Social Justice and Islamic Economics Theory, Issues and Practice

Under the rule of the current economic order, social injustice is ever-increasing. Issues such as poverty, inhumane working conditions, inadequate wages, social insecurity and an unhealthy labor market continue to persist. Many states are also unable to produce policies capable of resolving these problems. The characteristics of the capitalist system currently render it unable to provide social justice. In fact, on the contrary, the system reinforces these injustices and prevents economic and social welfare from reaching the masses. Many Muslim scholars have analyzed and, indeed, criticized this system for years. This book argues that an alternative and more equitable theoretical and practical economical order can been developed within the framework of Islamic principles. On the other hand, the experiences of societies under the rule of Muslim governments do not always seem to hold great promise for an alternative understanding of social justice. In addition, the behaviors of Muslim individuals within their economic lives are mostly shaped by the necessities of daily economic conditions rather than by the tenets of Islam that stand with social justice. Until 1990s, studies of Islamic economics made connections between finance and the notion of social justice, but work conducted more recently has neglected this issue. It is therefore evident that the topic of social justice needs to be revisited in a more in-depth manner. Filling an important gap in existing literature, the book uniquely connects social justice and Islamic finance and economics on this topic. Theory, practice and key issues are presented simultaneously throughout this book, which is based on the writings of a number of eminent scholars.

List of illustrations List of tables List of contributors Foreword Preface1 Social Justice in Islam: An Introduction TOSEEF AZID & LUTFI SUNAR2 A theory of justice in Islam MASUDUL ALAM CHOUDHURY3 Social justice, market, society and government: an Islamic perspective TOSEEF AZID, OSAMAH HUSSAIN Al RAWASHDEH & MUHAMMAD OMER CHAUDHRY4 Contractual freedom, market economy and social justice in Islam: the "invisible hand" of God-man’s agency relationship (Khilafah)VALENTINO CATTELAN5 How can Islamic banks achieve social justice? KHOUTEM BEN JEDIDIA 6 How social aids affect people’s willingness to work: developing a social aid framework within the context of IslamOMER FARUK TEKDOGAN &MEHMET TARIK ERSALAN 7 The role of waqf in socio-economic life in terms of poverty alleviationHUSNU TEKIN 8 Interest and social justice: the impact of real interest rate on income inequalityOZAN MARASL 9 Productive zakat as a mechanism of social justice in IndonesiaAIMATUL YUMNA 10 Potential zakat collectible in OIC countries and poverty gap SALMAN AHMED SHAIKH & QAZI MASOOD AHMED 11 Pursuing social justice through Islamic micro-takaful in the informal economy: social capital matterYULIZAR D. SANREGO 12 ConclusionTOSEEF AZID & LUTFI SUNAR Index

Toseef Azid is Professor of Economics at theCollege of Business and Economics, Qassim University, Saudi Arabia.Lutfi Sunar isAssociate Professor of Sociology at the University of Istanbul, Turkey.