A Note on Islamic Economics

characterizing certain universal economic practices as un-Islamic.... From Maududionwards, the moral discourse of Islamic economics has cultivated the view that thebehavioral standards of Islam are fundamentally at odds with those of the West.‖Professor Kuran then continues his delusional claim that ―the civilizational clash thatIslamic economics is fueling is often misconstrued as a collision of old and new .... Intrying to strengthen the Islamic identity of Muslim communities as a means of breakingtheir nonreligious solidarity patterns, today‘s Islamic fundamentalists are attempting,then, to perform a task at which the earliest Muslims failed‖ (p. 440). Nowhere in thepaper attempt is made to demonstrate the existence of the ‗nonreligious solidarity‘ oftoday‘s Muslim communities which Islamic economics is presumed to be trying tobreak.

The selective reading of Islamic sources, history, and history of thought andunwarranted inferences in Professor Kuran‘s criticism take much more space toaddress than is available here, nevertheless, one point is worth noting: ProfessorKuran does not seem to be aware of the universality of the message of Islam.The fact is that the unity of mankind and of the creation is so emphasized in theQuran and Ahadeeth that Muslim philosophers consider the Unity of Creation as a

corollary to the axiom of Tawheed (the Unity of the Creator); as the Quran states:"IóMGH ¢ùØæC ‟EG º≧ã©H ‟H º≧≤≪N ÉE" . Moreover, the position of the Quran and theinducing efforts at integration and unity of mankind is so strong that all the moral andethical rules can be interpreted as being addressed to this objective (see A.A. Shakir:Individual and Social Responsibility in Islamic Thought, Ph.D. dissertation, NewYork University, 1966 (pp. 167-175). Also see Tariq Ramadan, Western Muslims andthe Future of Islam , Oxford University Press, 2004.) All the ‗dos‘ relate to behaviorthat promotes integration of the humanity and all the ‗don‘ts‘ are those that lead todisintegration. It is a misjudgment to accuse scholars named in Professor Kuran‘sarticle as attempting to prevent assimilation of Muslims ―into the emerging globalculture.‖

Surely Professor Kuran is aware of major Western economists who are severecritics of globalization because of its unequal benefits and harms. Do these peoplealso qualify as ‗Muslim Fundamentalists‘? Are all those economists who criticizeeconomics because it ignores ethics and morality also ‗Muslim fundamentalists‘?Professor Kuran uses dissonance between behavior of Muslims and the rules ofeconomic behavior prescribed by Islam as an evidence that ―it is impossible to live upto the ideal of Homo Islamicus.‖ He does not seem aware, or willing to acknowledge,that there are Muslims, in and out of the Muslim countries, who live according toIslamic values and follow all the rules of behavior prescribed by Islam. Moreover, heseems unwilling to consider other explanations for deviation between actual and idealbehavior. Islam, neither in its sacred sources nor in its history, rejects the possibility ofsuch deviation between actual and ideal behavior. Indeed, both the Quran and Islamichistory acknowledge and record the kind of behavior mentioned by Professor Kuran(see the example given by »ÑF øH ≨DÉE in note 35). Aside from the fact that the Quran

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