Relative Scarcity of Economic Resources: From Islamic Economics Perspective

Abstract

The research article aims to explore the concept of relative scarcity in conventional economics, which is considered as the foundation of so called economic problem. Both capitalism and socialism, in spite of their vigorous fundamental differences in economic thought like; economic freedom, ownership of the resources, decision making power, government interference and wage price flexibility etc., do coincide on the issue of relative scarcity. Paradoxically , Islamic economic system based on the revealed knowledge of Quran and Sunnah refutes this concept and assures that the amount of natural resources is not only sufficient but they are created exactly in precise measure to fulfill the economic and materialistic needs of mankind. So, economic problem based on relative scarcity does not have any empirical evidence to show its authenticity. The researcher has reached the conclusion after a thorough discourse of arguments from both side; conventional and Islamic economics that the resources are in abundance and perfect measure at the disposal of humans. It is not the relative scarcity of the resources, but the miss- allocation of resources and mischievous and greedy human behavior who mishandle the resources are the major reason to create economic problem. Hence, the economic problem can easily be addressed and solved by following the divine instructions of Islamic economic thought mention in Quran and Sunnah.