Can Islamic Economics be Implemented in the Modern World?
Having recently taken a semester on Islamic Finance and Economics, I’ve been reflecting on the obstacles and barriers for the implementation of Islamic Economics in the modern world.
In the book First Principles of Islamic Economics, Mawdudi writes that “it is imperative for an economic philosophy to be capable of grappling with the economic issues facing a particular country”, as well as conforming to the “moral attitudes and socio-cultural norms and traditions of that country”. However, in the book Morality and Justice in Islamic Economics and Finance, M. U Chapra writes about how Muslim countries have been reluctant to embrace the resurgence of Islam and Islamic Economics due to the threat it creates towards their regimes through its strong call for social justice and accountability. Chapra also noted that centuries of decline in the Muslim world have led to a paucity of Islamic values alongside deviation from Islamic norms, resulting in infertile ground for the introduction of Islamic Economic practices in these countries.
Reading these made me think about how it takes courage and vision for a leader to shun conventional economic paradigms for a path less trodden, and how the only country that I am aware of that purposely shuns gross national product — and therefore materialism and secularist economic policies — in…
