Fourth: The Legislative Miracle

The illiterate prophet Muhammad ibn ‘Abd Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, brought a system of law that occupies a moderate place among contemporary positive systems of law. He brought welfare that supports the poor person until he attains the first degree of self-sufficiency, guaranteeing what is required by necessity, not by luxury and opulence.
Regarding the amount of Zakaah to be paid to the needy and the poor, an-Nawawi said in al-Majmoo‘ (6/193):
They are given whatever takes them out of need and puts them into self-sufficiency, so that they will remain sufficed. This is reported verbatim from Ash-Shaafi‘i and has been supported by the narration of Qabeesah […] that Allaah’s Messenger, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, “Asking others' financial help is not allowed except in one of three cases… and a man who is stricken by poverty and three men of wisdom among his people acknowledge that, he  may ask until his living is sufficed.” [Muslim: 1044]
He also said (6/191):
What our opinion entails is that the person finds full sufficiency in food, dress, shelter, and all other necessities, according to what befits his condition with neither extravagance nor parsimony, whether for himself or against the one who invested in him.
Ibn Rushd said in Bidaayat al-Mujtahid (2/39):
How much must be given? […] Al-Layth [ibn Sa‘d] said, “He is given what is used to pay for a servant, if he has a family and the Zakaah money is plentiful.” […] Most have agreed that […] he is given money until he reaches the first stage of self-sufficiency.
          Then if the given amount of Zakaah is insufficient, they are to be provided for by any surplus wealth kept for the common welfare; but if the treasury’s budget is unable, then sufficiency for the poor is requested to be given by the wealthy. The scholar al-Juwayni said:
All Muslims have agreed that in the case of a time in which there are impoverished and humiliated poor, it is obligatory upon all people of wealth and ease to strive in helping these people toward sufficiency.
Ibn Hazm mentioned in al-Muhalla (4/281/725) that there are many evidences for this from the Book, the Sunnah, and the sayings of the Companions. We will be sufficed by mentioning one of these evidences here. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {It is not righteous to turn your faces east and west, but righteous is the one who believes in Allaah, the last day, the angels, the Book, and the prophets, and gives wealth—while loving it—to his relatives, the orphans, the poor, the traveler, those who ask, and for emancipation; and establishes the prayer and pays Zakaah.} [Quran 2:177]
          Al-Qurtubi said in his Tafseer (2/241):
His Saying (what means): {and gives wealth—while loving it} is used as evidence by those who say that there is a right to wealth beside Zakaah. […] I say that the meaning of the narration transmitted on this topic is verified by this verse itself, since He Says (what means): {and establishes the prayer and pays the poor-due}, mentioning the poor-due, indicating the intended meaning behind {and gives wealth—while loving it} is not the poor-due tax. That would be redundant.
The legislative miracle of the Noble Quran appears in the obligation of settling a debt on behalf of the impoverished debtor, using the general welfare treasury (Bayt Al-Maal)—if the country has wealth—and such legislation was unknown to positive laws throughout the entire world, even until today. Allaah Says (what means): {The Prophet is more closely allied to the believers than their ownselves, and his wives are their mothers.} [Quran 33:6]
          Abu Hurayrah narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said, when Allaah Granted him victories, “I am more closely allied to the believers than their ownselves, so whoever has died of the believers and left a debt, I must settle it; and whoever left wealth, it will be given to his heirs.” [Al-Bukhaari: 2298, Muslim: 1619]Another narration has: “…if he did not leave its payment, we must settle it.” [Al-Bukhaari: 6731]
It was also narrated by Ja‘far as-Saadiq from his father, from Jaabir, with the wording: “Whoever left a debt or those bereaved, then such is unto and upon me.” [Muslim: 867]
Abu ‘Ubayd said in al-Amwāl (1/282/543):
That he considered they had this right after death, such is considered even more during life.
Al-Munaawi said in Faydh al-Qadeer (2/171):
His saying “then such is unto and upon me” means that the issue of taking care of his dependants goes “unto me” and the settling of his debt is “upon me.”
Al-Qurtubi said in his Tafseer (14/122):
Some scholars have said that the ruler must utilize the treasury to settle the debt of the needy, following the example of the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, , when he announced his obligation to do so by saying, “I must settle it.”
Islam also recognizes the public ownership of natural resources, like minerals and petroleum—even if it is found on private property, according to the preponderant opinion of the Maaliki school, and this is the opinion about petroleum alone according to the Hanbali school. The same is said for the national ownership of conquered lands. The Caliph ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab, may Allaah be Pleased with him, dedicated the lands of the Levant (Ash-Shaam), ‘Iraq, and Egypt to all generations of the nation—while maintaining the right to individual ownership—citing the obligation of the wealthy to replenish the treasury for the common welfare and to suffice the nation’s needy.
I attended a conference on Islamic economics in Baden, Germany. Present were at least 110 Muslim economists and 120 economists from Western Europe, who came to debate the economic policies of Islam. One major western economist stood and delivered a final statement, in which he said, “It is clear to me and to my colleagues that the world’s salvation from its economic disaster is what you Muslims have presented.”
In early March 2009, the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano published an article by Loretta Napoleoni, in which she stated that “the ethical principles on which Islamic finance is based may bring banks closer to their clients and to the true spirit which should mark every financial service.”
As for this miracle in the field of healthcare, one member of the British House of Commons spoke during a session regarding the spread of AIDS, which has become the main focus of many people, and the House asked her opinion on solving the problems presented by this world-threatening disease. She said that the solution to the AIDS disease is the Saudi solution. By “Saudi”, she meant “Islamic”, i.e. punishing whoever commits a sin in which AIDS is contracted, thus cutting off the phenomenon of AIDS itself.
There are many other perspectives of the legislative miracle, like in criminal justice, trade and business, family ties, and foreign affairs. Even the United Nations considers the Islamic Shari‘ah as one of its references.
Unfortunately, this is not the place for expanding on all of these points. The sources for such can be found in books of jurisprudence, politics, and other books related to the system of human life according to the laws and rulings of Islam.