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E k o n o m i S y a r i a h T e r k i n i
No. Type of
Practices Practice Concept in
Jahilliyyah Practice Concept in
Islam
11. ‘Aqilah
Compensation for Murder or
Blood Money Should a murder
occured, the murderer is required
to compnesate diyat to the family of the
murdered. The compensation was
collected from amongst members of
the clan or tribe of the murderer.
The compensation is only to be paid by the
men of osund mind from thefather’s side
‘asabah nasab Mohd Shukri Hanapi
Tajul Sabki Abdul Latib, 2003:14-15.
Source: Mohd Shukri Hanapi 2012.
2. Assumptions The adoption of the western economics ethno-centric thinking in the
mainstream Islamic economics is obvious, amongst others, in the use of the assumptions that have been inherited from conventional economics.
The very assumptions of the conventional economics - that is the scarcity of resources and the unlimited wants - are adopted rather arbitrarily by
mainstream Islamic economics. Even though there are a handful of discourses on these assumptions
6
, but they are flawed by at least two shortcomings. Firstly, the focus is
predominantly on the scarcity of resources per se, without having to venture into the meaning, or to link it to the unlimited wants. Secondly, the
focus on the scarcity of resources revolves around merely the physical domain, leaving the spiritual domain almost untouched.
In consequence, the scarcity of resources is perceived as true based on physical availability alone, without taking into account the spiritual
concepts such as rizq and barakah that may actually determine the scarcity
6
For instance, amongst Islamic economists that have dealt with these assumptions, particularly on the scarcity of resources, were Farhad Nohmani and Ali Rahnema 1995,
Rafiq al-Masri 1998, Muhammad Umar Chapra 1998, Habib Ahmed 2002, Abdel Rahman Yousri Ahmed 2002 and M. Fahim Khan 2002.
K o n f e r e n s i I n t e r n a s i o n a l
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or abundance of resources. In other words, the discussions on the scarcity of resources are based on quantitative measurements rather than both on
quantitative and qualitative measurements. So is the assumption that the wants are unlimited. The necessity to dwell into the unlimited wants is
almost ignored, let alone into the spiritual concepts such as iman faith, taqwa piety, and nafs desires that actually determine the levels of the
wants, either unlimited or otherwise. All in all, we observe how the mainstream Islamic economics maintains
the conventional meaning of the scarcity of resources and the unlimited wants assumptions in their analysis. It is based on these two assumptions
that the so-called Islamic economics theories and practice are formulated and developed
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. 3. Concepts
In the third deficiency, we observed a widespread use of western ethno- centric concepts in Islamic economics. The concepts have been used
arbitrarily without redefining them according to Islamic teaching. Poverty for instance has been accepted in its original conventional form, despite
the usage of Islamic institutions such as zakat and awqaf to alleviate poverty Muhammad Syukri Salleh 2013c. So are the other concepts such
as justice, growth, development, consumer behavior, civil society, quality of life, wealth management, asset management, corporate social
responsibility, et cetera. The indicators used to measure their accomplishment are still the conventional indicators, not Islamic
indicators. In consequence, the output or the end products of the so-called Islamic endeavor are judged according to the conventional definition, not
to the Islamic definition. The redefinition of all concepts in Islamic economics according to Islamic
teachings therefore, to my opinion, should become one of the major projects for research. It is definitely unfair for us to highlight the
importance and effectiveness of Islamic economic instruments, but basing the arguments on the concepts according to the exogenous western ethno-
centric definitions.
7
For further critical analysis on both the scarcity of resources and the unlimited wants of the mainstream Islamic economics, see Muhammad Syukri Salleh 2011.
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E k o n o m i S y a r i a h T e r k i n i
4. Scope Another deficiency of the mainstream Islamic economics is its single-
