Muhammad Akram Khan

An Introduction to Islamic Economics (eBook, ePUB)

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

A Comprehensive Framework for Economic Justice and Human Flourishing



An Introduction to Islamic Economics by Dr. Muhammad Akram Khan presents a systematic exploration of an economic paradigm rooted in Islamic principles, offering substantive alternatives to the persistent failures of both capitalist and socialist systems. At a time when conventional economics struggles with widening inequality, environmental degradation, and recurring financial crises, this work articulates a vision of economic life organized around moral values, cooperative relationships, and genuine human welfare.



The Crisis of Conventional Economics



Dr. Khan begins by diagnosing the fundamental problems plaguing contemporary economic systems. The neoclassical paradigm that has dominated for two centuries increasingly reveals its inadequacy. Built on assumptions of inherent human selfishness, unlimited wants, and value-neutral analysis, conventional economics has generated material abundance for a minority while leaving vast populations in poverty, creating unsustainable consumption patterns, and severing the traditional link between moral values and economic behavior.



The socialist experiment has demonstrably failed, while capitalism, despite technological achievements, confronts deepening crises: persistent unemployment coexisting with inflation, staggering levels of public and private debt, extreme wealth concentration, environmental destruction, and the hollowing out of communities and families. These are not peripheral problems amenable to technical fixes, but structural defects rooted in flawed theoretical foundations and misguided priorities.



Contemporary economists themselves increasingly recognize these failures. Scholars like Amitai Etzioni challenge economics' exclusion of moral dimensions, while development theorists like Cristovam Buarque call for fundamental reordering of social objectives, subordinating technical and economic considerations to ethical values. The ground is shifting toward recognition that a new paradigm is necessary.



The Islamic Alternative: Fala? as Comprehensive Welfare



Islamic economics, as articulated by Dr. Khan, centers on the concept of fala?a multi-dimensional notion encompassing spiritual development, material well-being, social harmony, and moral excellence. Unlike conventional economics' narrow focus on utility maximization and GDP growth, Islamic economics pursues balanced human flourishing in this world as preparation for eternal success in the hereafter.



The Qurʾan identifies specific conditions for achieving fala? across multiple dimensions:



Spiritual conditions include consciousness of God (taqwa), humility in worship, remembrance of divine presence, and inner purification. These elements ground economic activity in transcendent purpose, preventing the reduction of human life to mere material acquisition.



Economic conditions encompass spending on social needs (infaq), payment of obligatory alms (zakah), prohibition of interest (riba), fulfillment of contracts and trusts, observance of justice, and productive enterprise. These principles create an economic system that prevents exploitation, ensures distributive justice, and channels resources toward genuine productivity rather than speculative gain.



Cultural and political conditions involve establishing congregational worship, pursuing knowledge over superstition, maintaining sexual ethics and family stability, exercising mutual consultation, and avoiding sectarianism. These create the social fabric necessary for economic cooperation and shared prosperity.



Dr. Khan demonstrates how this comprehensive vision transforms every aspect of economic organization and behavior.



Key Principles and Mechanisms



Interest Prohibition and Profit-Sharing



The prohibition of riba stands as perhaps the most distinctive feature of Islamic economics. Dr. Khan provides sophisticated analysis of why interest perpetuates exploitation and economic dysfunction. Interest creates structural unemployment by setting a hurdle rate that excludes marginally productive projects from financing. It generates inflation by entering production costs and enabling deficit financing. It redistributes wealth from productive enterprises and laborers to rentiers. It burdens developing nations with unpayable debts that transfer resources from poor to rich countries.



Islamic economics proposes profit-and-loss sharing mechanisms as alternatives. Under mu?arabah and musharakah partnerships, capital providers share in actual business outcomes rather than claiming guaranteed fixed returns regardless of productivity. This aligns incentives, distributes risks equitably, and channels finance toward genuinely productive activities.



Zakah and Redistributive Justice



Zakah functions as both spiritual purification and systematic redistribution. Calculated as a percentage of accumulated wealth rather than income, it prevents concentration while providing social safety nets without creating dependency. Unlike modern welfare systems funded by interest-bearing debt and deficit spending, zakah operates as a decentralized, community-based mechanism that maintains human dignity while addressing need.



Ethical Consumption and Production



Islamic economics rejects both asceticism and consumerism, advocating instead for balanced material engagement. Consumers should fulfill legitimate needs, live within means, avoid extravagance and waste, and spend surplus on social welfare. This generates a consumption pattern that supports sustainable production, prevents artificial want creation, and allows saving for productive investment rather than debt-financed consumption.



Producers operate under ethical constraints: honesty in transactions, quality in products, fair treatment of workers, environmental stewardship, and prohibition of harmful goods. These principles create economic activity genuinely serving human welfare rather than manipulating desires for profit.



Development Philosophy



Conventional development models obsess over GDP growth, industrialization, and technological catch-up, often at tremendous social and environmental cost. Islamic economics reconceives development as progress toward fala?fulfilling basic needs for entire populations, developing human capabilities, maintaining environmental balance, and strengthening moral and spiritual dimensions of life.



Dr. Khan presents differentiated strategies for countries at different resource levels. Poor countries should focus on human development, appropriate technology, and self-reliance rather than dependent industrialization. Resource-rich countries should avoid consumerism while using wealth for broad-based welfare and spiritual development. Both must prioritize justice, participation, and sustainability over mere GDP maximization.



Engaging Contemporary Problems



Dr. Khan applies Islamic principles to major contemporary challenges:



Unemployment and Inflation: These twin problems persist because conventional policies treat symptoms rather than causes. Abolishing interest would remove the structural barrier to full-employment levels of investment. Balanced budgets would end inflation from deficit financing. Profit-sharing would reduce wage-push inflation. Simple living would moderate demand pressures.



Economic Development: Current models fail because they ignore human needs while pursuing financial returns. Islamic development prioritizes human welfare, uses local resources, maintains cultural integrity, and measures success by comprehensive well-being rather than per capita income alone.



International Economics: The current order transfers wealth from poor to rich nations through interest on debt, unequal trade, and resource extraction. Islamic principles would restructure international relations around interest-free assistance, equitable exchange, and genuine cooperation rather than exploitative dependence.



Methodology and Worldview



Dr. Khan carefully distinguishes Islamic economics from conventional approaches in methodology. While neoclassical economics claims value-neutrality and builds from assumptions of rational self-interest and unlimited wants, Islamic economics explicitly grounds itself in revelation, treats humans as moral agents with spiritual dimensions, and recognizes limits to legitimate desire and acceptable behavior.



The Islamic worldview sees all creation belonging to God, resources provided for human benefit but with responsibility for stewardship, and economic activity as worship when conducted within divine guidance. This framework generates a completely different orientation toward wealth, consumption, production, and distribution than secular materialism permits.



Scholarly Contribution



Professor Khurshid Ahmad's foreword positions this work within the development of Islamic economics as a discipline. Dr. Khan's background in banking, audit, and rural finance provides practical grounding, while his extensive work on Islamic economics bibliography demonstrates comprehensive engagement with the field's literature. His approach combines theoretical rigor with practical application, classical scholarship with contemporary relevance.



The work serves multiple audiences: students encountering Islamic economics for the first time, professional economists seeking alternative paradigms, policymakers exploring solutions to intractable problems, and general readers concerned about economic justice. Its accessibility does not compromise scholarly standards; rather, it reflects Dr. Khan's ability to communicate complex ideas clearly.



Conclusion: Hope for the Future



Dr. Khan presents Islamic economics not as sectarian particularism but as universal rational principles capable of addressing humanity's common economic problems. His vision encompasses interest-free finance liberating investment from artificial constraints, cooperative organization replacing exploitation, ethical consumption enabling sustainability, and human-centered development serving genuine welfare.



In an age of economic dysfunction and moral crisis, An Introduction to Islamic Economics offers a comprehensive alternative grounded in time-tested principles and oriented toward justice, cooperation, and human dignity. Whether readers embrace its theological foundations or simply recognize the practical failures of conventional systems, this work challenges them to envision economic possibilities beyond the narrow confines of materialistic individualism and to work toward an economic order truly serving human flourishing.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: Prophetic Economics
• Seitenzahl: 190
• Erscheinungstermin: 1. Dezember 2025
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9789366080598
• Artikelnr.: 76016722

Autorenporträt

Dr. Muhammad Akram Khan stands among the pioneering scholars who have dedicated their intellectual energies to articulating Islamic economics as a coherent academic discipline capable of addressing contemporary economic challenges. His scholarly trajectory reflects both deep immersion in Islamic textual traditions and sophisticated engagement with modern economic theory and practice.



Dr. Khan's academic contributions span theoretical formulation and practical application. His extensively annotated bibliography on Islamic economics represents a landmark achievement in organizing the burgeoning literature of this nascent field, providing researchers with an indispensable navigational tool through diverse writings on Islamic economic thought. This meticulous bibliographic work demonstrates his comprehensive grasp of scholarship produced across linguistic, geographic, and methodological boundaries.



His substantive research focuses particularly on banking, performance audit, and rural financeareas where Islamic principles intersect directly with institutional design and operational implementation. This practical orientation distinguishes his work from purely theoretical treatments, grounding Islamic economic concepts in the realities of financial systems, accountability frameworks, and development challenges facing Muslim societies.



The present volume, An Introduction to Islamic Economics, exemplifies Dr. Khan's distinctive scholarly approach. Professor Khurshid Ahmad, in his foreword to this work, praises the book's simplicity, directness of style, unapologetic approach, and reliance on original sources to develop Islamic perspectives on a number of economic concepts, issues and problems. These qualities reflect Dr. Khan's conviction that Islamic economics need not be defensive or apologetic; rather, it should confidently articulate its principles as rational, humane alternatives to failed conventional paradigms.



Dr. Khan's methodology integrates classical Islamic scholarship with modern economic analysis. He draws extensively from the Qurʾan, Sunnah, and jurisprudential literature, demonstrating continuity with centuries of Muslim intellectual engagement with economic questions. Simultaneously, he engages critically with neoclassical economics, Keynesian theory, and development economics, showing where Islamic principles offer superior solutions to problems that have confounded conventional approaches.



His work addresses both Muslim and non-Muslim audiences. While rooted in Islamic revelation and tradition, his presentation emphasizes the universal applicability of Islamic economic principles to problems of exploitation, inequality, unemployment, and environmental degradation that afflict humanity regardless of religious affiliation. This universalist dimension reflects Islam's self-understanding as guidance for all humankind.



Beyond individual scholarship, Dr. Khan has been instrumental in the institutional development of Islamic economics. His collaboration with organizations such as the International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Institute of Policy Studies has helped create infrastructure for sustained research, publication, and policy advocacy. His work on interest-free banking frameworks and zakah administration has influenced practical implementations across Muslim-majority countries.



Dr. Khan's scholarly legacy lies in demonstrating that Islamic economics constitutes a coherent paradigm grounded in robust theological foundations, capable of generating practical solutions, and relevant to universal human concerns about justice, sustainability, and genuine welfare. His work continues to inspire subsequent generations of scholars and practitioners committed to realizing the vision of an economic order that serves human dignity rather than financial accumulation.

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