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By Abdal Hakim Murad 'Platinum Parachutes', by Abdal Hakim Murad Good morning. Who would want a platinum parachute? This is, apparently, the new jargon for a corporate goodbye present so enormous that the term 'golden handshake' simply doesn't do it justice. In the United States, severance awards for the fattest of the fat cats can now top a hundred million dollars. Here in Britain, the chief executive of Glaxo's said goodbye to the prospect of a vast award when, on Monday, outraged shareholders staged the biggest ever shareholder revolt in UK corporate history. He had been hoping for twenty-two million pounds. The religions are, of course, prophetically angered by inequality. In the case of Islam, much of the Prophet Muhammad's anger was directed against the business elite of Mecca, blinded by wine, women and song to the misery of society's outcasts. But Islam has other worries, which seem even more alien to today's corporate culture. Muslims are asked to be concerned not only with inequality, but with wealth as such. A man once came to the Prophet and said: "O Messenger of God, I love you." When he had told him to consider what he was saying, and the man declared three times, "I swear by God that I love you," he replied: "If you are speaking the truth, then prepare an armour for poverty, for poverty certainly comes quicker to those who love me than a flood does to its destination." The Prophet himself lived a life of intense austerity. He would not sleep at night unless he had given to the poor any money or food that remained in his house. His door was a piece of sackcloth. He often walked barefoot. He used to pray: "O God, cause me to live among the poor, and to die among the poor, and to be resurrected among the poor." Religion often unnerves us by confronting us with this kind of apostolic poverty, the image of the barefoot saint. But how can we realistically make use of this? Despite the example of its founder, Islamic culture produced a rich mercantile civilisation. It gave us the legend of Sinbad the Sailor, who braved sea-monsters and sirens to do his bit for world trade. It often produced great magnificence. In the middle ages, Islam's own globalised economy stretched from Morocco to Malaya, making the lands of Islam far wealthier than Christendom. The Prophet, despite his personal lifestyle, did not condemn wealth as such, but rather the vices to which it often leads. "Wealth is a blessing", he remarked, "to those whose hearts are blessed". One of his followers said: "Coins are like scorpions: if you don't know how to handle them, don't pick them up". He was asked how one could avoid being stung, and he replied: "Acquire them honorably, and give them to the deserving". A timely message, I think, for the fat cats of our unequal world. |
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