According to the standard narrative, economics is an objective and scientific study of universal laws applicable to economic affairs of modern societies. After a brief introduction, the second section of the paper presents a counter-narrative which disputes this claim, and provides an...

According to the standard narrative, economics is an objective and scientific study of universal laws applicable to economic affairs of modern societies. After a brief introduction, the second section of the paper presents a counter-narrative which disputes this claim, and provides an...

All social science consists of THREE elements -- a positive element which describes the existing state of affairs, a normative element which described the ideal, or desired state of affairs, and a transformative strategy for changing current situation to move towards the ideal situation. In all...

Massive amounts of confusion exists regarding the definition of Islamic Economics. This has blocked progress in terms of the development of the discipline, since there is no agreement on what its proper subject matter and methodology is. This paper shows that the confusion arises because of our...

How do we arrest the decline of the social sciences in Pakistan? Is it a matter of money or one of sending more students to the West who might then return to teaching at the local universities? In this article I argue that the solution lies elsewhere. Borrowing frames, concepts, and analytical...

A central thesis of this paper is that social science is the study of human experience, and hence strongly conditioned by history. Modern Western political, economic and social structures have emerged as a consequence of the repudiation of religion, and are based on secular principles. Many of...

According to western views, wealth is unambiguously good, and so human welfare is positive when wealth is in excess of needs, and negative if it is less. Islam has a substantially more sophisticated view of the relation between wealth and welfare. Excess wealth is a trial, which can bring great...

The argument that modern economies cannot function without interest is examined in detail. We show that Islamic alternatives to interest, which vary with the context and the type of loan, provide adequate substitutes. Interest based institutions lead to many types of difficulties both practical...

According to western views, wealth is unambiguously good, and so human welfare is positive when wealth is in excess of needs, and negative if it is less. Islam has a substantially more sophisticated view of the relation between wealth and welfare. Excess wealth is a trial, which can bring great...

There is a huge number of definitions of Islamic Economics available in the literature. The vast majority take existing definitions from the western literature and modify them to incorporate an Islamic angle. This leads to the widespread belief that Islamic Economics is a variant or a branch of...