Economics 101: The Broken Window Fallacy

Alhamdulilah, this short video explains why government bailouts, stimulus plans and "job creation" schemes never help an economy but in fact make things worse.

The baker in the video makes reference to Frederic Bastiat and Henry Hazlitt. Bastiat's work is called That Which is Seen, and That Which is Not Seen, while Hazlitt's book is called Economics in One Lesson. The latter was first published in the 1940s and explains very clearly and brilliantly how a healthy economy can be brought to ruin, albeit unwittingly,  and thus it explains why the global economy, especially in the United States and Europe, is in such a terrible state. 

And with Allah alone is every success.

Imam An-Nawawī on the Ten Days of Dhul Ḥijjah

The chapter on the Adhkār of the first ten days of Dhul Ḥijjah[1]

Allah the Exalted has said: “so that they can invoke[2] Allah’s name on specific days.” [Al-Ḥajj 22:28] Ibn ʿAbbās, Ash-Shāfiʿī and the majority say that these are the ten days of Dhul Ḥijjah.

Know that it is recommended to increase one’s dhikr in these ten days more than any other time, and it is recommended to do it more on the Day of ʿArafa[3] than any of the remaining ten days.

504_We have related in Ṣaḥīḥ Al-Bukhārī on the authority of Ibn ʿAbbās, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “There are no better days than these in which to do good deeds.” They said: ‘And not even to strive in God’s way?’ He said: “Not even to strive in God’s way, except for a man who goes out and risks his life and his wealth and does not come back with either.” This is the wording of Al-Bukhārī, and it is authentic.[4] The wording in the collection of At-Tirmidhī is: “There are no days in which to do righteous action that are more beloved to Allah than these ten days.” The wording in Abū Dāwūd’s narration is almost identical, except that his says: “than these days” i.e. the ten days.

We have related in the Musnad of Imam Abū ʿAbdillah Bin ʿAbdur Raḥmān Ad-Dāramī, with the chain of transmission of the two Ṣaḥīḥ collections, that he said regarding it: “There are no better days in which to do good deeds than the ten days of Dhū Al-Ḥijjah.” It was said: ‘Not even striving?’ The rest of the ḥadīth was then quoted in full. In another narration it says: “the ten days of Al-Aḍḥā.”[5]

505_We have related in the book of At-Tirmidhī, on the authority of ʿAmr Bin Shuʿayb, on the authority of his father, on the authority of his grandfather, that the Prophet, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “The best supplication[6] is the supplication on the Day of ʿArafa, and the best thing that I and the Prophets before me have said is: ‘There is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner. He has the Dominion and He deserves all Praise, and He has power over everything.’[7]” At-Tirmidhī declared its chain of transmission to be weak.

506_We have related in the Muwaṭṭāʾ of Imam Malik, with a chain of transmission that is mursal[8] and the wording of which is shorter, which is: “The best supplication is the supplication on the Day of ʿArafa, and the best thing that I and the Prophets before me have said is: ‘There is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner.’”

507_It has reached us on the authority of Sālim Bin ʿAbdillah Bin ʿUmar, may Allah be pleased with him, that he saw someone asking people on the Day of ʿArafa, so he said: ‘O feeble one! Is other than Allah, Mighty and Majestic, asked on this day?’

508_Al-Bukhārī has said in his Ṣaḥīḥ: ‘ʿUmar would make takbīr[9] in his dome in Minā, and the people in the masjid would hear him and do likewise. Then the people in the market would follow likewise until all of Minā was shaking with takbīr.

509_Al-Bukhārī said: ‘In these ten days, ʿUmar and Abū Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with both of them, would go out to the markets and make takbīr and the people would make takbīr with them.

Related Posts:
Dhūl Ḥijjah, the Day of ʿArafah and Fasting

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[1] (Translator’s note: translated from Al-Adhkār lil Imām Abi Zakariyyā Yaḥyā Bin Sharaf An-Nawawī Ad-Dimashqi (Beirut: Muʾassasa Al-Maʿārif, 2005) p.154-155

[2] (tn): i.e. dhikr

[3] (tn): i.e. the 9^th of Dhul Ḥijjah

[4] (tn): Ar. ṣaḥīḥ

[5] (tn): i.e. the Sacrifice

[6] (tn): Ar. duʿāʾ

[7] (tn): Ar. La ilaha illa Allah, waḥdahu, la sharīka lah, lahu al-mulk, wa lahu al-ḥamd wa huwa ʿalā kulli shayʾin qadīr. It should be noted that even though this ḥadīth is weak per se, it is backed up by numerous other ṣaḥīḥ ḥadīths that mention the praiseworthiness of this invocation. For example, there is the ḥadīth in the collections of Al-Bukhārī and Muslim in which the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, said: “Whoever says: ‘There is no god but Allah alone, He has no partner. He has the Dominion and He deserves all Praise, and He has power over everything’ one hundred times in a day, will have the reward of freeing ten slaves. Also, one hundred good deeds will be written down for him, one hundred evil deeds will be erased from his account and he will be protected from Shayṭān on that day until he turns in. No one can bring anything better than what this person has brought apart from the person who does more than that.”

[8] (tn): i.e. a ‘discontinued’ or ‘disconnected’ ḥadīth, especially at the level of a Companion.

[9] (tn): i.e. saying Allah Akbar