SustDev

Qadir, Junaid, and Asad Zaman. (2019) "Sustainable development viewed from the lens of Islam." International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education Vol 10, no. 1 : 46-60. DOI: 10.1504/IJPEE.2019.098181 Preprint available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325946300_Sustainable_Development_Viewed_from_the_Lens_of_Islam

Work related to Sustainable Development:

1. Zaman “Islam’s Gift: An Economy of Spiritual Development” March 2019, American Journal of Economics and Sociology. Article shows that historical accidents led the West to ignore the heart and soul of man as relevant sources of knowledge. This led to founding of modern economics on absurd theories of human behavior. Using Islamic sources to re-create the complexity of human behavior, and imbuing life with higher purpose, leads to a radically different vision of economics, which has far greater respect for all the creation of God. This lies at the heart of sustainable development

2. Qadir, Junaid, and Asad Zaman. (2019) "Sustainable development viewed from the lens of Islam." International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education Vol 10, no. 1: 46-10. Article explains how sustainable development emerges naturally from the Islamic point of view that property is given to us as a trust, and our ownership is justified by our improving the assets and creating social welfare from them. This automatically requires us to leave the world a better place for our descendants, the key to sustainability. Islamic emphasis on simplicity in lifestyle, avoidance of waste in consumption, and other eco-friendly norms, are very much in conformity with principles of sustainable development.

3. Zaman (2016) "Unregulated Markets and the Transformation of Society," Chapter 18 of Routledge Handbook of Ecological Economics: Nature and Society. Editor Clive Spash. 2016. This article shows how capitalism emerged via the Great Transformation of Polanyi, which changed economic, political, and social institutions, and developed mindsets adapted to a market society. Damage to environment is caused by our view of the Amazon forest as a natural resource of value according to its usability in the production process. Reversing this mindset will require undoing the great transformation.

4. Zaman (2104) "Evaluating the Costs of Growth," Real World Economics Review, issue 67, 9 May 2014, page 41-51. The standard justifications for capitalism portray the geometric growth of wealth. However, this does not take into account the costs to the planet. When these costs are evaluated, the damages done to the planet far outweigh the calculated benefits. This furnishes us with another argument for sustainable development.

Achieving sustainable development requires creating public awareness. Among my numerous articles in newspapers on diverse topics, the following relate to this topic:

• • Ecological Suicide -- Express Tribune 27th July, 2015

  • Small Good Deeds – Express Tribune 13th July, 2015