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’.
December 2025 issue (Vol 5, Issue 12) of Moral Reflections on Economics features: “The Dual Structure of Islamic Economics: Economics of Religion and Religious Economics” by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mohd Nahar Mohd Arshad, Department of Economics, KENMS, IIUM;
“Stabilizing Purchasing Power of Common Medium of Exchange” by Hifz Ur Rab; Highlights of Islamic Finance Development Report by Hammad; Book review of “Capitalism: A Very Brief Introduction” by James Fulcher reviewed by Aisha Wani; Research paper in focus on “Utility Maximization, Morality, and Religion” by Dr. Jonathan E. Leightner and regular sections of reflections, market news, economic and financial indicators and call for papers.
Download at: https://islamiceconomicsproject.com/periodicals/
Entrepreneurs may have less or more capital than they plan to invest. Owners of surplus capital may withhold it or may make it available to investors. This may be based on profit sharing ratio or interest. In the Islamic system, charge of Zakah assisted by expected share in profit motivates the owners of capital to get it invested while in a capitalist system, interest motivates the capitalist creditors to lend capital for earning interest.
In Marxian economics, it is argued that labor creates surplus value in the production process that capitalists extract in the exchange process. Marx said that the capitalist purchases the use value of labor (service) and pays labor something equivalent to the exchange value of labor time. It is barely enough to keep the labor survive. However, when the capitalist sells products created by “labor power,” these products command more exchange value and this excess is known as surplus value. The surplus accumulates and this is exploitation of labor by the capitalists.
Despite huge burden of taxes in this budget, 75% of all tax revenues will just go in paying interest on and instalments of previous debt. Last year, government spent around Rs 400 billion in PSDP. Spending every year in PSDP falls short of announcement. This Rs 400 billion is less than even 5% of what we will pay in debt servicing and less than 20% of what we will spend in defense.
We are living in a capitalist society where wealth is circulated mostly among the rich. This creates systematic inequality and this issue continues to further exacerbate the hardships faced by the workers. There are various studies on Islamic banking and finance, but the labour side of Islamic economics is not much focused upon and the number of research studies are limited. The purpose of this study as explained by the author is to explore the progress made in labor economics from an Islamic perspective, especially in advancing policies that can improve the well-being of workers.
There is too much focus on efficiency, but equity is ignored and is left to politicians and policymakers. He admits that our recommendations become little more than a license for plunder. He mentions that economists have stopped thinking about ethics and human well-being.
There are many methodological approaches put forward by esteemed economists in Islamic economics. These approaches include the circular economy approach, moral economy approach, institutional approach, assimilative approach and pure transformative approach.
Money supply can be increased out of thin air, but the non-renewable resources once exhausted cannot be brought back. Remarkably, the importance of ecology is not learnt even after repeated unsuccessful expeditions in space to search life supporting environment. An illuminating, enlightening and informative book cannot be valued just by measuring the cost of pages, printing and binding.
If an economy has 10 million people, then should the food be produced and distributed to the markets for all 10 million people? Most people would answer yes. It is because food […]
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