ISLAMIZATION OF ECONOMICS?

The Islamization of economics seems to be done ‘dichotomously’ between the conceptual (theoretical) and the empirical dimensions.

•   In the conceptual part, Islamic economists attempt to find Islamic justification based on Quranic verses over certain theories.

•   While in the empirical part, Islamic economists just utilize and apply the common statistical methods into an Islamic/Muslim case, assuming no contradiction to Islamic heritage.

Syed Farid Alatas (2006) observed, Islamic economics as empirical theory has not done  much. It remains within the fold of Western modernist discourse in terms of theoretical concerns and methodology, and has therefore failed to offer alternative princples to modernization and dependency on the dominant paradigm.

Sardar (1988; 2002)  also warned that, “Islamic economics is little more than one huge attempt to cast Islamic institutions and dictates, like zakāh and prohibition of interest, into a western economic mould. The dominant models guide the analysis and shape the inquiry: everything is compared and contrasted with capitalism and socialism, highlighting the fact that there is an underlying apologia at work.”

 Islamic economists often get trapped into the conventional paradigm. They may actually be contributing to the ‘westernization of Islam’, by fitting Islamic teachings into the neo-classical framework rather than the opposite.

(Haneef, 2005) At most, the current development of Islamic economics is working within the boundaries of neoclassical theory, with some adjustments to incorporate teachings/norms/values that reflected certain requirements of Islam.

Choudhury (1999, 1) also argues that: “In recent years when Muslim scholars wrote on Islamic economics, they had to turn to mainstream economic theories and clothe these up with a palliative of Islamic values. But no new challenge was posed on the epistemological beginnings of a new field of analytical and scientific study. There was no demand from the Muslim scholars to well-define a distinctive field of Islamic economics. The Muslim scholars thus approached the study of Islamic values in neoclassical economic models of behaviour and resource allocation without questioning either the value-orientation of neoclassicalism or the possibility of treating Islamic values in such otherwise value-free models of economic behavior, pricing and allocation.”

As a result, Islamic Economics has become almost a sub-discipline of conventional neoclassical economics, without Islamic justification.

References : methodology of Islamic economics :Overview of present state and future direction. International Journal of Economics, Management & Accounting 19, no. 1 (2011): 1-26