’s problem today is not a lack of resources, but rather its deviation from the correct system that governs them. The Shariah rulings of Islam will not be implemented by the puppet regimes that have betrayed Allah (swt), His Messenger (saw), and the believers. Instead, they will be implemented by the Second Khilafah Rashidah (Rightly Guided Caliphate), which Hizb ut Tahrir is working day and night to establish. Where are the Ansaar of Islam today to enable its establishment and attain the best of this world and the Hereafter?