As the weather warmed up this week and then again cooled down, I along with many others sighed a huge sigh of relief. Knowing that summer is approaching in Pakistan is not about eating sweet mangoes and drinking cold salty lassi but the fear of how we will cope with the ever increasing load shedding and the ever increasing electricity bills.

Every year it seems that the misery is just compounded and the simmering frustration may just explode and may be something will change. Recent protests in different cities by sections of Pakistani society, well before the peak of load shedding and the forecasted price hikes, is an indication that the long hot summer may also bring some change that is long lasting and a real relief for the masses.

Knowing that Pakistan has the ability to generate electricity and also the ability to provide it at reasonable rates to the masses adds further insult to injury. Pakistan has the ability to create ample electricity through solar, wind, water, coal and nuclear sources – Pakistan possesses the world’s largest coal field!

It is the present capitalist system that ensures that a few private owners benefit from energy resources whilst the public faces hardship. Rising utility prices is a consequence of the capitalist privatisation of public properties, not a lack of resources or inability to generate electricity.

Privatisation raises utility prices so that the private owners can profit immensely.

As an example the World Bank has closely overseen rising electricity charges, which surged between 2000 – 2004 and continue to rise. So, whilst a small, local group amasses huge wealth by owning energy resources, the rest of society is stricken by increasingly unaffordable energy prices. Citizens face ever increasing utility bills, such as gas and electricity. And the rising costs have also crippled Pakistan’s industry and agriculture. Factories, shops, farms are all affected by the cost of electricity and the productivity of all sectors is severely hampered by power outages.

Islam on the other hand, assigns energy resources as public property. Neither the state nor individuals can usurp its benefit for themselves. Instead Islam ensures that the entire public benefits from the wealth.

RasulAllah صلى الله عليه و سلم said,

الْمُسْلِمُونَ شركاء فِي ثَلَاثٍ الْمَاءِ وَالْكَلَإِ وَالنَّارِ

“The Muslims are partners in three things, waters, feeding pastures and fire.” (Ahmad)

So, only the Islamic state will ensure that the public benefit from energy resources, providing cheap energy to fuel agriculture and industry and affordable domestic rates. Knowing that Allah سبحانه وتعالى has forbidden any individual or company from using energy as a commodity from which they can acquire self-benefit and inflict misery on others, prevents a massive problem that we all face today.

The real crisis we are faced with is not that our electricity bills will increase whilst our actual consumption will be reduced due to the outages, but rather the real crisis is that we are governed by the Capitalist system which is based on exploitation of the masses and benefit for the few. It is only possible to avert the energy crisis and every other crisis once the Capitalist system itself is removed and replaced by the just system revealed by our Creator, Allah سبحانه وتعالى.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى warns us:

وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَنْ ذِكْرِي فَإِنَّ لَهُ مَعِيشَةً ضَنْكًا

“Whosoever turns away from My Reminder verily, for him is a life of hardship.” [Ta-Ha 20:124]

May Allah سبحانه وتعالى guide us back to His Reminder and provide us relief from the shackles of the Capitalist system that has been imposed upon us.

For further reading see: REPORT: The Khilafah’s energy policy