The Genesis of Islamic Economics : A Chapter in the Politics of Muslim

Identity by Timur Kuran

Article ReviewPrepared by

Rininta Nurrachmi

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Presented for Islamic Economic class (ECON 7625)

on Monday 13 February 2017

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Summary of the Article

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Introduction

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The uprising of Islamic Economic in the 20th

century

Derive the history of Islamic Economic from

Mawdudi’s thesis. It was written in urdu

Kuran mentioned almost no research exist on origin of IE

It elaborates in 9 subsections

Subsection Discussion for Islamic Economic which refer to Mawdudi’s thesis in Kuran’s article

1. Justifying Cultural Separatism

2. Westernization and Muslim Disunity

3. The Logic of Cultural Separatism

4. Previous Campaign Renewal

5. Sources of Variation

6. The Imagined Umma

7. The Myth of Islam’s “Golden Age”

8. A Clash of Civilization

9. Identity Confusion and Its Repercussion

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1. Justifying Cultural Separatism

Muslim is minority in India

Indebted of Muslim farmers to Hindu Money lenders

Muslim India should form state of their own

Pakistan was born within a decadeMawdudi (1903-1979), Muslim need cultural autonomy not political independent

He promote Islamic Economic

2. Westernization and Muslim Disunity

Refashion Islam in western image

Mawdudi making the state Islamic

Many Muslim influenced by Westernization

Judging Islam by western criteria

3. The Logic of Cultural Separatism

Many Indian Muslim reject their heritageEducated minority Muslim attended religious school and avoid modern scienceIndia’s Muslim were way behind other major group in making requisite adaptation

Westernization weakening the India’s Muslim mind and behavior

Islamic norms is promoted through orthopraxy (behavioral correctness)

Good Muslim commit to Islam through orthophaxy

Economic change was central to modernization

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4. Previous Campaign Renewal

Moh.Iqbal (1876-1938), Economy is not instrument of change

He offer Muslim through economic matter to bring the ancestor glory and prosperity

Pan-Islamist unite Muslim world in 1 flag

In 19th and early 20th C, they paved the way Mawdudi did

The response become policy Modern in Turkey (Ataturk&Inonu) and Muslim modernism in Pakistan

Mawdudi, reformist Islamism(religious revival that promote modernization without westernization)

5. Sources of Variation

Western society put people with traditional background at a disadvantage

Muslim make certain adaptation but cant resist western culture

Local producer afraid competition from foreign producer

Adjustment during Ramadan with different culture

Mawdudi share agenda of secularist modernism

Coexistence western and Islamic culture caused a tension

6. The Imagined Umma

The Umma is one way to unified the Muslim world

Different is cultural, politic, linguistic but similar in Islam

Economic relation with Muslim nation is minimal and they traded with the Europe

Turkish leader abolished caliphate and committed Turkey to secularism

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7. The Myth of Islam’s “Golden Age”

It is 39 years period spanned in Prophet Muhammad leadership and four caliph

Golden age is Mawdudi chief instrument

Golden age is period of efficiency, justice, cooperation and self sacrifice

The vision of golden age is easy to communicate but hard to implement

There are many history of Islam but none receive attention Mawdudi’swriting

8. A Clash of Civilization

Islam and west could not coexist

Non Muslim influence Islamic civilization

Civilization is difficult to define because there is boundaries and diversitySayyid Quth,Egypt. Islam as comprehensive and self sufficient systemM. Baqir Asadr, he eager to prove Islam superiority to socialism

Iranian Revolution 1978-79. Cultural earthquake

Economy for Muslim who consider Western culture is a threat

9. Identity Confusion and Its Repercussion

Economics treat the benefit of identity and avoid to address the need of people

The evolution of IE was reached with Arab oil boom in 1970s

The benefit give support to Pan-Arab & Pan Islamic movement, IE

Islamic commercial bank started in 1975

Oil boom provide enhancement of institutional infrastructure of IE

Journal of IE published, International Conference

The major stimulus of IE was that Indo Muslim community was losing its identity

Critiques on the Article

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1

The term is 20th century product but part of the

ideas since the advent of Islam

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Give credit to one person for promotion of Islamic

Economic Mawlana SayyidAbu’l-A’la Mawdudi

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It was not Mawdudi who coin or popularized the term Islamic Economic.

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Kuran consider Indian subcontinent is the birth

place for Islamic Economics

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Islamic Economics is not a Sectarian discipline. The

basic source is Quran and Sunnah

Discussion Flow

1. According to Islahi (2015) there are 6 phases in Development of Islamic Economics before 20th century

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Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3 Phase 4 Phase 5 Phase 6

1st century of Islam/7th century CE

8th-11th century 12th-15th century 16th-18th century 19th &early 20th

century20th century

Formation period Translation period Retranslation & transmission period

dormant phase Awakening Phase The modern development of IE

Quran and Sunnahare main source in dealing socio economic problem

Translation of Greek & Persian scholarly heritage into Arabic language

Greco-Arab Islamic ideas translated from Arabic to Latin and other European languages

15th C was the peak of Muslimintellectual (IbnKhaldun,al-Maqrizi, al-Asadi, Ibn al-Azraq, al-Dawani

1. Intellectual,Awakening2. Economic Awakening3. Islamic Awakening

It is resultant of the three types ofawakening mentioned in the previous century

This period is termed as “Great gap” by Schumpeter

The movement of translation end in 11th

century but the dev of Islamic science continued

Muslim scholars based their ideasfrom Greek economic and Christian Scholar

Repetition of previously formulated ideas and commentary on their predecessors’ works

IE is the middle path that combine the virtues of two (Marxism & Capitalism) andeliminate their extremism

2. Mawlana Sayyid Abul-Ala Mawdudi

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• Mawdudi was not an economist (Zaman, 2013)

• He never interact with business, finance

• He is a profound thinker. Islam is a way of life.

• Mawdudi want to change the economic life of people not ‘economics”, he never use the

therm “Islamic economics” (Islahi, 2015)

• it was Professor Khurshid Ahmad who called it Islamic Economics, and taught it as a

sub-field of comparative economic systems (CES)

3. Mawdudi is not the one who coin or popularized Islamic Economic

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Chapra (2001) stated Islamic economics had been developing gradually as an interdisciplinary subject in the writings of Qur'an commentators, jurists, historians, and social, political and moral philosophers. A large number of scholars including1. Abu Yusuf (d. 182/798)2. al-Mas'udi (d.3461957)3. al-Mawardi (d. 450/1058)4. Ibn Hazm (d. 456/1064)5. al-Sarakhsi (d.483/1090)6. al-Tusi (d.485/1093)7. al-Ghazali (d.50511111)8. Ibn Taymiyyah (d.728/1328)9. Ibn al-Ukhuwwah (d.729/1329)10. Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751/1350)11. al-Shatibi (d. 790/1388)12. Ibn Khaldun (d.808/1406)13. al-Maqrizi (d.845/1442)14. al-Dawwani (d.906/1501) 15. and Shah Waliyullah (d. 1176/1762) made valuable contributions over the centuries.

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4. Islamic Economic is not a product of single person or party

• Modern Islamic Economics developed mainly in 2 regions – Indian subcontinent & Middle East

• The term of “Islamic economics” was coined by Hyderabadi scholar (Islahi, 2015)

5. Islamic Economics is not a Sectarian discipline

• Quran and Sunnah as the basic source for IE

• The purpose is not self-interest that want to maximize wealth

• It is the best alternative to the existing system and the best solution to economic problems of humanity (Islahi, 2015)

ReferenceChapra, Muhammad Umar (2001). “What is Islamic Economics? “Jeddah: IRTI/IDB, 2nded.

Islahi, A. A. (2015). “The Genesis of Islamic Economics ” Revisited. Islamic Economic Studies, 23 no.2(November), 1–28.https://doi.org/10.12816/0015019

Kuran, Timur. "The Genesis of Islamic Economics: A Chapter in the Politics of Muslim Identity", Islam & Mammon, PrincetonUniversity Press (2004): 82 – 102. First published in Social Research, Vol. 64, no. 2 (Summer 1997), pp. 301-338.

Mirakhor, Abbas (2007). “A Note on Islamic Economics”, Jeddah: IRTI/IDB, pp. 26-27.

Wilson, Rodney (2011). Islamic Banking and finance in North Africa: Past Development and Future Potential, Tunis:African Development Bank,1-52.

Zaman, Arshad (2013). ”Mawlana Mawdudi and the Genesis of Islamic Economics” Paper presented to The NinthInternational Conference on Islamic Economics and Finance (ICIEF), held at Istanbul during 9-11 September 2013.

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