Putting Social Justice First: The Case ofIslamic Economics By Asad Zaman∗ Junaid Qadir
Abstract
If we try to figure out the most pressing economic problems in the world today, most concerned citizens would prioritize those problems relate to urgent societal welfare needs—e.g., feeding the hungry, housing the homeless, and treating the sick or disabled. But we find a huge mismatch between these objectives and the intents, priorities, and effects of modern economic systems, which are fixated on increasing wealth and production often at the cost of other factors that relate to human welfare. In this paper, we argue the case for a new economics in which social justice acts as the cornerstone. Towards this vision, we present the case of Islamic economics, which is an economic system based on justice, equality, and other principles that prohibit exploitation of others and social harm.
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