与当今资本主义西方所宣扬的世界观不同,伊斯兰认为人类将面临的主要经济问题在于财富的分配,而非生产。在资本主义西方看来,世界上的资源相对稀缺,而人们对这些资源的需求却是无穷无尽的。因此,每个国家乃至整个世界都应当致力于不断增加生产。按照这一理论,所生产的财富越多,通过经济活动满足需求的人就越多。

Unlike the current world view as pushed by the Capitalist West, Islam considers that the main economic problem that mankind will ever have is that of distribution of wealth and not of production. In the eyes of the Capitalist West, there is relative scarcity of resources available in the world, and people’s demands for these resources are endless. Hence each nation and in fact, the world, should concentrate on more and more production. The higher the amount of wealth produced, the higher the number of people that will satisfy their demands through the process of economic activity, or so the theory goes.

伊斯兰教区分基本需求与奢侈欲求。基本需求包括食物、衣着和住所；奢侈欲求则包括生活中一切并非必需的事物。伊斯兰教认为，资源足以随时满足所有人的基本需求，也足以满足部分人的某些奢侈欲求；经济问题在于财富的公正分配，而不仅仅在于增加生产。 从欧洲堆积如山的粮食，以及包括第三世界国家在内各国少数富人的奢靡浪费中可以看出，世界上的资源完全足以让每个人吃饱、穿暖、有房可住。按照资本主义追求利润最大化的理念，我们看到欧共体国家的政府向农民支付补贴以让其减少产量，甚至补贴他们销毁已经生产出来的农产品；在贫穷的拉丁美洲，过去曾为维持某一价格水平而焚毁大量咖啡豆。非洲贫穷国家流向西方富裕国家的财富，远远多于反向流动的财富，原因在于不公正的经济交易。即便在上世纪八十年代末埃塞俄比亚饥荒最严重之时，该国仍在向西方出口价值数百万美元的资源。 安拉（SWT）在《古兰经》中说：

Islam distinguishes between basic needs which include food, clothing and shelter, and luxurious wants which include all those things that are not necessities in life. It views that there are enough resources to satisfy the basic needs of all people all the time and to satisfy some of the luxurious wants of people, and that the economic problem is that of correct distribution of wealth and not merely involving increasing of production. There are enough resources to feed, clothe and house everybody in the world fully as can be seen by the food mountains of Europe and the excesses of the few rich in each country, including the Third World countries. In accordance with their Capitalist philosophy of maximising profit, we find governments paying farmers to produce less as in the EC countries, or even to destroy what has already been produced as happened in poor Latin America where in the past a huge amount of coffee was burnt to maintain a certain price level. Far more wealth leaves the poor countries of Africa for the rich west than vice versa due to unjust economic deals. Even at the height of the Ethiopian famine crisis in the late eighties, the country was exporting millions of dollars worth of resources to the West. Allah (swt) says in the Qur’an,.

“真主创造了天地，并从天上降下雨水，借之生出果实，作为你们的给养。他为你们制服了海洋，使其服从他的命令；他为你们制服了河流；他为你们制服了太阳和月亮，使它们恒久地运行于各自的轨道；他为你们制服了黑夜和白昼；他还赐予你们所求的一切。你们若计算真主的恩典，是数不尽的；人类确是不义的，确是忘恩的。”【古兰经 14:32-34】另有一节经文说道：

“It is Allah who created the heavens and the earth, and sent down from heaven water wherewith He brought forth fruits to be your sustenance. And He subjected to you the sea at His commandment; and He subjected to you the rivers and He subjected to you the sun and the moon constant upon their courses, and He subjected to you the night and the day, and gave you of all that you asked Him. If you count Allah’s bounty, you will never number it; surely man is sinful, unthankful.” [TMQ 14:32-34]. In another ayat He says,.

“的确，你的主为他所意欲的人放宽给养，也为他所意欲的人限定给养，因为他完全知晓并洞察他的众仆。”（古兰经 17:30）

“Verily, your Lord does provide sustenance in abundance for whom He pleases and He does straiten it, for He does know and regard all His creatures.” [TMQ 17:30].

这些经文以及其他许多经文表明，安拉（SWT）在这个宇宙中汇聚了人类所需的一切需求和有益之物，并提供了足以满足人类物质需求的充足资源。

These verses among many others show that Allah (swt) has pooled in this universe all the needs and beneficial things for man, and has provided sufficient resources to satisfy the material needs of man.

在伊斯兰教中，区分了经济科学与经济制度两者。经济科学关乎生产资料，而经济制度则关注财富分配问题，即财富的获取、投资、使用和处置所遵循的规则。正是通过伊斯兰特有的经济制度，财富才得以公平地分配；而经济科学本身并非伊斯兰所特有，它既可以从其他任何意识形态中吸取，也可以依照需要加以发展。

In Islam, a distinction is made between economic science, which is to do with the means of production, and the Economic System which is concerned with the problem of distribution of wealth, namely the rules by which wealth can be acquired, invested, used and disposed of. It is through the Economic System that is specific to Islam that wealth is distributed equitably, while economic science is not particularly specific to Islam as such but can be acquired from any other ideology or developed as seen fit.