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ISLAMIC CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY ASEAN++ ZONE
(December 18, 2003)
Empowering The Ummah Through Entrepreneurship*
By
Dato’ Seri Abdul Rahman Maidin
Vice-President
Islamic Chamber of Commerce and Industry
ASEAN++ Zone
Introduction
If the formation of an island begins with a grain of sand, and an ocean from a drop of water, then the building up of our future depends, not only, on the sweat of our brows and on the resourcefulness of our brain, but also, more importantly on our collective will and endeavour to work together as an Ummah – bound by nothing else but by the bond of the shahadah. The building up of our future, therefore, is an ‘ibadah’: An ‘ibadah’ not only to reflect on our collective fate but also to deliberate on our future course of action.
Truly, the shahadah is the only bond that had brought the enlightenment of Islam – together with its principles and doctrines as enunciated in the Holy Quran and Hadith – to the Ummah, once shrouded in absolute ignorance. Its spread was not from government to government nor from state to state. Truly, its spread was through the tireless effort of traders (acting as missionaries at the same time) – sans government or state support. The exception, during its early days, was when the spread was through the tireless efforts of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his companions, whom he had appointed as teachers. Wars, when waged, were results of provocations – contrary to the allegations, and prejudices, of most non-Muslims that the spread of Islam was through the sword. Knowledge – not the sword – was, and is, the fundamental imperative in the spread of Islam.
Ours is a world more globalised, a world whose only order is increasing disorder and unceasing uncertainty, and a world unleashed by the blatant terror of the might over the weak, and lies over truth. Is this a promise of a better world or a prelude to one bleaker, scourged by endless wars and besieged by widespread poverty and rampant famine – the victims of which, as is always the case, would be the poor and the weak? Despite our control over 70 per cent of the world’s total oil reserves, our command over 42 per cent of the world’s oil demand, and our coverage over almost one-third of the world population, it is indeed an irony that a great majority of our Ummah is still trapped in the quagmire of poverty and backwardness. That is despite the abundance of resources (natural and human) that the Ummah commands. That is despite the strategic location that the Ummah is at. Yet, a great majority of the Ummah is still denied of dignity, prosperity, and freedom. In short, the Ummah is denied of any means of empowerment.
Such sad and tragic state that the Ummah is in, is it a coincidence, or is it a destiny? In my opinion, it is neither. We have a choice – either to remain resigned or to break free from the shackle of poverty and backwardness.
The Aetiology of the Ummah’s Economic Backwardness
Whilst a solution is being sought, a cursory examination on the aetiology of the Ummah’s economic disempowerment and backwardness reveals that the military and commercial expansion of the West, being predatory instead of conciliatory and accommodative, had either destroyed or reduced other forms of civilisation, including Islamic civilisation, into atrophy and backwardness. Hanson in his book – “Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power” – traced the military predatoriness of the West through the passage of time, from the dawn of Greek civilisation to the present era. On the contrary, the expansion of Islam, since the time of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w, had been through the spread of knowledge – with the acceptance of the shahadah as a start. Its primary quest for knowledge, and industries related to the latter, precluded the pursuit of predatoriness. Far from being predatory, Islam was, and is, not only conciliatory but also accommodative.
The socio-psychological malaise, as characterised by the Ummah until the present time, is the worst form of atrophy that the West had inflicted upon the Ummah. Edward Said and Alattas attributed the continuing Western intellectual enterprise, which Said had termed as “Orientalism”, to be the reason underlying such malaise. Most of the Muslim elites in most of the modern Islamic states are unfortunately as “atrophied” as the Ummah, albeit in a different way: Their intellectual inability or indifference to develop the Ummah, economically and politically.
At the economic front, the force of “gun-boat” diplomacy was, more often than not, widely and freely exercised to exert control over territories and trade routes. Monopolies, as exemplified by the English East India Company and Dutch East India Company, were established, resulting eventually in the anaemic death of local trade and industry. One notorious example is the destruction of the once-thriving Indian cotton industry to give way to the emerging English cotton industry in Lancashire. In the case of Malaya, local farmers who had switched from less profitable padi-planting to more lucrative rubber-planting were proscribed from doing so through a scheme known as the “Stevenson Scheme”. The scheme imposed a condition that the plantation of rubber could only be carried out by estates, naturally owned by the British. To complete the disempowerment was the peasantisation of local population – as producers of food for workers in mines and estates or producers of raw materials for industries in Europe.
While being heedful to pray for Allah’s continuous blessing, mercy, and guidance, we shall at the same time be constantly heedful to what He had revealed in Surah Ar-Rad, Verse 11. That change, without any choice, can only be brought about by the following imperatives: Our readiness to look at the weaknesses within ourselves; our willingness to examine our strength and resources; and, our preparedness to overcome odds of any kind – be they external or within. No one else can help the Muslims except themselves: We must now heed and understand what the Surah means. It is not just a verbal profession of the faith. More than that, it is a firm and true belief in Allah and His Messenger, a complete obedience to His words in practical life, and a sincere exertion of one’s self and wealth in the cause of Allah Subhana wa Taala.
It is a decision not to the exclusion of others, but to help strengthen each other, harnessing the resources within our control wherever the Muslims are – be they governments, enterprises, entrepreneurs or individuals. It is a decision to be involved in directing (an ibadah enjoined by Allah Subhana wa Taala) the flow of resources from those who have to those who need them, and reaffirming that we have the resources to rebuild our strength.
Islam and Entrepreneurship
Islam, since the time of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w, is global in character – in terms of one’s faith, thinking, and actions towards Allah Subhana wa Taala (hablun-min-Allah). Its global character is also manifested through one’s bond with the others in society – in terms of our social and economic activities (hablun-min-annas). The global character of the Islamic faith is succinctly and cogently summarised in Surah Ar-Rahman, Verse 17. Apart from that, Islam is not inimical to mercantilism and capitalism – as long as it is based on ethic and morality, consistent with the Holy Quran and the Hadith. Historically, Islam has been favourable to the merchants – beginning with Prophet Muhammad s.a.w and his wife Khadijah s.a.w. Both of them, apart from the companions of the Prophet were, beyond doubt, successful merchants. The Holy Quran, in discussing matters pertaining to tawhid, is replete with metaphors from the world of commerce, encouraging the believers to strike a profitable bargain with Allah Subhana wa Taala.
Prophet Muhammad s.a.w in a Hadith had said that nine out of ten sources of ‘rezeki’ are derived from business activities. Ibn Khaldun, in his celebrated “Muqaddimah”, had even enunciated that economic reasons were the factors contributing to the rise and fall of dynasties. He remarked that businessmen would be disinclined to produce more than necessary when rulers become more inclined to tax, more than necessary, the former – the consequence of which would be a fall in revenue resulting not only from a fall in productivity but also from a decline in entrepreneurship.
It can thus be surmised that entrepreneurship is the fundamental pillar that constitutes not only the vigour of an Ummah but also the strength of the Islamic faith. Entrepreneurship, being the engine of business and economic growth, ensures the sustainability of the Ummah (in terms of its general prosperity and welfare). Being the only means of empowerment, it is hence an exercise, important and strategic, for the Ummah to undertake not only as an obligation that is social and economic but also as an ibadah. Entrepreneurs, armed with the knowledge of real economics, as such are people important in creating the economic strength of an Ummah.
A corporation or a business is made up of three essential components: Entrepreneurs, managers, and workers or operators. Of the three, the entrepreneurs as a distinct category, being the force that provides life to the rest, is the most important. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w is an epitome of an entrepreneur par excellence: He is a leader, strategist, manager, thinker and researcher. His career in entrepreneurship began when he was appointed a manager, in the employment of Khadijah s.a.w. As a leader, he had led his followers to the conclusions of agreements and treaties – one example of which was the Covenant of Madinah. As a strategist, he had led his followers to many victories over battles and wars, when Islam was under siege. As a manager, he was trusted and respected by business friends and competitors to the point that he was bestowed the title ‘Al-Amin’ by them. His frequent retreats to the Cave of Hira, to ponder and meditate on the wonders of nature, prior to the revelation of Surah ‘Alaq, can be taken as his disposition towards thinking and research.
Khadijah s.a.w herself was an indomitable investor-entrepreneur. She had also employed a lady, Maisarah, to act as her professional accountant. Our daily life, be it business or otherwise, would not be as it is today if not because of the entrepreneurship of personalities like Bill Gates (the founder of Microsoft), and Akio Morita (the co-founder of Sony).
A Muslim entrepreneur is arguably multi-dimensional in nature, character and outlook. He is first and foremost fair and just in his dealings. In his continuing endeavour to reduce the cost and enhance the value of his products and services, he is the best employer and mobilizer of resources – in a Smithian sense. He is creative in introducing new products and services in the market, in his continuous strive for excellence and change – fitting thus the Schumpeterian notion of an entrepreneur. He is also a provider of employment while at the same time being a contributor to the waqaf and zakah. In short, he is a risk-taker, a researcher, and a leader who adds and provides value not only to the economy but also to the community.
It is also worthy to note at this juncture that the spread of Islam in the early period of its history was through the tireless ‘dakwah’ carried out by Muslim entrepreneurs. The spread of the shahadah – especially to China, South and South-East Asia – was not from government to government but from people to people (through trade) – given the trade relations between the Arabs and these regions before Islam. Arab traders had plied the Indian Ocean, passed through the Straits of Malacca, crossed the South China Sea – establishing trading posts along the way. Certainly, the entrepreneurs being directly linked to trade had a duty-bound role to play.
Nation-state, Market-state, and Market-Ummah
If entrepreneurship is the means of empowerment, then the Ummah is the fertile ground through which its fruition can be nurtured and realised. Islam transcends boundaries and borders. The Ummah is one whole unit – a chain of unity bound by its members’ sole submission to Allah Subhana wa Taala. Within the Ummah’s conception, narrative, or political scheme, the notion of nation-state is indeed absent. Nation-state is, in fact, specifically a conception, an invention, and a narrative in the grand scheme of European historical experience – after the overthrow of monarchies and dissolution of empires in Europe. In the case of non-European historical experience, it is an imposition on the colonised or wilful adoption of the once-colonised as a condition before the passage to self-government. It is to be noted that Islamic nation-states, as they are today, were formed by western intervention after 1900. Since then, the Ummah is reduced to a faint notion – distant from reality, and relegated to the dark abyss of the Ummah’s collective memory, something that belongs to the historical past.
Companies like the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company, had gone beyond the boundaries of their own nation-states to seek and create market. Force was even employed when the doors to market were closed. Some Third-World nation-states emerged as a consequence of what started as market-creation activities of the English East India Company and the Dutch East India Company. They even commanded resources beyond the resources of their nation-states. Today, companies like Coca-Cola, MacDonald, and IBM are a few examples of companies commanding resources beyond the resources of nation-states. They are called multi-nationals because they transcend borders and regions – a consequence of their inexorable hunger for market. It is even more paradoxical today that George Soros, an individual, can muster his financial resources to challenge nation-states.
It is thus not at all a surprise that nation-state as a notion is seen to be increasingly irrelevant – an impediment rather than a catalyst that facilitates the free flow of capital in the context of today’s globalisation and liberalisation. Philip Bobbit in his book – “The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and the Course of History” – talks about the emergence of market-states predominating and prevailing over nation-states. The former in this century would render the latter archaic as much as the latter had rendered the preceding states archaic in the last century.
Joel Kotkins in his book – “Tribes: How Race, Religion and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy” – claims that the new global economy would be determined and dominated by those strongly adhering and demonstrating the following attributes :
· A deep feeling of identity and consciousness;
· A strong sense of unity and cooperation;
· A wide network transcending regions and nations; and,
· A deep passion for knowledge (regardless of its sources) and an open-mindedness towards science and technology in developing their civilisation. How very Islamic the attributes are except they are least, unfortunately, amongst the Muslims today.
Our strength, as much as our hope, lies therefore in the Ummah. The Ummah is set to be the “tribe” with the potential to realise all the resources under its control and command (both intellectual and physical). Indeed, Allah Subhana wa Taala had revealed in the Holy Quran that he had created mankind into nations and tribes for them to know each other – for them to work with each other, to reap the reward from his bounty. It can thus be construed that Allah Subhana wa Taala has given us, since the creation of Adam and Eve, the world as a market, not just a country or a nation-state.
It is at this juncture that I want to introduce the concept of ‘market-Ummah’, which had even existed long before Philip Bobbit’s notion of ‘market-state’. We fail to see the Ummah as a whole, in our preference for the market within the confine of nation-states, whereas the Ummah had long preceded nation-states. The Ummah, bound by the ‘shahadah’, transcends the strict boundaries imposed by regions and nation-states. The vigour and the vitality of the Ummah had paled into insignificance when we began to be divided by the bound of nation-states – affirming what the West had expected and wanted us to do.
The time has come for us to look beyond the narrow bound of nation-states to reach the vast potentials that the Ummah can offer. The total population of 57 OIC countries is about 1.3 billion in the year 2001. However, it is estimated that out of a total world population of about 6.1 billion, the Ummah population is about 2 billion – meaning that 0.7 billion of the Ummah lives outside the Muslim nation-states. Muslims in India make up about 122 million, comprising about 12 per cent of its total population of about 1 billion people. In China, 60 million people out of a total population of about 1.2 billion are Muslims. In Europe as a whole, there are about 2o million Muslims – with 8 million of them living and working in Western Europe.
It is sad, however, to note that the economic strength underlying the market-Ummah is not only under the encroaching dominance of the West but also stifled by the Muslim nation-states themselves. They are still with the illusion and under the delusion of boundary-determined market. Barriers – tariffs and non-tariffs – are created, either impeding or discouraging the free flow of not only goods and services but also people within the Ummah-market.
The issuance of visas (a form of non-tariff barrier) to conduct business travel to some Muslim countries exemplifies such impediment. It is thus unfortunate to note that an impermeable and impregnable barrier to the creation of a market-Ummah is the work, by design or accident, of Muslims. The market-Ummah, while being intrinsically strong, is subsumed under Western encroachment – meaning to say that the West recognises the market, and strategises to capture the market, while the Muslims are still talking about a market determined by boundaries, and its attending instruments of barriers.
ICCI Asean++ Zone: Empowering the Ummah through Entrepreneurship
The ICCI, especially its Asean ++ Zone, is actively and constructively engaged in empowering the Ummah through entrepreneurship. The ‘market-Ummah’ approach was endorsed at the ICCI’s 19th General Assembly, held in Istanbul Turkey, on 28th October 2002. Being the ICCI Vice-President, in charge of ICCI Asean++ Zone, allow me to outline the programmes that we have set to empower the Ummah through entrepreneurship. Our success, I believe, hinges at least on the following strategic imperatives:
· A global reach to encompass the market-Ummah;
· An effective networking (‘face-to-face’ and electronic); and,
· Knowledge acquisition, research and development.
On the first imperative, ICCI Asean++ Zone had resolved to include our Muslim brothers and sisters from India, China, Japan, Korea, Australia, and New Zealand (and others in the Asia-Pacific region) to sit in with us as observer-members. The idea is to encompass the rest of the Ummah in the Asia-Pacific region, who are outside the bind of OIC and the bound of ‘nation-states’ – thus, realising the notion of ‘market-Ummah’ and thereby harnessing the economic forces of ‘market-Ummah’. ICCI can be most relevant, as it is comprised of economic organizations, enterprises, and entrepreneurs – where private sector resources within it can be mobilised. Furthermore, it has the simplicity, the flexibility, the dynamism, and the accessibility to enter, cooperate, and strengthen the ‘market-Ummah’ wherever they are. It had also resolved that the Islamic Development Bank (IDB), the Islamic Cooperation for the Development of Private Sector (ICD), and OIC Networks are to be invited as members of ICCI Asean ++ Zone.
That is what we should aspire and work towards if we are to be the “tribe” reaping a fair share from the opportunities borne by the new global economy. The tide is with us. So too is our strategic position in terms of our market and proximity to the region’s market. The shift is clearly towards the Asia-Pacific region – especially towards India and China as the next centres of growth. Our 120 million and 60 million Muslim brothers and sisters in India and China respectively and others in the Asia-Pacific region should be our flank through whom, and with whom, we can establish a presence in the Indian and Chinese market.
A global reach is insufficient without a continuous and effective networking – ‘face-to-face’ and electronic. That is our second strategic imperative. It is an attempt to revive the notion of Islamic ‘ukhuwah’ or brotherhood. No man is island – unto himself and for himself. A part of our fault has been the inward-looking nature of our business people and Muslim nation-states. The comfort provided by our domestic market has disinclined many of us to explore the opportunities provided by the regional and global market.
I implore my Muslim brothers and sisters wherever they are on the globe to effectively network with each other to seek opportunities beyond our respective domestic market. Information and communication technology has made the world smaller, and the marketplace bigger. Business among member countries and the Ummah becomes even more possible, ever more frequent and bigger and practical through technological innovations and e-business developments.
The third imperative is along Joseph Schumpeter’s notion of creative destruction through continuous research and development. Entrepreneurs, according to him, exhibit such trait when they assiduously and continuously engage on product- and service-development. If the economy of the past century is Smithian in its character, the economy of this century is Schumpeterian in its temper. Those with creativity and passion for research and development shall triumph over the rest.
Islamic civilisation reached its zenith during the Abbasiyah period given the passion of Muslim scholars to engage in research and development – leaving nothing unobserved and unstudied. Indeed, the first Surah revealed to Prophet Muhammad s.a.w was the Surah Al-‘Alaq. The role of knowledge, in this respect, is without any shroud of doubt important. It is more so today when the world economy is shifting from one that is production-based (P-Economy) to one that is knowledge-driven (K-Economy).
There is a need, therefore, for the Ummah to be equipped with knowledge. More than that, there is a need for the Ummah to be instilled with a culture that is passionate towards the pursuit of knowledge (as described by Joel Kotkin). A knowledge infrastructure that meets the following four objectives should thus be created:
· A thinking Ummah;
· An Ummah that is science- and technology-based;
· An Ummah that strives for excellence; and,
· An Ummah who is free to determine and define its own future.
Only then, the Ummah, with such effective knowledge infrastructure and network, can contribute towards not only the re-invention of itself (as enjoined by Allah Subhana wa Taala in Surah Ar-Rad, Verse 11) but also the creation of a civilisation – paralleled only by those during the Andalusian and Abbasiyah past, tampered by Madinan moderateness.
Based on the second and third strategic imperatives, ICCI Asean++ Zone is implementing a plan of action encompassing the following programmes:
· Quarterly regular regional meeting of members;
· Human resource development (through seminar, courses, training, and staff-exchange and attachment) to be carried out at four levels: countries, chambers, entrepreneurs, institutions of higher learning/universities;
· Mind-to-market (M2M) networking – commercialisation of R&D (including intellectual property);
· A ‘halal’ hub to promote ‘halal’ products within and outside the Ummah-economy;
· Trade exhibitions and expositions (including ‘halal’ food-products and textiles) in member countries to exhibit and expose goods and services produced by them;
· Strategies and programmes on tourism to facilitate and enhance tourism within the Ummah-economy;
· Strategies and programmes on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of members from ICCI Asean++ Zone to develop SMEs within the Ummah-economy; and,
· A women entrepreneurs division (WED) within ICCI Asean++ Zone.
Apart from that, it has established a Global Muslim Economic Networks (GLOMEN) to implement an action plan which includes the following programmes:
· Establishing strong linkages of Muslim communities within the ICCI Asean++ Zone and between the ICCI Asean++ Zone and other GLOMEN;
· Establishing a strong sense of fraternity among the Ummah;
· Establishing strong economic relationship with Muslim communities, which includes the following:
o ‘Business-to-Business’ and ‘Bazaar-to-Bazaar’ (Double B2B) network, physically and virtually, to facilitate and enhance the flow of goods and services provided by the respective bazaars within the ‘market-Ummah’– given the bazaars traditional roles as the pillar of Ummah-economy economy through history and across regions; and,
o Electronic networking through OIC Networks and ICCI Asean ++ Zone’s ‘SME portal’ to equip, facilitate, supervise, and serve as a point of reference, consultation, and transaction among members;
· Establishing resources (physical, human, environmental, and financial) amongst the Ummah to be made available to the rest of GLOMEN;
· Establishing information of important and influential Muslim leaders/focal points within the community to be lined to GLOMEN;
It is my sincere wish, if not an exhortation, that the Aligarh Muslim University, as one of the older universities in India, continues to play a dominant role as the beacon of knowledge amongst the Ummah here. It should reach out to other institutions of higher learning, research and development organizations, and entrepreneurs – through an extensive infrastructure and networking with it serving as a portal (physical and virtual) – to transform the Ummah in India into a community that is not only vibrant but also contributing to the progress and prosperity of the Ummah as a whole. Only then, we would truly uphold and honour what Allah Subhana wa Taala had revealed in Surah Ar-Rad, Verse 11, as I had mentioned earlier in this paper.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, let us be reminded that the world in this millennium, though changed in many ways and forms, is still, in principle and substance, guided by thinking and actions that prevailed and ruled over the past millennium. Let us be reminded that it is still filled with predators – prepared, and poised to pounce and prey upon our pain and miseries. Do we want to harness the resources of the globe and enhance the pride of the Ummah – or continuously be subservient to the direction and mechanism of others that we have hitherto submitted ourselves? If our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt, then let us cast those doubts away to blaze a brave new civilisation for the Ummah as a whole.
References:
1. Syed Hussin Alattas (1967); The Myth of The Lazy Native; London: Cass.
2. Ismail R. Al-Faruqi and Lois Lamya’al Faruqi (1986); The Cultural Atlas of Islam; N.York: Macmillan Publishing Company.
3. Abdullah Yusuf Ali (1987); The Holy Quran: Text, Translation, and Commentary; Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf.
4. Collin Barlow (1985); Natural Rubber Industry in West Malaysia; London: Oxford University Press.
5. Philip Bobbit (2003); The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace, and The Course of History; N.York: Random House.
6. Victor Davis Hanson (2001); Carnage and Culture: Landmark Battles in the Rise of Western Power; N.York: Doubleday.
7. John Keay (2000); A History of India; London: Harper Collins.
8. Ibn Khaldun; The Muqaddimah; translated by Franz Rosenthal (1958); New York: Pantheon.
9. Joel Kotkins (1992); Tribes: How Race, Religion, and Identity Determine Success in the New Global Economy; N.York: Random House.
10. Edward Said (1978); Orientalism; N.York: Routledge and Kegan Paul;
11. Joseph Schumpeter (1975); Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy; N.York: Harper.
12. Adam Smith (1776); The Wealth of Nations; N.York: Prometheus Books.
13. Syed Ala’ Maududi (http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/maududi/).
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