"Islam’s Gift: An Economy of SpiritualDevelopment." American Journal of Economics and Sociology 78.2 (March 2019): 443-491.
Pre-publication draft available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3314802
https://bit.do/ajes - Post on Islamic WorldView Blog -- a sequence of posts explaining this paper in great detail
Abstract: According to the standard narrative, economics is an objective and scientific study of universal laws applicable to economic affairs of modern societies. After a brief introduction, the second section of the paper presents a counter-narrative which disputes this claim, and provides an alternative point of view which situates modern economics within its European historical, political, and social context. We briefly discuss why the conventional methodology of modern economics makes false claims to objectivity and universality. The third section provides an alternative methodology, which is based on the recognition that human behavior is inherently and unavoidably normative, and any study of human beings and societies must take this into account. The fourth section of the paper brings out the norms concealed within the foundations of modern economics, since the avowed methodology does not permit explicit and open expression of these norms. The fifth section describes Islamic views which describe the normative ideals for our personal and social lives. In particular, Islam aims at the development of the potential for excellence that every human being is born with. It does not aim at accumulation of wealth and material possessions, nor does it aim at achievement of happiness through the maximization of pleasure achieved by consumption. The sixth section describes the transformational strategies required for spiritual progress in different dimensions of our human existence. The seventh section describes some of the institutional structures required in the economic realm to assist in the achievement of the transformation towards the normative ideals. The final section explains how we should use our unique and precious lives to aim for higher goals than mere consumption of goods and acquisition of wealth.
Acknowledgements: A note on the genesis of this paper will allow me to express my deep appreciation and gratitude to Clifford Cobb, and also explain his contributions towards shaping the unique point-of-view expressed in this paper.
As Edward Said has explained in Orientalism, the conquest of the globe by Europe colors all European productions of knowledge about the Orient. Because of the dominance of European educational systems, these Eurocentric views have also been absorbed and assimilated by Muslims. This has caused great difficulties in the development of Islamic Economics, because Muslim scholars have attempted to reconcile two diametrically opposite views. European views give primacy to the material dimensions, which Islamic views give primacy to the spiritual dimensions of human existence. In my writings – for example, “The Crisis in Islamic Economics,” and “Building Genuine Islamic Institutions” – I have explained how this attempt has prevented the emergence of genuine Islamic theories as well as genuine Islamic institutions which embody these theories. The majority of the literature on Islamic Economics attempts the impossible task of making minor modifications to Western economic theories, to align them with Islamic Views.
Cliff asked me to write a paper explaining Islamic Economics from an authentic Islamic viewpoint, uncontaminated by Eurocentric perspectives. I wrote initial drafts with sensibilities of a modern secular audience in mind, and tried to avoid stepping on toes. But this has the natural consequence of diluting and modifying the message in subtle ways. Cliff repeatedly encouraged me to avoid pulling punches, and the present paper is the final result after a sequence of attempts. As many authors have documented in detail, the transition from a traditional society based on Christian values to the present day secular modern society was a revolution in ways of thinking and acting. Islamic views on economic organization would be familiar to pre-modern thinkers, but alien and strange to modern scholars. Understanding it will require ‘walking in alien moccasins for mile’.
Keywords: Islamic Economics, Homo Economicus, Homo Islamicus, Transformation of Human Behavior.
JEL Codes: B41, B59, P49
KAU-JIE-Classification: G1, H11, M1
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