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.
Mainstream economic policies often prioritize short-term goals, such as inflation control and GDP growth, over addressing the root causes of unemployment. This short-sighted approach can lead to unemployment persistence, even during periods of apparent economic growth. By contrast, behavioural economics urges policymakers to adopt long-term and holistic strategies that prioritize social welfare and sustainable job creation, offering a more nuanced and comprehensive perspective on addressing unemployment.
The omission of the family from ESG frameworks is not a minor oversight—it is symptomatic of a deeper malaise within secular ethics and governance. As Professor Nejatullah Siddiqi once noted, “The preservation of family is not a cultural preference—it is a civilizational necessity.” The Mf-ESG model, with its Tawhidic, Maqasidic, and civilizational foundations, offers a corrective to the ESG paradigm’s moral myopia. It presents a model of sustainability not limited to compliance and metrics but inspired by meaning, purpose, and transcendence.
This model deserves further exploration and institutional support through high-level scholarly forums, international think tanks, policy summits, and academic curricula. It bridges theory and practice, faith and governance, offering not only a critique but a constructive framework for a just and flourishing civilization.
This year’s Human Development report examines what distinguishes this new era of AI from previous digital transformations and what those differences could mean for human development (Chapter 1), including how AI can enhance or subvert human agency (Chapter 2). People are already interacting with AI in different ways at different stages of life, in effect scoping out possibilities, good and bad, and underscoring how context and choices can make all the difference (Chapter 3). Human agency is the price when people buy into AI hype, which can exacerbate exclusion (Chapter 4) and harm sustainability. And, of course, who produces AI and for what matter a lot for everyone (Chapter 5).
Islamic Economics Project 