One goal of this lecture is to adopt an Islamic style of discourse. The rule of Western academic and intellectual discourse make it impossible to develop and Islamic Economics. Initial few paragraphs are displayed here. See also related lecture on Islamization of Knowledge.
Lecture 1: On the Islamization of Knowledge
1. Islamic Approach to Knowledge:
وَمَا خَلَقْتُ الْجِنَّ وَالْإِنسَ إِلَّا لِيَعْبُدُونِ (51:56)
51:56 I created the jinn and humankind only that they might worship Me.
Every act in the life of a Muslim should be an act of worship. It is stated in a Hadeeth that those who get to paradise will have no regrets, except for the moments they spent in neglect/forgetfulness of Allah. As a teacher, my teaching should be an act of worship. As a student your study should be an act of worship. How can we make this happen?
There are three major requirements for an act of worship (and many minor ones). The first is the intention. All acts are judged according to intentions, and even the greatest ones, like acquisition of knowledge, or the sacrifice of ones life, or wealth, can fail to be worship if the intention is not purely the pleasure of Allah Subhanahu wa T’aala. Similarly, a small act, like giving a date in charity, can be of great value in the eyes of Allah if done with the pure intention of pleasing Allah. Secondly, the action must be done in obedience to the commandments of Allah. Thirdly, the action must be done according to the Sunnah of our prophet Mohammad s.a.w.
It is clear to all that the Ummah of the Muslims is in great difficulty on many fronts, including spiritual, social, political and economic. All Muslim leaders have been concerned with the issue of how these problems can be solved. However, errors in diagnosis have led to the pursuit of the wrong remedies, which have aggravated problems instead of solving them. In fact, our Deen Islam is the greatest gift of Allah to humankind and is complete and perfect. It contains the methods needed for solving our current problems. Unfortunately, some of the core teachings of Islam have been forgotten by Muslims as a whole, and there are no living instances of Islamic societies (with all institutions -- political, economic and social – based on Islamic principles ) currently in existence. Since Islam is a way of life, and not a philosophy or an intellectual enterprise, the prophecy of our prophet Mohammad s.a.w. that “Islam came as a stranger, and will soon become a stranger” has come true. In this course, we will show how the teachings of Islam can solve our economic problems in ways far superior to those that leading experts in Western economics know of, or those contained in contemporary textbooks.