Tag: IslamicStudies

Iqtisaduna (Our economics)

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The book begins with an incisive academic criticism of dialectical materialism, the philosophical backbone of Marxist thought. Al-Sadr argues that history is an incredibly complex phenomenon that cannot be reduced to a single driving force, such as the economic factor or the means of production. He asserts that various other elements, including religious convictions, political structures, and social dynamics, play primary and often independent roles in shaping human destiny. He challenges the foundational logic of materialism by pointing out that it cannot explain the “first push” of the universe or human development without acknowledging a non-material or Divine cause. For al-Sadr, the materialist view is a narrow lens that fails to capture the multidimensional nature of human existence.

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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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Economic Thinking of Arab Muslim Writers During the Nineteenth Century

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The authors highlight the negative effect of colonialism and double standards of Europe to keep the Muslim lands under colonial and imperial rule. They awakened the Muslims to avoid becoming laggards, isolated and mere consumers. Rather, they should also advance knowledge and sciences and do not feel shy in learning from the Western development experience. However, in doing that, they should not be uncritical to take everything European as acceptable, especially when it comes to interest based banking. Given that, there is much to take from socio-economic innovations such as the joint stock companies, mutual insurance, bank-based payment systems. The authors provided positivist explanations of how these institutions and structure avoid the problem of moral hazard, information asymmetry and achieve pooling of funds, risk diversification and efficiency.

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Beyond Integrative Approaches: Methodological Tensions in Islamic Economics

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Islamic Economics stands at a crossroads. To analyse what is, it must pragmatically adapt mainstream tools—provided they are stripped of reductionist assumptions. To articulate what ought to be, however, it must dare to innovate: developing tawhid-centric models that reflect humanity’s role as Allah’s stewards (khalifah). This dual approach rejects both uncritical integration and isolationist purism. As Dr. Shaikh advocates, pluralistic methodology allows IE to engage the mainstream while retaining its soul. The goal is not to mimic physics-envying economics, but to redefine economics itself—as a science of human flourishing, anchored in divine guidance. In the words of the Quran, “Do they not contemplate the Kingdom of the heavens and the earth?” (7:185). Islamic Economics, at its best, is this contemplation enacted—a discipline where tools serve truth, not the other way around.

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