Both the development of the economy and the success of social institutions depend on the creation of the right environment for progress, an environment which enables both businesses and people to realize their full potential.

Health and welfare are the predominant items in the budgets of most countries. Huge amounts of money can be wasted on them if management is poor.

If given the right environment, private enterprise can do a great deal more than simply invest, it can introduce competition and stimulate growth. Indeed its successes have tended to highlight the weakness of public sector monopolies

The wind does not blow in the same direction for ever

Islam is a total religion touching on all aspects of a Muslim's life. Therefore the Imam, whilst caring first of all for the spiritual wellbeing of his people, should also be continuously concerned with their safety and their material progress.

Islam is an all encompassing faith and it gives direction to every aspect of one's life. It urges the individual to lead a balanced life, one that strives to accommodate both material progress and spiritual well-being. But no man, woman or child can hope to achieve this balance in sickness, illiteracy or squalor.

And while Canada may not be unique in welcoming the victimized to her shores, where she stands very nearly alone is in her encouragement to her new citizens to maintain their traditions and customs. An encouragement that is in my view a particularly wise and mature expression of democratic freedom.

Islam therefore guides man not only in his spiritual relationship with God, it also guides man in his relationship with his fellow men and his relationship with the material world around him. It encourages enterprise, but warns that enterprise, without a social conscience, is not acceptable.

Ultimately, the question we are asking is, whether man will serve all of humanity or only certain segments of it.

The new economic order is clearly of the greatest importance to us all, but I venture to say that few industrialised nations of the North have been so consistently supportive of the concept than Canada.