根据西方的观点,经济问题可以简要概括为相对稀缺的公理性原则:资源有限,而需求无限。这意味着商品和服务不足以完全满足人类的所有需求。因此,他们说:"问题在于,尽管你的需要或欲望几乎是无限的,但满足这些欲望的资源却是稀缺的",这一说法见于威廉·A·麦克尤恩(William A. McEachern)的《经济学:当代导论》(Economics: A Contemporary Introduction)。由此,西方的理性认为:"人类的需求是无限的,人总是追求更多、更好……人永远无法得到完全的满足",这一观点见于耶勒·齐耶尔斯特拉(Jelle Zijlstra)的《经济学导论》(Introduction to Economics)。既然需求和欲望是无限的,而满足它们的物质是有限的,那么按照西方人的看法,经济问题便产生于无法实现对这些需求的完全满足。

The economic problem according to the West can be simply summarized as the axiomatic principle of relative scarcity, with limited resources amidst unlimited needs. It means an insufficiency of goods and services to satiate all human needs completely. This is why they say, “The problem is that, although your wants, or desires, are virtually unlimited, the resources available to satisfy these wants are scarce,” as stated in Economics: A Contemporary Introduction by William A. McEachern. Thus the Western intellect sees that “human needs are unlimited and man always seeks for more and better...one can never be fully satiated," as stated in the book Introduction to Economics by Jelle Zijlstra. Since needs and desires are unlimited, whilst the material to satiate them are limited, the economic problem, according to the Westerners, emerges from the inability of achieving the complete satiation of such needs.

这种对西方的看法是错误的,也与人们实际感受到的现实相矛盾。这是因为必须无条件满足的需求,只是人作为人所具有的基本需求,而不是次要需求或奢侈品需求,尽管人确实会追求并努力满足奢侈品需求。因此,食物、衣物和住所等基本需求是有限的。他们所谓的财富与服务,足以满足全世界的首要基本需求。至于需求不断增长的问题,它与基本需求的增长无关,因为人作为人所具有的基本需求并不会增加。持续增长的是由物质进步带来的奢侈品。人会努力满足这类奢侈品的需求,然而,这些需求得不到满足并不会引发问题。真正引发问题的,只是基本需求得不到满足。

This view of the West is erroneous and contradictory to the sensed reality. This is because needs that must be satiated mandatorily are only the basic needs of a person, by virtue of being a human. These are not the secondary needs or the needs for luxuries, although Man seeks and works for the satiation of the needs for luxuries. Accordingly, the basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter are limited. The wealth and efforts, which they call goods and services, are sufficiently available to satiate the primary, basic needs all over the world. As for the problem of ever increasing needs, it is not related to the increase in basic needs, because the basic needs of a man, by virtue of being a human, do not increase. What increases continuously are the luxuries that arise from material progress. Man strives to satiate the needs for such luxuries, however, the non-satiation of such needs does not create problems. Instead, what causes problems is the non-satiation of basic needs alone.

因此，用有限的商品和服务来满足基本需要，本身并不构成问题，不足以将其界定为社会必须应对的经济问题。事实上，经济问题在于此类财富和努力的分配。只有将财富和努力分配给每个人，才能使他们完全满足全部基本需要，同时也帮助他们努力去满足对奢侈品的需求。

Accordingly, there is no problem in the limitation of goods and services to satiate basic needs, so as to define it as an economic problem for society to address. The economic problem is in fact the distribution of such wealth and efforts. It is the distribution of wealth and efforts to all individuals that allows them to satiate all the basic needs completely, whilst helping them strive for the satiation of their needs for luxuries.

在美国，例如，成千上万吨的谷物被倾倒入海，而没有分发给该国数以百万计的贫困人口。美国囤积着数十亿美元，这些钱既没有投入经济的运转，也没有给予穷人。因此，问题既不在于物质的匮乏，也不在于需求的无限。问题只在于资本主义经济的观念，这种经济建立在垄断、贪婪、嫉妒和自私之上。正是资本主义经济把全国八成的财富置于少数资本家集团手中。也正是资本家把社会转变为消费型社会，以推销其产品、最大化利润，并借口认为个人或群体消费的增长会带来社会更高的福祉水平。

In the United States, for instance, thousands of tonnes of grains are dumped into the sea, without being distributed to the millions of poor in the country. The United States hoards billions of dollars, which is neither utilized in the wheels of the economy nor given to the poor. Thus the issue is neither the scarcity of material nor the unlimitedness of needs. It is only the view of the capitalist economy which is built on monopoly, greed, envy and selfishness. It is the capitalist economy that put eighty percent of the nation’s wealth into the hands of select bands of capitalists. It is the capitalists who transform society into consumer societies, in order to market their products, to maximize profits under the pretext that the increased consumption by individuals or groups results in a higher level of well-being in the society.

资本主义经济忽视了财富分配的问题。相反,资本主义经济将其经济目标集中于实现物质发展,同时着力应对失业、通货膨胀和通货紧缩。因此,资本主义经济旨在实现一个目标,即增加国家的集体财富。它致力于达到尽可能高的生产水平,通过提高收入和提升国家生产水平,追求社会成员的最大福祉。这一目标通过使人们能够获取财富来实现,同时让个人有自由去从事生产与分配的工作。

The capitalist economy has neglected the issue of the distribution of wealth. Instead, the capitalist economy made its economic goals centered on achieving materialistic development, whilst treating unemployment, inflation and deflation. Thus the capitalist economy aims at achieving one goal, which is to increase the collective wealth of a nation. It works to reach the highest possible production level, in the pursuit of the maximum well-being for the members of society, as a result of increasing income and raising the production level of the nation. This goal is achieved by enabling them to obtain wealth, whilst leaving individuals the freedom to work to secure production and distribution.

因此，资本主义经济并不去寻找能够满足个人需求、并使社会中每一个人都得到满足的办法。相反，它只关注提供能够满足个人需求的东西。于是它关注的是增加生产和收入这一集体性需求，提供就业机会，同时把这种自由留给个人。无论所有个人的基本需求是否得到满足，还是只有一部分人得到满足而另一些人没有，它都不在乎。这既不属于经济研究的领域，其目标也不是满足所有个人。在他们看来，穷人必须为自己的贫困负责，因为他们自己就是贫困的原因。资本家的这种观点是错误的，也与现实相悖，因为必须得到满足的基本需求是个人的需求，这是由于他们是人。这些需求属于阿里和安东尼，而不是某些特定群体或民族的需求。

Thus the capitalist economy does not find treatments to satiate the needs of individuals and to provide the satiation for every individual of the society. Instead, it only focuses on providing things that satiate the needs of individuals. So it focusses on the collective needs of increasing the production and income, providing the opportunity to work, whilst leaving this freedom to the individuals. This is regardless of whether satiation of basic needs is achieved for all individuals, or it is only achieved by some of the individuals, and not others. This is neither the field of economic research, nor is its goal to satiate all the individuals. In their view, the poor must bear the responsibility for their poverty, because they themselves are the cause for it. This view of the capitalists is erroneous and contradicts reality because the basic needs that must be satiated are individual needs, by virtue of being human. These are the needs of Ali and Anthony and not the needs of select groups of people or nations.

因此,经济政策的出发点必须是确保所有个人的基本需要得到充分满足,同时使他们尽可能地满足奢侈性需要。在不保证每个人都能受益的情况下,单纯提高生产、促进经济发展、提升全国整体生活水平,这是错误的。同样错误的是向民众提供福利,却任由他们尽其所能地索取福利,而不保障每一个人——无论他是谁——的生存权利。因此,西方的经济政策虽然旨在发展经济、增加生产,却忽视了分配。西方的经济政策只关注追求物质经济的生产,而不顾及社会中每个个体满足其基本需要的权利。这是一种错误的政策:它在理论上为一部分人提供了相对的福祉,同时却使其余因贫困和赤贫而受苦的人背上罪责,尽管他们在生存权利和满足基本需要的权利上与其他人是平等的。

Accordingly, the origin of economic policy must be to ensure the satiation of all the basic needs of all the individuals, with complete satiation, whilst enabling them to satiate the luxurious needs as much as they can. It is erroneous to increase the production, economic development and raise the living standards of the nation as a whole, without ensuring that everyone benefits. It is also erroneous to offer welfare to people, leaving them free to take welfare as much as they can, without guaranteeing the right to living for every one of them, no matter who he is. Thus the Western economic policy, that aims to develop the economy and increase production, neglects the distribution. The Western economic policy is concerned only with the search for producing the materialistic economy, without concern for the right of every individual of the society, in satiating their basic needs. It is an erroneous policy that theoretically provides relative well-being to a group of individuals, whilst pronouncing guilt upon the rest of people afflicted by poverty and destitution. This is even though they are equal in their rights to a living and satiation of the basic needs.

至于伊斯兰，除了用以规范所有权和鼓励增加生产的教法律例之外，它还制定了其他律例，以确保每个人的基本需求得到完全满足。伊斯兰还保障每一位公民的财富分配，逐一落实到个人。伊斯兰保障食物、衣物和住所等基本需求的分配，以确保全体人民都得到完全的满足。此外，伊斯兰使每一位公民都能尽可能地满足对奢侈品的需求。因此，伊斯兰既不像资本主义那样，把满足基本需求当作制度的补丁，也不像资本主义那样，针对特定的弱势问题，只照顾某些群体而排斥其他群体。相反，伊斯兰把各种分配方式本身确立为制度的律例。因此，允许拥有财产及为此工作的律例、消费开支的律例、处理一切事务的律例，都属于教法律例，在立法与证据上具有同等的重要性。伊斯兰由此形成了一套完整的经济体系，我们已在著作中作了详细阐述。

As for Islam, in addition to Shariah rulings to legislate ownership and work to increase production, it has legislated other rulings to ensure the complete satiation of all the basic needs of all the individuals. Islam also ensures the distribution of wealth for each individual citizen, one by one. Islam ensures all the basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter, are distributed to ensure complete, universal satiation. Additionally, Islam enables each individual citizen to satiate the needs for luxuries as much as possible. Thus Islam neither ensures the satiation of basic needs as a patchwork to the system, nor addresses specific vulnerabilities, singling out certain groups to the exclusion of others, as Capitalism does. Instead Islam made modes of distribution as rulings of the system itself. Thus the rulings of permitting the ownership and work for it, rulings of spending, rulings of taking care of all the affairs, all these are Shariah rulings, of equal import in legislation and evidence. Islam gives rise to a complete economic system as we have detailed in our books.