To qualify as 'Islamic’, Islamic economics must somehow be linked to economic elements of the Islamic heritage. That much has always been taken for granted. But what is that heritage, and in what ways, if at all, might it constrain the drive to build an Islamic economy?
The most basic Islamic resource is the Qur’an, for a believer the ultimate authority on all matters. Many of its 114 sUras, or chapters, contain exhortations and prohibitions of an economic nature. The basis for these injunctions is that individuals are prone to moral weakness and, hence, need moral guidance (for example, 4:28).29 Accordingly, various sUras define one or another dimension of economic virtue, in order to educate believers intent on living morally about what economic behaviours to avoid and where to use their own judgement (94:1 3). Along with moral guidelines, the Qur’an provides a disincentive for straying from the path of righteousness: divine retribution (33:72 3).
If Qur’anic economic prescriptions serve any one substantive principle, it is moderation. Discouraging asceticism, they urge believers to 'disperse in the land and seek of Allah’s bounty’ (62:10) through both personal and collective initiatives (43:32). They also invite believers to become knowledgeable (55:33) and attain material comforts (7:32). Significantly, no ban is brought against private ownership, and diverse worldy inequalities between men and women, master and slave, one nation and another are allowed, if not also endorsed (2:251, 43:32, 11:117 18). By the same token, economic standing is considered irrelevant to status in afterlife. All believers are equal before God and enjoy the same capacity for attaining salvation. A requirement for enter ing heaven is to consume, invest, exchange, produce and save responsibly. Avoiding consumption 'in vanity’ (2:188), believers must 'lower their gaze and be modest’ (24: 30). They should appropriate only what is rightly theirs, not seek enrichment through begging and never advance at the expense of others
29 All references to the Qur’an are to the 1909 translation ofMarmaduke Pickthall, reissued as The glorious Koran (New York, 1992). Spellings have been modernised.
World History
