Category: Articles on Islamic Economics

Articles on Islamic Economics

Environmental Sustainability in the Prophetic Sunnah: A Foresight Perspective

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The author argues that the Sunnah presented a forward-thinking model long before the modern concept of sustainability emerged. This model emphasizes resource preservation, responsible consumption, and the protection of future generations’ rights. Unlike modern secular models, the Sunnah is argued to provide a holistic framework that integrates spiritual, moral, and practical dimensions into environmental care. The author argues that environmental protection is an inherent part of the higher objectives of Islamic law (Maqasid al-Shariah), specifically the preservation of the five essentials: religion, life, intellect, progeny, and wealth.

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A Critical Survey of Islamization of Knowledge

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The book is a succinct summary of the major thoughts in Islamization of knowledge and the noted author provides a clear demonstration of ideas and how they contrast with each other. An equally useful contribution of the book is the illustration of the different views in flowchart diagram to ease understanding through illustrations. Finally, the book also contains abstracts of seminal works together with a useful and relevant bibliography for interested readers.

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Highlights of World Health Statistics 2025

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The COVID-19 pandemic led to a 1.54-year global drop in Healthy Life Expectancy (HALE) between 2019 and 2021, with mortality and pandemic-related outcomes causing 1.29-year and 0.28-year losses, respectively. The impact was most severe among adults aged 30+ years. Regions like the Americas and Southeast Asia saw significant HALE losses (2.72 years and 2.5 years, respectively), mainly due to COVID-19 mortality. Increased morbidity from COVID-19, anxiety disorders, and depressive disorders also contributed to HALE declines, offsetting pre-pandemic gains.

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Measuring What Truly Matters: A Maqasid al Shariah Approach to Reforming Gross Domestic Product

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When economic policy is guided solely by GDP, these ethical imperatives may be undermined. For example, a country may pursue industrial expansion that increases GDP but harms public health, violating hifz al nafs. Liberalization of entertainment sectors may boost GDP but erode moral and family values, violating hifz al din and hifz al nasl. Financial expansion through interest-based lending may raise GDP but undermine fairness and risk sharing, violating hifz al mal.

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Utility Maximization, Morality, and Religion

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The paper contrasts this self-centred economic model with moral philosophy. Egalitarian ethical theories which include Utilitarianism, Rawls’s theory of justice, Situation Ethics (Joseph Fletcher), and Kantian ethics (Categorical Imperative), all require that, as a necessary condition for morality, one must treat the welfare of others the same as or equally to one’s own welfare.

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Capitalism: A Very Brief Introduction

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Capitalism is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as, ‘An economic and political system in which property, business, and industry are controlled by private owners rather than by the state, with the purpose of making a profit.’ Following this definition, not every country can be considered ‘capitalist’.

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Stabilizing Purchasing Power of Common Medium of Exchange 

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The rate of return for most non-agricultural activities will fall to naught, while the rate of return for farming will soar high. The organized sector, assisted by interest-driven financing, keeps prices of its products and services high by controlling production and employment. Due to the confusion created by the illusion of consistently rising prices, commoners fail to respond effectively.

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The Dual Structure of Islamic Economics: Economics of Religion and Religious Economics

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Islamic economics is fundamentally a normative field, dedicated to the in-depth study of the normative principles outlined in the Qur’an and the Sunna (religious economics). In its empirical research, it probes into the economic behaviours and values of Muslims. As a result, it extensively utilizes economic tools to comprehend Muslim behaviour, integrating the economics of religion as one method of exploration.  In reconciling normative (what should be) and positive (what is) economics, the discipline also emphasizes facilitating the transition from the current state to an ideal one, aiming to transform ‘what is’ into ‘what should be’. This agenda is central to Islamic economics, as it is to religious economics.

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The Financial Crisis and the Systemic Failure of Academic Economics. Lessons from the Financial Crisis: Causes, Consequences, and Our Economic Future

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The authors note that the instability leading to crisis is assumed away by the models which assume inherent stability. Economists are confined to models of stable states that are perturbed by limited external shocks. Economists failed to incorporate the intrinsic recurrent boom-and-bust dynamics characteristic of a complex economic system. Consequently, ‘systemic crisis’ is treated as an ‘otherworldly event’ absent from theoretical frameworks.

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