Nature and Methodology of Islamic Economics: An Appraisal

Islamic economics emerged as a discipline separate from thegeneral science of economics in the wake of the political process ofIslamisation of the Pakistani society and economy during 1977-88. Informulating its fundamental principles, Islamic economics seeks to fuseIslamic religion with economic science; that is, it tries to combine thestudy of economic phenomenon of ordinary business of life with religiousbeliefs, ethical norms, moral ideals, rules and laws, thus putativelybelieving that the social science of economics is a secular disciplinewhich does not concern itself with value judgements, and that Islamiceconomics is a plausible alternative to modern economics since it isbased on the values, norms and principles of Islam. [Ahmed (1981), p.xiv; Chapra (1985), pp.19-29).]