ISLAMIC ECONOMICS METHODOLOGY PATTERNS OF REASONING AND THE STRUCTURE OF THEORIES

Abstract

In fact, the Islamic economy is a framework that has been extracted from the axiomatic scripture revealed by Allah Almighty S.W.T (The Holy Quran) and religious practices established by Muhammad SAW (Sunnah) to study contemporary economic phenomenon as per Islamic commercial jurisprudence confronting issues like employment, treatment of property, money, production and distribution, taxes, loans, interest (Riba) stability of prices, equitable distribution, growth rate, productivity, consumption of goods and services etc. that make sure maximum benefit (Falah) in a society or at large to the humanity (Ummah). The Islamic economy is not really a new discourse on whether its roots have evolved since the early days of Islamic civilization. Discussions on economic issues from an Islamic perspective started early and have flourished in the Islamic golden age since. However, economic issues are mainly solved by different branches and schools of economics. This raises a wide variety of methodological issues and several problems have been central to methodological reflection concerning economics. However, not much research attempts have been done to survey the origin of Islamic economic thought and portray its evolution towards becoming a discipline in contemporary times with its own body of knowledge and methodology. Therefore, this study is likely to fill this gap and chart the future direction of the discipline will also be highlighted with some evaluations of the current state of the arts.