Ten Courses

{bit.ly/TenCourses} I have now made substantial progress in developing courses which replace traditional mainstream courses with Islamic alternatives. These are not courses which start with Bismillah and end with Dua, while teaching conventional subject matter in between. An Islamic approach completely changes the subject matter, because even the definition of knowledge is different. My lecture on “An Islamic Approach to Knowledge” spells out some of the differences.  See also the  units on Islamic WorldView and Islamic Education to access a lot more material about the fundamental differences between Western and Islamic styles of education.  

This is an old listing, which I am now updating. I now have many more courses than ten, but I have not changed/updated the title of the page.

 For links to my articles and videos, see: AZPROJECTS (Guide)

A short list of the courses which I have developed is given below. These are currently available for use by any teacher who would like to adopt an Islamic approach to teaching conventional economics subjects:

1. IIIE Research Guide: This provides guidance to students on how to choose a topic and prepare a research proposal for an M.Phil. Degree. Although this was targeted to Economics students at IIIE, the advice would be generally useful to all students trying to prepare a research proposal for M Phil or even a Ph.D.

2. Experimental Economics (2012) Course highlights the failures of conventional game theory to understand real human behavior in games, and shows how Islamic concepts provide useful insights.

3. Advanced Microeconomics I (2017): This course starts by using the Hill & Myatt Anti-Textbook to familiarize the student with conventional economic theories, and explain their failings. Then it proceed to construct alternatives which reject the optimization and equilibrium paradigm which traps and constrains conventional economics.

4. Advanced Microeconomics II (2018): Currently ongoing course based on Holt & Davis text on Experimental Economics, it examines conventional micro within an experimental framework. By being subjects in experiments and by running experiments themselves students learn the vast differences and contradictions between economic theories and real world markets. Course provides students with deep intuition about real world economics which is not available by studying formulas as in conventional courses.

5. Capitalist Economics (an Islamic Approach): This course treats economic theory within its historical and cultural context. The course covers Karl Polanyi’s The Great Transformation: Historical and Political Origins of Our Times, and relevant theoretical materials.

6. Mini-Course on Macro-Economics: A sequence of 8 lectures on Macroeconomics covering major macroeconomic concepts in historical context, focusing on the controversies between Keynes and the Chicago School, as well as the role of Money, Money creation, and an Islamic version of the Iceland Plan for Monetary Reform.

7. Descriptive Statistics: An Islamic Approach: This basic course on descriptive statistics explains that numbers cannot be analyzed in isolation from their real world meanings and application context. Once real world context, and “useful knowledge” is taken into account, then Islamic concepts play an important role. See post on “Statistics: An Islamic Approach?” for further explanations. 

8. Real Statistics: A Radical Approach - Parts 1 and 2. Part 1 describes the philosophical foundations upon which an alternative approach to statistics has been developed. This part is available as an online course, and a DRAFT textbook is also available. Part 2 applies these methodological ideas to rebuild statistics on entirely , This part is still under development. 

9. Fundamental Probability Concepts: An Islamic Approach. Focusing on what is USEFUL, as opposed to theorem/proof/axiomatics, is like focusing on driving, instead of teaching how the car engine works. This set of six lecture teaches basic concepts of probability theory for one variable case at the level of Mood, Graybill and Boes, using the bare essential mathematics required. A second set of lectures on the multivariate case is planned.

10. Econometrics for Muslims: Focusing on materials which useful in applications, and excluding many standard topics which have theoretical value but no application creates an unusual approach to econometrics.

11. Applied Regression Analysis: This unusual course focuses on a large number of aspects of regression models which are crucial for practice, but not taught in standard textbooks. Because researchers are unaware of these issues, typical regression analysis in applied papers is seriously defective in several dimensions. These flaws are explained, and remedies are taught.

12. Bayesian Econometrics: Existing textbooks are too complex, and require very heavy math background. This course teaches the essentials of Bayesian methodology assuming minimal mathematical background, and explains the types of data analysis where this method is useful for inference.

13. Advanced Macroeconomics 1 & 2: Website contains twenty five lectures from MAC01 to MAC25 for advanced Macro I, based on Modern Monetary Theory. Original Course used the early version of the textbook by Wray, Mitchell & Watts. Now use current updated version Macroeconomics by same authors.  Second course Advanced Macro II consists of 26 lectures labelled AM01, AM02, to AM26. These finish up the MMT text and go on to cover Why Minsky Matters as second text.

14. Islamic Economics 2023: This is my latest version of my Islamic Economics course. Previous versions provided more of a critique, and less of a rebuilding, but this version of the course starts out by building the entire discipline on new foundations.  Outlines and Lectures of past versions - with different arrangements and different coverage of materials, are available from: Islamic Economics 2019 and Current Issues in Islamic Economics 2012

15. Principles of Islamic Education: This is an essential course, but currently not well developed.

Finally, it is important to explain that these courses are all half-way houses — temporarily useful because of contemporary knowledge. They all have a three part structure — A: Explaining Conventional Concepts, B: Explaining why these are wrong or flawed, C: Taking steps towards creating superior alternatives.  EVENTUALLY, A and B will both become un-necessary and we will only need to do part C. However, for the moment we need to engage with what is currently being taught. This is similar to the Ilm-ul-Kalam that was invented to deal with theological problems arising out of Greek philosophy. When Greek philosophy became discredited and obsolete, there was no longer a need to learn how to refute it. However, this knowledge was essential when it was the dazzling and dominant paradigm.

POSTSCRIPT: Update older list of online lectures/courses on my home website: asadzaman.net