circumstance for theft, of which the Prophet Muhammad (MPBUH)says: “Poverty andstarvation mayleadto disbelief.”® Indeed, wrote Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri, “the collective achievement of moral andspiritual ideals, according to the Qur’an, dependsuponthesocial integrity and economicprosperity of the society.”® GODLY SOCIAL ORDER Accordingly, we pose the question: Do we havea social order and environment that dampensone’s inclinations to a life of vices and crimes or which leads one to a virtuousexistence orrighteouslife? In Genesis and Corinthians, manis createdin the image of God.® In Baqarah, Al Qur’an, God appointed manas His viceregent on Earth.Thus, man, by divine providence, is enjoined to reflect and actualize these godly attributes towards other creatures. For this purpose, God hasrevealed to us His guidance which camein the form of Holy Scriptures. Both the religions of Islam and Christianity profess the principle or partnership, trusteeship, or stewardship, or brotherhoodin political and economic relations, in which oneis a ward of the otherandvice versa. In his Epistle to the Hebrews, Paul writes: Rememberthemthat are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.% The Qur’an teaches that Muslimsare like brother to one anotherand that mankind are created by God from a male and female and madeinto tribes that they may know one another and that the most honorable among them, in the sight of Allah, is he whois the mostrighteous.” In Christianity as in Islam, the two most important commandmentsarefaith or belief in God (and his Prophets and Angels) and love of neighbors. On these two fundamentalinjunctions flow corollary teachings that define the wardship of man with one another in humanity and under the supreme headshipof the Almighty. In the pastoral Constitution Gadium et Spes (1965) of Second Vatican Council, it says that if you have not fed a man dying of hunger, you have killed him. Prophet Muhammad (MPBUH)saysthatif you profess to be a believer but can afford to sleep while thereis a hungry brother miles away, you are not one amongusand youare not a Muslim. Imam Ali (MPBUH)says that God had madeit obligatory on the rich to ministerto the needsof the poor.If, inspite of this obligation, the poorfolk go unfed or unclothed or experience economicdistresses, it only showsthat the rich have not fulfilled the obligations laid on them by God. On the day of reckoning they will be called to account for this lapse in their part and God will inflict a grievous punishment on them. In Sertum Laetitiae (1939), Pope Pius XII said; “God does not ® Ibid. p. 141 *Ibid. ® Genesis 1:26-27; 1 Corinthians 11:7 * Qur'an 2:30 ee. Epistle 13:3 ® Qur'an 3:104 ° Qur'an 49:14 23