Islam, very simply, is a philosophy of human liberation

"Islam, very simply, is a philosophy of human liberation. Its first summon, "Say there is no god but God and prosper," propounds Tawhid as the necessary means to that end. We see that from the same beginning, Islamic humanism ascends to a kind of awareness, while Marxist humanism proceeds to a kind of production. 

Then does Islam lead to a mystical and ascetic idealism foreign to actuality? Has Islam, like the mystical religions and ideologies, forgotten the principle of justice? Not at all! Islam addresses economic welfare and social justice as principles of its social order; indeed it stresses them. 

To be precise, in Islam these principles constitute essential prerequisites; they can free man from poverty and discrimination so that, through moral growth and particular evolution, he may freely unfold his inherent divine nature. This is paramount to the philosophy of human life in Islam." 

-- Dr. Ali Shariati