Land Ownership Reform in Islam

Ridwan Ridwan

doi:10.5539/ass.v15n2p164

Abstract

This article shows that Islam has laid the foundations of agrarian law reform or land reform, from the oppressive and exploitative pre-Islamic system of land ownership towards the fair, equitable and humanist-religious-based distribution of land ownership. The purpose of agrarian reform cannot be separated from the objectives of the law in general, that is to create justice, expediency and law certainty which describe the legal values either juridical, sociological or philosophical. To explain the idea of agrarian reform in Islamic law, there are some discussions proving the existence of the notion of land ownership reform in terms of the process of land right ownership and patterns of land distribution by the State based on the historical data, especially early history of Islam. Shifting paradigm from the feudalist pre-Islamic ownership system to the communalist-religious Islamic ownership system under the single authority of the head of state on the basis of the principle of fairness rests on the spirit to realize the ideals of public benefit.

Highlights

The existence of land has religio-cosmic significance besides its economic value
Land is an important asset for economic development utilized by varying actors ranging from an individual to the large organization and government agencies (Hamzah et al, 2013)
Policies in land law taken by Umar ibn Khattab, in addition to avoid the concentration of wealth in the hands of certain people, show the basic principle of assets ownership, including land ownership, as the rights of all people, in which the control is on the State

Summary

Introduction

The existence of land has religio-cosmic significance besides its economic value. Land is an important asset for economic development utilized by varying actors ranging from an individual to the large organization and government agencies (Hamzah et al, 2013). The history of land law development has been presenting the diversity of people’s perception about the position and meaning of land as property. The diversity of people’s perception in understanding and positioning land leads to tense relations either among individuals, individuals with their social environment, or individuals with the state This is possible because the nature of land is constant (Siddiqui, 1996) and, in the same time, the number of people requiring lands increases from time to time. The basic concept of land regulation in history is analyzed to give engender with relations that influence each other This method use data reduction, present and describe data systematically and the author gives an interpretation of that data

Pre-Islamic Land Ownership Practices

Land Ownership in Islam

Land Ownership Reform in Islam

Conclusion