Islam does not deny ownership of material or property, however it also does not allow humans to dictate the way it is acquired and used. Life in the Khilafah will offer a dramatic change in the way material is viewed In Islam wealth is a trust from the Creator. Consequently it is Allah (swt) alone who decides what can and cannot be bought and sold. This is unlike the situation today where the rights and wrongs of a society are at the mercy of market forces and the laws of supply and demand and where commercial viability of a product takes precedence over the detremental effects on society that are produced as a result of the product’s existence. Such is a world where business interests fund or lobby the ‘guardian angels’ of democracy - the politicians.

Accordingly, we see that Britain’s richest man has based his fortune on pornography. There is no care for the damaging effects of pornography and other forms of exploitation of man and woman. The unwanted eyes when walking the streets; the unwanted attention at work; rape. Instead, concern for humans is viewed in economic terms primarily.

This is not so in Islam, where ‘honour’ is a vital issue. There will be no advertisements using the sexuality of men and women for the hard sell, no ‘top-shelf’ magazines, no pornographic videos and no cybersex would be found in the Islamic State.

Similarly, no regard would be made for the commercial success of alcohol consumption, or the potential success of legalising other types of drugs, as is being discussed today. In Islam public consumption of intoxicants is forbidden, killing from the root the plethora of problems that things like alcohol contribute to: domestic violence, crime in general or the drain on health resources (self-help groups, victim support groups, medical services etc.). There would be no pubs, no drunkards and no ‘drink-driving’ under the Khilafah.