of the populace, spreading like fire through dry brush. Most people possessed nothing that could repel their onslaught or subdue their wickedness; indeed, the principles, doctrines, morals, and policies they did hold only enabled the likes of these—those who corrupt both mankind and land. Yet—praise be to Allah—the Majestic Qur’an and the straight religion have guaranteed the defeat of such people just as they have guaranteed the defeat of every other foe. Within the Qur’an are principles, virtues, and noble etiquettes that drive them back in rout.

What it contains of justice, of the obligation to grant every class its due rights according to its circumstances; what it stipulates of zakah and makes it compulsory; what it requires of providing for the needs of the poor and the destitute; what it commands regarding the maintenance of both public and private interests and the preservation of ownership and lawful claims—all of this is the most truthful statement and the finest ruling for shielding society from the evils of these corrupters.

Likewise, the Qur’an’s exhortation to lofty manners, elevated character, religious brotherhood, and the Islamic bond prevents their evils from infiltrating, for the surest route of those mischief-makers is the dissolution of morals, the unraveling of decorum, the severing of beneficial ties, and the fomenting of a general revolt against capitalists who hoard and withhold. Even if they display material might and dominate people through coercion, enslavement, greed, and avarice, they cannot remain steadfast when faced with this unsettling, ruinous current once it sweeps over them. They possess no weapon to match its weapon, no force to confront its force, because they have not held fast to the Qur’an, wherein lie protection, spiritual strength, soundness, reform, justice, the removal of oppression, and exalted manners and morals that hurricanes of destruction cannot shake. Rather, it hurls the truth against falsehood, smashing it so that it vanishes.

Thus, when these corrupters advance with fortified negation, denial, and diversion, the Qur’an counters with proofs and demonstrations