Recent interview with Saudi billionaire (in USD) at Forbes here. Not short, pretty wide ranging discussion that includes the concept of unemployment in Saudi Arabia and his views on tax policy in Saudi Arabia.
Interesting:
Wealth creation in the Islamic world is very important because Islam, really, is a blend of capitalism and socialism. For example, there’s a verse in the Qur’an, and if you go to my hotel George V, you’ll see that verse up there, that says, “If you thank God, God shall give you more.” That’s pure capitalism, obviously. It says you can earn more. Yet, on the other hand, Islam has a compulsory tax, which is more important than the tax in the United States. For example, if you don’t pay tax in the United States, that’s a crime, obviously. But in the Islamic world, that’s more than a crime. It’s against faith. I take this issue of wealth creation and paying our Islamic zakat very religiously. It’s really very much part of Islam. It says “You can create as much wealth as you want, but be sure that you abide by the rules and relations of Islam that says you have to pay that every year for the needy, the poor, et cetera.”
8 comments:
"Forbes: Are you buying more Citibank at its current price?
Prince Alwaleed: No, we have enough. We have enough. Really, we have enough. "
Sounds like he has enough Citi....
Not only the Qur'an. See Deuteronomy 14: 22-29 and 15: 1-11, and Matthew 31-46.
Alwaleed seems like a fairly conventional thinker. He is very careful to stay in what the mainstream calls "the center." But even he knows Tom Friedman is full of it.
Dave,
He seems completely westernized. He might as well be a US/European citizen.
Talks about "wealth building"... all it seems they are building is hotels.
I dont see any "desert reclamation" investments identified. They seem to be 110% riding the petroleum bandwagon, not much else... I dont know if this is such a good long term strategy for the broad population over there...
Resp,
Yeah, Matt, his "wealth building" sounds suspiciously like old fashioned "rent taking." He does understand at some level that there is a need for the extremely privileged to "give something back," but I don't know if he really grasps the deeper wisdom that lay behind Muslim economics or the mosaic land law. It's not just about saving your royal neck, it's about having mechanisms for redressing imbalances that will otherwise grow to undermine the whole community or nation.
Great takeaway Dave: "the deeper wisdom that lay behind Muslim economics or the mosaic land law."
My reading of the Mosaic Law as pertains to the "tithe" is certainly NOT charity.
The tithe was set aside for the tribe of Levi (1 of the 12 tribes) who did not receive an allotment of the land. The Levites were assigned responsibilities pertaining to worship, sacrifices, maintaining the tabernacle, keeping the scrolls, etc... this was a lot of real work and the Levites had no time for farming, so the law mandated that the other 11 tribes set aside a portion of their real output for the Levites as their means of subsistence.
This is NOT charity. This was the law. There were other aspects of the law that addressed the needy among Israel and sojourners and guests who may have found themselves in need in the land.
Everyone else in the other 11 tribes enjoyed a JG/BIG thru the allotment of the land.
So I dont see how the "prince" here can justify his position where he gives I guess a portion of his "wealth" to the "needy". How have they become "needy"?
I can see cases where people have special needs due to various health issues, physical defects, but this is a very samll portion of the human population. The only way people generally become "needy" is thru unjust distribution via TPTB imo which this "prince" seems to be a member of....
In the west, Christendom has developed this whole concept of "charity" (which is to me basically faith thru works, ie false) to offset, and really in many ways enable, our unjust and corrupt economy delivered by our moron govt policy makers.
Paul didnt go around all of Greece and Rome opening up soup kitchens. Charity can be a snare if it gets out of hand. Takes our eyes off the ball of injustice.
Resp,
Thanks for laying that out, Matt.
The fate of Middle East population is gloomy sadly. Look at North Africa, impossible birth rates and population for a damn desert = recipe for disaster.
When the oil era is over, and soemday it will be, there will be nothing left there, there is no real wealth in these nations to support such population with a good quality of life.
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