资本主义并非起源于伊斯兰世界，因为它是在机器被发明之后才出现的，而机器的发明纯属偶然，发生在欧洲。

Capitalism did not originate in the Islamic world as it came into being only after the invention of the machine which took place by chance in Europe.

资本主义是在伊斯兰世界处于欧洲统治之下的时期传入的。随着发展的浪潮，它蔓延到了饱受贫困、无知、疾病和落后之苦的伊斯兰世界。这使一些人认为，伊斯兰教认可资本主义，包括其弊端与优点。他们还声称，伊斯兰法律或制度中并不存在与资本主义相抵触的条款或规定。他们的论据是：既然伊斯兰允许个人所有权，那么它也必然允许资本主义。

Capitalism was imported into the Islamic world at a time when it was under European domination. Together with the wave of development, it spread into the Islamic world which suffered from poverty, ignorance, illness and backwardness. This made some people think that Islam approves of capitalism, with both its evils and merits. They also claim that there are no provisions in the Islamic law or regulations such as might be in conflict with capitalism. They argue that as Islam permitted individual ownership it must likewise permit capitalism.

对于这一指控，只需指出以下一点便已足够：资本主义若没有高利贷和垄断便无法兴旺或发展，而伊斯兰教早在资本主义出现之前大约一千年就已禁止了这两者。

In answer to this accusation it might suffice to point out that capitalism cannot prosper or grow without usury and monopoly both of which were prohibited by Islam about one thousand years before the existence of capitalism.

但让我们更详细地探讨这个问题。如果机器的发明发生在伊斯兰世界，伊斯兰教将如何应对由此带来的经济发展？伊斯兰的立法与法律又将如何组织劳动与生产？

But let us tackle the question at some greater length. If the invention of the machine had taken place in the Islamic world, how would Islam have faced the economic development resulting from such invention? How would Islamic legislations and laws have organized work and production?

经济学家们一致认为——包括那些反对资本主义的人（例如卡尔·马克思）——资本主义在其初期带来了巨大的进步，并为人类做出了相当大的贡献。生产得到了提高，通讯手段得到了改进，国家资源得到了更大规模的开发。

There is consensus of opinion among economists-including those who are opposed to capitalism (e.g., Karl Marx-that capitalism at the start brought about great progress and rendered considerable services to humanity. production was increased, means of communication were improved and national resources were exploited on a larger scale.

随着工人阶级的生活水平超过了他们大多或完全依赖农业的时期，其生活标准也随之提高。

The standard of living among the working classes became higher than when they were mostly or completely dependent on agriculture.

但是，这幅如此美好的图景并未持续多久，因为正如他们所说，资本主义的自然发展导致财富集中到少数人手中。资本家所有者与此同时，工人阶级所拥有的财产相对减少。这使资本家能够利用工人——在共产主义者眼中，他们才是真正的生产者——大幅提高各类商品的产量，但工人所得的工资过低，无法保障体面的生活，因为雇主攫取了全部利润，并将其用于过奢华、腐化的生活。

But such a glorious picture did not last long because the natural development of capitalism, as they say, led to the amassing of wealth in the hand. If capitalist owners and to a relative diminution of the properties owned by the working classes. This enabled the capitalist owners to use workmen-the real producers in communist eyes-in considerably stepping up the production of various commodities but the wages paid to workmen were too low to ensure decent lire because the employers took all the profits and spent them leading a life of luxury and corruption.

除此之外,工人所得的微薄工资,使他们无法消费资本主义国家生产的全部产品,这导致了产品的积压,即生产过剩。

Besides this the scanty wages paid to workmen did not enable them to consume all the production or capitalist countries. This led to the accumulation or surplus production.

由于这一情况,资本主义国家开始为其过剩的产品寻找新的市场,这反过来催生了殖民主义,以及随之而来的各国之间为争夺市场和原材料资源而不断爆发的冲突。毁灭性的战争是所有这一切不可避免的结果。

As a result of this the capitalist countries began to look for new markets for their surplus production, which in turn gave rise to colonialism with all its incessant conflicts among different nations over markets and raw material resources. Destructive wars were the inevitable outcome or all this.

此外,资本主义制度总是面临周期性的危机,这些危机源于工资低下以及世界消费相对于日益增长的生产而言的不足,由此导致萧条。

Moreover, the capitalist system is always exposed to periodic crises resulting from depression caused by low wages and the scantiness of world consumption in relation to increasing production.

一些唯物主义的宣传者把资本主义制度的一切问题都归咎于资本本身的性质，而不是归咎于资本家的恶意或剥削的欲望。这种天真而怪异的推理意味着，人类连同他的全部情感与思想，在经济的力量面前不过是一个无助的被造物。

Some propagandists of materialism refer all the problems of the capitalist system to the nature of capital itself rather than to any ill-will or desire for exploitation on the part of the capitalists. Such naive and strange reasoning means that man with all his emotions and thoughts is but a helpless creature in the face or the power of economy.

毫无疑问,伊斯兰教会鼓励资本主义在其早期所带来的那些良好而进步的成就。但伊斯兰教不会任由资本主义在缺乏立法的情况下自行发展:它会通过立法加以组织,防止雇主的恶意或资本本身的性质可能导致的任何剥削。在这方面所确立的伊斯兰原则赋予工人与雇主分享利润的权利。一些马立克学派的法学家甚至主张,雇员应当获得与利润均等的份额。雇主提供全部资本,工人付出劳动,二者的付出相当,因此他们理应平分利润。

There is no doubt that Islam would have encouraged the good and progressive achievements that were brought about by capitalism in its early stage. But Islam would not have left capitalism without legislation to organize it and to preclude any exploitation which might result from ill-will on the part of the employers or from the very nature of capital. The Islamic principle which was laid in this respect entitles the workmen to share the profit with their employers. Some Maliki jurisprudents went so far as to give to the employee an equal share in the profit. The employer provides all capital and the workman does the work; the two efforts are equal and accordingly they are entitled to an equal share in the profit.

上述原则说明了伊斯兰对建立公正的高度重视。这种对建立公正的关切是伊斯兰自主提出的,并非出于任何经济上的迫切需要所强加,也不是某些经济学说的鼓吹者所宣称的阶级斗争的结果——他们认为阶级斗争是经济关系发展中唯一有效的因素。

The above-mentioned principle illustrates Islam's great concern with the establishment of justice. Such concern for the establishment of justice was voluntarily introduced by Islam. It was not forced thereon by any economic exigency nor was it the result of the struggle among classes which is regarded by the propagandists of certain economic doctrines as the sole effective factor in the development of economic relations.

起初，工业只包括简单的手工劳动，由少数工人在简陋的作坊里完成。上述原则本可以在劳动与资本之间建立起一种公平的关系，这是欧洲从未有过的。

In the beginning, industry consisted of simple manual work involving a small number of workmen who worked in simple workshop" The above-mentioned principle would have organized the relation between work and capital on an equitable basis such as Europe had never had.

经济学家认为,资本主义从早期的仁慈阶段发展到如今病态的邪恶阶段,伴随着它对国债日益增长的依赖。这导致了银行的产生,银行开展金融业务,并以收取一定利息为条件发放贷款。若无此类贷款,大多数银行业务便无从谈起,而这些贷款以及大多数银行业务都建立在高利贷之上,伊斯兰教明令禁止高利贷。

Economists say that the development of capitalism from its early benevolent phase to its present morbidly evil phase was accompanied by its increasing dependence on national loan. This led to the creation of banks which carried on financial operations, and advanced loans in return for some interest. Without that such loans as well as the majority of banking operations are based on usury which is expressly prohibited by Islam.

另一方面，激烈的竞争是资本主义的另一特征，它导致小公司被毁灭，或被并入大公司。这助长了垄断，而伊斯兰教同样禁止垄断，这一点可以从先知的一些圣训中得到印证。他ﷺ说："囤积居奇者是罪人。"由于伊斯兰教禁止高利贷和垄断，资本主义若在伊斯兰制度下发展，就不可能演变成今天这种包含剥削、殖民主义和战争的邪恶阶段。

On the other hand, tough competition, which is another feature of capitalism, leads to the destruction of minor companies or to their merger into major ones. This encourages monopoly which is also prohibited by Islam, as is borne out by some sayings of the Prophet. He said: “He that monopolizes is a wrong-doer" Because Islam prohibited usury and monopoly it would have been impossible for capitalism to develop under Islam into its present evil stage which involves exploitation, colonialism and war.

诚然，伊斯兰教不会把工业局限于小型作坊，即由雇主与工人分享利润的那种形式。生产本会得到更大的发展，而雇主与工人之间的关系，也会走上与十九、二十世纪欧洲雇主与雇员关系发展截然不同的道路。它会依据伊斯兰教的基本原则而发展，例如前面提到的那条规定：利润应在工人与雇主之间平均分配的原则。

Surely Islam would not have restricted industry to minor workshops whose profit is shared by the employer and the workman. Production would have rather grown but the relationship between the employer arid workmen would have developed on different lines from those outlining the development of the employer-employee relations in Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It would have developed in accordance with the basic principles of Islam such as the above-mentioned principle which provides for an equal division of profit between the workmen and their employer.

通过这样做，伊斯兰教本可以避免借助高利贷或垄断，也本可以杜绝资本主义之下工人所遭受的不公：他们被剥削，被迫忍受贫困与屈辱。

By so doing Islam would have avoided resorting to usury or monopoly and would have precluded the injustice to which workmen are subjected under capitalism where they are exploited and left to suffer poverty and humiliation.

认为伊斯兰教若不先经历艰难的考验、阶级冲突和经济压力，就不可能建立起这样的公正，并因此才修订其法律，这种说法是站不住脚的。事实已经充分证明，伊斯兰教在处理奴隶制、封建制和早期资本主义等问题上，走在了所有民族的前面。在这样做的时候，伊斯兰教并非受到任何外部压力的驱使，而是出于自愿，依据其自身对永恒公平与正义的理解行事，而这种理解却遭到共产主义作家的嘲笑。另一方面，作为典范的共产主义国家俄国，本身就是直接从封建制过渡到共产主义，而没有经过资本主义这一中间阶段。由此看来，俄国采纳了卡尔·马克思的学说，实际上却推翻了马克思关于每个国家都必须经历的发展阶段的理论。

It would be foolish to suggest that Islam could not have established such justice without first passing through hard ordeals, class conflicts and economic pressures which would ultimately lead to the amendment of its legislations. It is proved beyond all doubt that Islam had been ahead of all nations in dealing with the questions of slavery, feudalism and early capitalism. In so doing Islam was not acting under any outside pressure whatsoever. It was rather acting voluntarily and in accordance with its own conception of eternal equity and justice scoffed at by communist writers. On the other hand, it is a fact that Russia, a model communist state, itself passed directly from feudalism to communism without passing through the intermediary stage of capitalism. In this way Russia which adopted the doctrine of Karl Marx-practically gives the lie to Marx's theory regarding the phases of development which, he says, every state has to experience.

至于殖民主义、战争以及对各民族的剥削，应当指出，伊斯兰教坚决反对这一切，也反对资本主义所滋生的其他一切普遍罪恶。殖民他族、为剥削目的而对他人发动任何战争，都不是伊斯兰教的原则。伊斯兰教唯一认可的战争，是抵御侵略的战争，或是为了在和平传播真主之道受阻时使其得以传播而进行的战争。

As to colonialism, wars and exploitation of peoples, it should be pointed out that Islam is firmly opposed to all these as well as to all the other universal evils engendered by capitalism. It is not one of the principles of Islam to colonize other peoples or to wage any war against others for the purposes of exploitation. The only war approved by Islam is that which is waged against aggression or is meant to spread the Word of God where its peaceful dissemination is rendered impossible.