Paper published in American Journal of Economics and Sociology represents culmination of a decade long journey to show how Islamic Economics is radically different from Western economics. For details, see: https://bit.do/ajes

2. The beginnings of my journey --
More than a decade ago, I was motivated to write “Islamic Economics: A Survey
of the Literature” by the realization that the vast majority of Islamic Economics
was just an imitation of Western economics, and an attempt to fit as much of it as
possible into an Islamic framework. My paper attempted to explain why this was
so, and to recognize and highlight the unique insights which came from genuine
Islamic perspectives on our economic affairs.

3. Allah has purchased the lives and wealth
of the believers
My current paper “Islam’s Gift: An Economy of Spiritual Development”
represents a culmination of the search for formulating a genuine Islamic
alternative to Western economics. This paper explains how Islam teaches us how
to sell our lives and wealth to purchase the pleasure of Allah, which is more
precious than all the material wealth on the planet. Obviously, such an approach
to economics shares little in common with Western approaches, according to which
accumulation of wealth is the goal of our personal and collective lives

4. Background Information: Six
Points
shorltnk to the paper, and related materials: https://bit.do/ajes

5. 1:Social Science is the study of human
experience
From this, it follows that study of human behavior and societies would rely on our
experiences. Since modern social sciences were developed in the West, they must be
based on the study of Western historical experiences. If we want to develop social
sciences of relevance and value for Islamic societies, then we should study the
historical experiences of Islamic societies and derive lessons from them. This point,
and its implications have been explored in “On Improving Social Science
Education in Pakistan”.

6. 2: Social Sciences in general, and
Economics in particular, claim to be
universal and objective
Despite (1), economic theories claim to be universal laws about human behavior,
which are valid across time and space, without reference to historical, social,
cultural, and political context. This creates a puzzle: If the laws of economics are
just like the laws of physics, then they would work equally well in Islamic
societies and in Western societies. In that case, Islamic Economics must accept the
universal scientific laws discovered by Western economists, and build a discipline
around these laws which makes minor modifications required by Islamic principles.
However, if economics theories are only applicable to the particular historical,
social, cultural, and political context in which they were born, then we would need
to develop an entirely different set of theories for Islamic societies, based on our
own historical experiences.

7. 3: Modern Economics derives from
European historical experiences, but
falsely claims to be universal
We resolve the puzzle created by points one and two above by showing that modern
economics originates from Western historical experiences. Furthermore, this fact is
obvious and apparent, and has been noted by many authors. Then the mystery is: why do
economists deny something which is patently obvious, claiming a universality for
economic theories, which is easily proven wrong? For example, is it true that human
behavior everywhere, across time, space and culture, corresponds to the homo economicus
model of economic theories? The Quran tells us that we should give away the things that
we love most, and feed the poor even if we are ourselves hungry, for the sake of the love
of Allah. The shock-and-awe of West has poisoned our hearts, so much so that many
Islamic economists have accepted this model of human behavior as being universally
valid – see “The Fourth Poison: Homo Economicus” for an extended discussion. This set
of observations create a double mystery, which the paper attempts to resolve.

8. 4: Mystery 1 “why do economists claim
universal truth for theories which are
obviously false?”Part one of this mystery is to understand that behavioral economics decisively rejects
economic theories of human behavior. For overwhelming empirical evidence on this
matter, see my post on “Behavioral Versus Neoclassical Economics.” Part two is to
understand how strongly the economists refuse to accept empirical evidence, and cling to
theories which are flatly contradicted by observations. For evidence, see “Quotes Critical
of Economics” and also “Economic Theory as Ideology”. Resolving this mystery requires
a deep study of the progression of European thought from its origins in the
Enlightenment of Europe. Furthermore, this study needs to be an externalstudy, not a
Eurocentric one. European paint their own intellectual history as one of progress, where
they gradually learned to think better and better, and understand more and more, so that
currently they are at the apex of intelligence. We need to create a counter-narrative, to
understand how their ability to think and conceptualize about the social sciences, the
world we human being lives in, has actually become worse and worse over time. A
suitable counter-narrative is constructed in the paper.

9. 5: Mystery 2 “Why do Islamic economist
accept repulsive human behaviors as being
universal laws, and attempt to justify this
acceptance using Quran and Hadeeth?”The name “Social Science” itself is a deception – it borrows authority by using the word
“science”. For Muslim economists, awe of Western achievements in the physical sciences
leads them to automatically grant the same authority to Social Science. Muslims are so
much in awe of the West that when they see a flat contradiction between some economic
principle and verses of the Quran, they rationalize and re-interpret the Quran, in order to
be able to accept the economic theory. For examples and illustrations of this, see
“Rejecting ALL of Economic Theory?”. As I have explained in “A Spiritual Obstacle to
Genuine Islamic Economics”, the lack of confidence in our Deen, displayed by our
preference for Samuelson over the Quran, prevents us from acquiring a genuine
understanding of the message of the Quran. The early Mu’tazila went astray because
they became overly impressed with Greek Philosophy, and wanted to accept as being on
par with the Quran and Hadeeth. Today we face the problem of The Modern Mu’tazila,
who value Western teachings over and above the Quran.

10. 6: The Counter-Narrative: Intellectual
History of Disastrous Approach to Social
Science in Europe.My papers on “Origins of Western Social Sciences” and an earlier post on
“EuropeanTransition to Secular Thought” provides detail of how Europeans stopped
believing in Christianity. According to their own accounts, this was because they learned
to reason, and saw the religion was just superstition, but the reality is very different.
Loss of faith in God and Religion was a source of serious shock and trauma. Most
European philosophers who contemplated this seriously suffered from psychological
breakdowns of various types. One of the consequences of this trauma of loss of faith was
the rejection of heart and soul of man as a source of knowledge. It is our hearts which
testify to the existence of God. European historical experience taught them that this
testimony of the heart is wrong, and they vowed not to trust their hearts, but only their
head. This is why their theories of human behavior reject the existence of feelings,
emotions, vision, ideals and higher purposes of human existence. Instead, all rational
human beings just maximize the pleasure they get from the life on this earth. Anyone
who thinks about afterlife and higher goals of existence is “irrational” because here-and-
now is all that we have.

11. The Take-Away
Our eyes have been dazzled by the apparent shine, lustre, and brilliance of
Western knowledge. The paper linked in the post attempts to provide an antidote
https://bit.do/ajes
It becomes easier reject modern economics once we understand that contemporary
economic theory is based on denial of God and Afterlife, and consequently
attempts to create heaven on earth by maximizing wealth and pleasure. A more
detailed explanation of this counter-narrative is provided in the post linked above.