Islamic economics: a brief introduction

This chapter gives a bird’s eye view of Islamic economics as a social science. Islamic economics is an expansion in the scope and method of conventional economics, which relies on reason and experimentation only. Islamic economics benefits also from the Qur’an and the life of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who was guided by the divine Revelation in all matters. Thus, Islamic economics has three sources of knowledge: reason, experimentation, and the Revelation. It is not a compilation of the Islamic injunctions, nor does it replace conventional economics. It studies the economic problem but has a wider resource-base as compared to conventional economics because it benefits from Islam’s primary sources as well. Its focus is on human well-being through justice, moderation and sharing. As a supplement to conventional economics, its scope is restricted to the study of those areas where guidance is available in the primary sources of Islam.