Re: Islamic Economics

"DKleinecke" <dkleinecke@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message=20
news:92f5c579-0e70-4328-9811-f021731dce8f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
On Feb 25, 7:01=3DA0pm, "Zuiko Azumazi" <zuiko.azum...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote=
:

<snip> ...
Why are you singularly "worried" about Dubai in the global financial=20
market
meltdown? As a non-Muslim, I would have thought you would have been
reassured, even overjoyed, by such "5-year notes at 4%" and the earnes=
t
efforts by so-called Islamic countries to ameliorate the downside effe=
ct=20
of
this American led collapse in the world's financial system, and,=20
consequently,
free-market confidence. Is that undoubted greed and unfettered avarice
then Christian Economics at work? Yes, it's surely a sinful world if=20
that's
what you are morally "worried" about. ...

<snip>
I want to know whether Islam offers an economic theory that is a
viable alternative to current academic economic theory.

The problem is that I cannot determine what Islam is offering as an
economic theory. The suspicion arises that Islam has no viable
economic theory. That would be sad because current academic economic
theory doesn't appear to be working. ...
<snip> ...

Comment:-
Why should any supernatural religion offer some kind of inevitable econom=
ic=20
theory? Is the hereafter somehow dependent on contemporaneous economic=20
theory, thought or practice, for that matter? Is inevitable salvation on=20
Judgment Day then totally dependent on viewing the temporal world through=
an=20
economic prism (As most Americans do)? Is redemption in Islam, Christiani=
ty=20
and Judaism then grounded on the simplistic thought "economic theory that=
=20
doesn't appear to be working"? Isn't that worrisome thought of yours not=20
being academic?

Is this "viable economic theory" thought then simply hypothetical or=20
speciously conjectural? And, is all of this, not expected to produce an=20
immediate or practical result when similarly viewing the inevitable world=
=20
through an exclusive theological prism?

Is avarice not a sin? Where does God's will and covenant with all mankind=
=20
figure in this special pleading of yours? Is God then being "academic"?

Islam doctrines are drawn from the sphere of ethics and religion in which=
=20
economic phenomena are expressed in terms of personal Muslim behaviour. T=
he=20
Islamic hierarchy of societal values embraces all human interests in a=20
system of which the apex of religion itself. There is not the same=20
"substituted" Western conception of a separate and parallel=20
compartmentalisation between the vital connection of the religious and th=
e=20
profane.

<snip>
Incidentally there is no such thing as Christian economics. There
isn't even a Catholic economics although all the recent popes have
denounced capitalism. Economic theory is relentlessly secular.
<snip>

Comment:-
Well it's then quite obvious that you have read nothing about the Western=
-=20
"History of Economics" (thought). Here's a bibliographical search list=20
(273,600 hits). I would recommend Roll, Pirenne, Tawney, Latouche and=20
Schumpeter:-

http://books.google.com.au/books?q=3DHistory+of+Economics&btnG=3DSearch+B=
ooks

As one such "Christian economic" website announced:-

Quote:- ...
If Christ is the Lord of life, then compartmentalizing economics and=20
Christian thought is not permissible. As economists, Christians are to wo=
rk=20
to bring societal structures "into closer conformity with the scripturall=
y=20
articulated perceptive will of God." We are called by God to stand agains=
t=20
injustice, to be concerned for the poor, to preserve the dignity of the=20
individual, to be stewards of God=92s creation, to avoid the idolatry of=20
materialism, and to support community through loving our neighbor. ...
Unquote.

If one substitutes Muslim or Muslims for Christian or Christians in this=20
brief digest what's the intrinsic difference in your religious opinion? W=
hat=20
do you know about Herman Dooyeweerd and the neo-Calvinists? Don't their=20
particular thoughts fit in with your own conscious Puritanical upbringing=
?

--
Peace
--
We are conscious that religions cannot solve the economic, political and=20
social problems of this earth. [Hans Kung]

Zuiko Azumazi
zuiko.azumazi@xxxxxxxxx

.