Editing Islamic economics (section)

==Definitions and descriptions==
{{Islamism sidebar|Fundamentals}}
According to Hasan Raza, after more than six decades of its formal/ informal existence, a consensus on the definition of Islamic economics has not yet emerged.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Iqbal |first1=Dunawar |last2=Syed Ali |first2=Salman |last3=Muljawan |first3=Dadang |date=2007 |title=Advances in Islamic Economics and Finance |url=http://www.iefpedia.com/english/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/Advances-in-Islamic-Economics-Finance-%E2%80%93-Munawar-Iqbal-Salman-Syed-Ali-Dadang-Muljawan.pdf |access-date=22 June 2016 |page=4}}</ref> Some definitions that have been offered include:

*"that branch of knowledge which helps to realize human well-being through an allocation and distribution of scarce resources that is in conformity with Islamic teachings without unduly curbing individual freedom or creating continued macroeconomic and ecological imbalances." ([[Umar Chapra]])<ref name=WIEE>{{cite web|last1=ILYASLI|first1=Omer|title=What is Islamic Economics?|url=http://islamiceconomy.net/what-is-islamic-economics/|website=Islamiceconomy.net|access-date=14 July 2015|date=Apr 17, 2013}}</ref> (similarly, the "study of human behavior with regard to acquiring and using resources for the satisfaction of necessities, needs, and other desires," but "based on the assumptions" of the Islamic "outlook on life and humanity". (Monzer Kahf)){{sfn|Kahf|2003|p=25}}
*"the study of an ... economy which abides by the rules of the Shariah", i.e. an Islamic economy (a definition used by some, according to M. Anas Zarqa).<ref name=zarqa-2008-30>[http://islamiccenter.kaau.edu.sa/7iecon/index.html Zarqa, M. Anas. (2008), ''Duality of sources in Islamic economics, and its methodological consequences''. Paper presented at 7th International Conference on Islamic Economics, King Abdulaziz University, 1–3 April, Jeddah. p.30] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090513210320/http://islamiccenter.kaau.edu.sa/7iecon/index.html |date=May 13, 2009 }}</ref>{{sfn|Khan|2013|p=4}}
*a discipline that goes beyond the practice of Western economics—which seeks to make "positive analysis" and give an objective description of ''what is''—to provide normative policy prescriptions of ''what ought to be'' and ''can be''.{{sfn|Khan|2015|p=66}} And which seeks to achieve a "transformation of human beings from followers of base desires to people concerned with achieving higher goals".<ref name="Zaman 2008 28"/> (Feisal Khan{{sfn|Khan|2015|p=66}} describing the ideas of M.R. Zaman,<ref name="Zaman 2008 28">{{cite journal |author=Zaman, M.R. |date=2008 |title=Usury (riba) and the place of bank interest in Islamic banking and finance |url=http://epublications.bond.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=ijbf |journal=International Journal of Banking and Finance |volume=6 |page=28 |access-date=2017-06-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161213190200/http://epublications.bond.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1009&context=ijbf |archive-date=2016-12-13 |url-status=dead }}</ref> M.U. Chapra,<ref name="Chapra 2008">{{cite web |last1=Chapra |first1=M. Umar |title=Islamic economics: what it is and how it developed |date=2008 |url=http://eh.net/encyclopedia/islamic-economics-what-it-is-and-how-it-developed/ |website=EH.net |access-date=2 June 2017}}</ref> and M.N. Khan & M.I. Bhatti.<ref name="Khan and Bhatti 2008">{{cite book |last1=Khan |first1= M.N. |last2=Bhatti |first2=M.I. |title=Developments in Islamic Banking: The Case of Pakistan |location=Basingstoke and New York |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |date=2008}}</ref>) 
*"a discipline that is guided by the Shariah and studies all human societies" (A definition used by others, according to M. Anas Zarqa)<ref name=zarqa-2008-30/>{{sfn|Khan|2013|p=4}}
*"restatements of Islamic economic teachings", using "modern economic jargon". (What most of the knowledge content in the body of Islamic economics amounts to according to economist Muhammad Akram Khan){{sfn|Khan|2013|p=xv}}
*an ideology
**"a revolutionary ideology" to change "the corrupt reality ... into a pure one", and "not a science of political economy" or "an objective analysis of existing reality". (Ayatollah Murtaza Mutahhari)<ref name=PTAM-90>{{cite book|last1=Davari|first1=Mahmood T.|title=The Political Thought of Ayatollah Murtaza Mutahhari: An Iranian .|date=2005|publisher=Routledge.|page=90|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oYHi4AfofW8C&q=%22islamic+economics%22+is+an+ideology+not+a+science&pg=PA90|access-date=15 July 2015|quote=Islamic economics is not a science of political economy. Rather it is a revolution (that is a revolutionary ideology) for changing the corrupt reality and turning it into a pure one. It is clearly not an objective analysis of existing reality.`|isbn=9781134294886}}</ref>
**an "ideological construct" developed by 20th century Islamists (by [[Abul A'la Maududi]], Ayatollah [[Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr]], [[Abolhassan Banisadr]], etc.) taking basic prescriptions from [[sharia]] (Islamic law), and systematizing and conceptualizing them "to construct a coherent and functional ensemble offering a middle ground between the two systems of the twentieth century, Marxism and capitalism." (Social scientist [[Olivier Roy (professor)|Olivier Roy]])<ref name="roy-133"/>
* Zaman (2015)<ref name="Zaman2014">{{cite book|author=Zaman, Asad|editor1-last=Egri|editor1-first=Taha |editor2-last=Kizilkaya|editor2-first=Necmettin|title=Islamic Economics: Basic Concepts, New Thinking and Future Directions |date=2015|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|location=UK|isbn=978-1443874564 |pages=58–76|chapter-url=https://ssrn.com/abstract=2608326|chapter=Re-Defining Islamic Economics}}</ref> argues that confusion regarding appropriate definition of Islamic economics has arisen because of attempts to mix Western economics concepts with Islamic ideals, when the two are diametrically opposed to each other in many dimensions. He proposes a definition based on purely Islamic sources: "Islamic Economics is the EFFORT/STRUGGLE to implement the orders of Allah pertaining to economic affairs in our individual lives (Micro),  in our communities (Meso), and at the level of Ummah (Macro)."

===Fiqh and Islamic economics===
Fiqh (religious law) has developed several traditional concepts having to do with economics. These included:
* ''[[Zakat]]'' – the "[[charity (practice)|charitable]] taxing of certain assets, such as [[currency]], [[gold]], or [[harvest]], with an eye to allocating these taxes to eight expenditures that are also explicitly defined in the Quran, such as aid to those in need."
* ''[[Gharar]]''—"uncertainty". The presence of any element of excessive uncertainty, in a [[contract]] is prohibited.
* ''[[Riba]]''—"referred to as [[usury]] (modern Islamic economists reached consensus that Riba is any kind of interest, rather than just usury)"<ref>{{harvnb|Roy|1994|p=[https://archive.org/details/failureofpolitic00royo/page/132 132]}} is prohibited.</ref>

Another source lists "general rules" include prohibition of ''Riba'', ''Gharar'', and also  
*''[[Qimar]]'' (gambling)<ref name="tabari" />  and
*the encouragement of ''[[Taa’won]]'' (mutual cooperation),<ref name="tabari" />
*"the overriding doctrine of fairness in commercial dealings is established."<ref name="tabari" />

These concepts, like others in Islamic law, came from study of the [[Quran]] and [[Hadith|ahadith]].   

In addition to [[Quran]] and [[Hadith|ahadith]], sometimes other sources such as ''[[al-urf]]'' (custom), or ''al-[[ijma]]'' (consensus of the [[Ulama|jurists]]) are employed,{{sfn|Schirazi|1997|p=170}} to create laws that determine whether actions were [[Haram|forbidden]], [[Makruh|discouraged]], [[Mubah|allowed]], [[Mustahabb|encouraged]] and [[Fard|obligatory]] for Muslims. The different school of fiqh (''[[madhhab]]'') vary slightly in their rulings.

Works of fiqh are typically divided into different "books" such as a Book of ''[[Iman (concept)|Iman]]'', of ''[[Salah]]'', ''[[Zakat]]'', ''[[Taqwa]]'', ''[[Hajj]],'' but not `economics` or `economy`.<ref name="roy-133"/> Some brief works might contain almost nothing related to matters of property, sales, finance {{#tag:ref|such as ''The Essential Hanafi Handbook of Fiqh'' by Qazi Thanaa Ullah).<ref>''Essential Hanafi Handbook of Fiqh'' A Translation of Qazi Thanaa Ullah's Ma La Budda Minhu, by Maulana Yusuf Talal Ali al-Amriki, (Kazi Publications, Lahore, Pakistan)</ref>|group=Note}} Others do not gather questions on economic issues in one heading, the case in ''Tawzih al-masa'il'', a work of [[fatwa|fatawa]] by Ayatollah [[Ruhollah Khomeini]], who although a pioneer of [[political Islam]] approached the subject of economy {{blockquote |text=as the classical ulamas do ... the chapter on selling and buying (''Kharid o forush'') comes after the one on pilgrimage and present economic questions as individual acts open to moral analysis: `To lend [without interest, on a note from the lender] is among the good works that are particularly recommended in the verses of the Quran and in the Traditions.`<ref name="roy-133"/> |author=Ruhollah Khomeini |source=''Tawzih al-masa'il'', p. 543}}
Other works divided the subjects of fiqh into four "quarters":{{sfn|Jaliz|Ramli|Shahwan|2014|p=8}} typically worship (al-`Ibadat), marriage and family law (al-Munakahat), criminal law (Jinayat), commercial transaction law (''[[Muamalat|Mu'amalat]]'').<ref name="ODI-muamala">{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1564?_hi=0&_pos=4953|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412120009/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t125/e1564?_hi=0&_pos=4953|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 12, 2015|title=The Oxford Dictionary of Islam. Muamalat|website=Oxford Islamic Studies Online|access-date=25 January 2015}}</ref> At least one author (M. Kahf) writes that ''Mu'amalat'' is "closely related" to Islamic Economics.{{sfn|Kahf|2003|p=46}} (However even with the "quarters" division of fiqh topics ''mu'amalat'' would not include inheritance or wedding dower (''[[mahr]]'') (which at least often comes under marriage and family law),<ref>{{cite web|last1=Hassan|first1=Mohamed Fadzli|title=INTRODUCTION TO USUL AL-FIQH |url=http://ufaoil.blogspot.com/2008/02/introduction-to-usul-al-fiqh.html|access-date=6 April 2017|date=10 February 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Wan Yussof|first1=Wan Nor Aisyah|title=The Originality of Qard and its Implication on the Loan Theory: Does Intention Matter?|url=http://jams92.org/pdf/MSJ04/msj04(013)_wannoraisyah.pdf|website=jams92.org|access-date=6 April 2017|page=13|quote=Fiqh al-Munakahat: it deals with marriage, divorce, inheritance, guardianship and related matters}}</ref> or calculation of alms (''[[zakat]],'' which comes under ''al-`Ibadat'')).

A number of scholars ([[Olivier Roy (professor)|Olivier Roy]], [[Timur Kuran]], Omar Norman) have noted the recentness of reflecting on economic issues in the Islamic world,{{sfn|Kuran|2004|p=x}}<ref name="roy-133"/><ref name="norman-74" /> and the difference between economics the social science based on data, and Islamic jurisprudence based on revealed truth.

Salman Ahmed Shaikh and Monzer Kahf insist on a clear distinction between the roles of ''Fiqh'' and Islamic Economics, Shaikh saying <blockquote>to be meritorious as a separate field of inquiry, Islamic economics cannot confine itself just to explaining and deducing laws in economic matters based on core principles. Since this function is already performed by the discipline of Islamic jurisprudence ...<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://islamiceconomicsproject.wordpress.com/2014/03/11/difference-between-islamic-economics-and-islamic-law/|title=Difference between Islamic Economics and Islamic Law|last=Shaikh|first=Salman Ahmed|date=2014-03-11|website=Islamic Economics Project|access-date=2017-04-06}}</ref> </blockquote>
M. Kahf writes that ''mu'amalat'' and Islamic economics "often intermingle",{{sfn|Kahf|2003|p=47}} ''mu'amalat'' "sets terms and conditions of conduct for economic and financial relationships in the Islamic economy" and provides the "grounds on which new instruments" of Islamic financing are developed,{{sfn|Kahf|2003|p=46}} but that the "nature of ''Fiqh'' imposes a concern about individual transactions and their minute legalistic characteristics", so that analyzing Islamic economics in terms of ''Fiqh''" risks losing "the ability to provide a macro economic theory".{{sfn|Kahf|2003|p=49}}

According to economist Muhammad Akram Khan the "main plank" of Islamic economics is the "theory of riba", while "another landmark" is [[zakat]], a tax on wealth and income.{{sfn|Khan|2013|pp=xv-xvi}} According to another contemporary writer Salah El-Sheikh, "Islamic economic principles"  (what he calls a "FiqhiConomic model") utilize the [[Faqīh]] (Islamic jurisprudence) as supporting material, but are grounded upon the ethical teachings within the Qu'rān.  Sharīah's basic tenets involve gharar and (fadl māl bilā 'iwad). Gharar insists all knowledge about a trade or transaction is known before two individuals complete a transaction and (fadl māl bilā 'iwad) warns against unjustified enrichment through trade and business. These tenets were "among the first economic regulations" and their philosophy can be seen today in modern Capitalism.  Within Sharīah, El-Sheikh states, Gharar functions as a divine deterrent against asymmetric information and allows trade to prosper. Riba, ensures each transaction is conducted at a fair price, not allowing one party to benefit exceedingly, which shares a parallel philosophy with Karl Marx "Das Kapital": seeking a greater outcome for the community.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=El-Sheikh |first1=Salah |title=The Moral Economy of Classical Islam: A FiqhiConomic Model |journal=The Muslim World |date=2008 |volume=98 |issue=1 |pages=116–144 |doi=10.1111/j.1478-1913.2008.00213.x}}</ref>